Last night we kicked off our Intro Course, and had a great start – lots of great conversations, laughter, questions and sharing*. The slogan to the Intro Course is ‘asking the big questions of life’, and as I have been preparing for this course I have been struck once again about the importance of asking questions in general, not just the big questions of life.
Here are three reasons why we should all ask questions:
(1) To build bridges
Last night I had a fascinating evening finding out about a man who had come along. His story was quite amazing and I just kept asking questions because it was so interesting, and made my life look very simple. As I asked questions and as he shared, we connected and then he started to ask questions back. We’re from completely different backgrounds, families, experiences and generations… and yet we built a bridge by asking questions.
However, in contrast you can have a situation where two people disagree (which is nothing unusual or worrying!) but instead of asking questions and trying to find out about the other, you stand your ground, don’t ask questions of the other or enter into what the other is thinking/feeling and it gets us nowhere.
And then of course there was the debate between Trump and Clinton this week, which was more of a spectacle than a political debate, and highlighted how little either candidate actually engaged with the other’s policies, but focused more on wanting to win some cheap shots (in some cases it was hard to know what the policies were!!).
So this week has made me realise that if we’re to build bridges, whether in our families, communities, workplaces, social clubs or on a bigger level between nations, races and governments, we need to ask questions.
Questions build bridges. Questions help us enter into the world of another.
(2) To keep us flexible and open
I have had many conversations over the years that when talking about a story from Jesus in the Bible, they go a little like this:
Friend:
Yeah but we don’t know know if Jesus existed… he may not have been a real man
Me:
Why do you doubt that Jesus existed?
Friend
Because there is no evidence for him
Me:
Do you believe that the Roman Emperors existed
Friend:
Yes but that is fact, that is history, we have evidence for that
Me:
What evidence?
And then they talk about historical records and say ‘we just know they did’ to which I reply:
We have far more evidence that Jesus, the person from Nazareth, existed than we do that any of the emperors existed. No serious historian doubts that he existed… the question is whether he was the Son of God… go check out the Chester Beatty Library etc
I am frequently amazed at people’s historical ignorance when it comes to the historicity of Jesus. When I talk a bit further I often find that the person has had a negative experience of church growing up and has therefore rejected God, which is understandable. But to also come to the conclusion that whilst there is evidence for the Roman Emperors, there is no evidence for Jesus, that is actually a statement of faith, not fact, about history (you can learn more here if you’re interested).
I want to highlight how easy it is, because of past experiences, to close ourselves off from new ideas, or even historical facts. We can easily become unwilling to engage with a certain topic because we have made up our mind and think it is preposterous that we could ever be wrong. Now I am all for people making up their own minds (I, like anyone else, have strong opinions about certain things), but to become inflexible and unwilling to engage… well that’s dangerous. To be beyond persuasion in the face of the facts… that’s just stubbornness.
When Jesus himself met closed-minded people in the gospels (nearly always the religious types, often trying to trap him), he asked them questions. He tried to get people thinking. He tried to break their worldview. He tried to expose their faulty thinking. Just read Matthew 22:25-46 and see how he tries to open up inflexible people by asking questions.
So ask questions to remain open and flexible, even if you have arrived at certain conclusions already. If your conclusions are right, they’ll stand the test of being asked a few questions.
(3) To change the future
Finally, when you think of any great advances in our world; scientific, technological, medical or humanitarian; someone had to ask a question… someone had to ask “I wonder if this is possible…let’s try?!”
A number of years ago at my company’s Inbound Conference, Guy Kawasaki was talking about 12 lessons from working with Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, and his last point was:
Some things need to be believed to be seen
It’s a statement that could have come out of the Bible, and I remember having some interesting discussions with people after about how closely that linked to what Jesus himself said. But his point was that Steve Jobs was able to think ahead and believe something that didn’t exist now could be a reality in the future… he was asking questions no-one else was asking!!
And if you think about my first two points, if we want to change the future of our world, we must also build bridges and remain open and flexible. We need to engage with people we disagree with. We must be open to ideas that seem crazy to us… like they did to the people Jobs worked with.
So ask questions to change the future.
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* If you’re interested do come along to Intro Course on Monday, 1st Oct to 12th Nov, it’s fine to join at week 2 or 3, of even just pop in for a week. 7.00pm at Granthams Cafe, Camden Street, Dublin 8 – all details at intro-course.ie