February 26, 2022

II Timothy 2: 23 (NIV)

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.

“You have made yourself unnecessarily elaborate.”*

In my former career, one of my responsibilities was the training of temporary employees. Because they had so much to learn in such a short time, with only one day of actual application of their training, I wanted them to know that it was okay if they had to ask for help. I told them, “The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.” I wasn’t lying to them – if they had a question about a procedure, I needed them to ask it rather than to do it wrong – but there really is such a thing as a dumb question. And I believe that Paul would agree: “Foolish questions deserve no answers.”*

It was typical in the culture of New Testament times for “learned” men to sit around and debate unanswerable questions. One writer warns, "A fool may put questions which a wise man cannot answer.”* He cites an example of a woman who liked to pose the question, “How can God be without a beginning?” Her argument (there’s that word!) was that if God never began, then there is no God. See how that kind of debate is pointless?

We’ve all witnessed that guy in the Bible study who asks what he thinks is a deep, probing question – one of those “unimportant subjects of inquiry and debate.”* I admire those intrepid Bible teachers over the years whose delicate handling of the situation avoided the quarrels about which Paul warns Timothy. Not only does Paul clearly not want us to have anything to do with such time-wasting activity, I think it is safe to say that he doesn’t want us to be “that guy.”

God doesn’t want us to be afraid to ask genuine questions concerning our faith. Our lack of knowledge or understanding is nothing to be ashamed of as long as we keep seeking the truth. And as someone has wisely observed, “There will always be issues and doctrinal nuances that keep us debating unendingly. But Jesus is still there as the one thing that keeps our relationships united.”*

God loves an honest question.*