Beware of religious know-it-alls.

Whatever happened to the saying, "There’s no such thing as a stupid question"?

When did questioning one’s faith, understanding of God, or one’s belief become wrong?
There seems to be a large segment of the church in this world that is afraid to wrestle with questions of faith. Where did the notion of getting everything right in matters of God and faith come from?

It seems when we become rigid in our beliefs that we often miss what the spirit of God may be intending in our midst. I think about the lady getting ready to be stoned to death for being caught in adultery. The "right" answer was to stone her to death. Plain and simple-- kill her. Yet Jesus, a good Jew, caused people to think and he caused folks to question their "right" belief.

In the story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath, the "right" answer was don’t heal on the Sabbath, yet once again Jesus forced folks to question their deeply held religious beliefs and challenged the "right" answers.

What are the "right beliefs" or "answers" that Jesus is challenging you to question?

I think we should question our beliefs or those beliefs that we have adopted through others. Jesus taught the religious folks of his day to look inside their hearts and allow God to "clean" the inside and work from there. When my cup is squeaky clean on the outside and I think I possess the "right" answers and I no longer have questions regarding my faith and life with God then there’s a good chance that I have become hardened, rigid, and lost the beauty of the mystery we call God.

Think about this, most every tragic event brought on by humans in history has been done by folks who were absolutely convinced that they were right.

Many have become masters at quoting the "law" to folks and just like in Jesus’ day this has put folks in bondage. Consider how women have been treated by those with the right answers in the church. Slavery, there were folks who had the right answer about slavery but look at folks are still suffering in this country as a result of having the "right answers". I don’t think having all the ‘right" answers or beliefs is what God wants from me.

I think God wants me to be faithful to struggle in prayer and community to discern God’s will. Just like the story found in the Gospel of John where Jesus instructed his Jewish audience, "Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you."

Truth and the right answers are not something we possess with the "right belief" but rather truth and the answers come from struggling with the questions and attempting to be faithful to God. Even Jesus in his attempt to be faithful questioned God, particularly when things didn’t seem so good.

The very fact that you are asking the questions and struggling with issues of faith is probably a good indication that you are walking with God. Once you possess all the right answers, you no longer need to trust God, for you will think you are God and we all know what happens to those who want to "possess" the knowledge of good and evil.

Perhaps we are not called to be know-it-alls, but rather-- perhaps we are called to be faithful and seek to live our lives in the wonder, amazement, and mystery of Love.