This morning our monthly Saturday prayer group met. It is a small group - 4 or 5 of us - who enjoy warm croissants and coffee/tea before we pray. Today after we'd prayed we continued to chat a bit and all sorts of good questions began to emerge.... will there be Muslims or Mormons in heaven? Is God Universalist? Why do bad things happen to good people? What do we mean when we pray for healing? Do souls sleep from death until the resurrection? Is heaven a bejewelled city - or is there a heaven at all rather than a new/renewed earth? Why doesn't being a Christian guarantee a wonderful, trouble free life - and in any case what might that look like? We didn't answer any of the questions, and the relationships in that group aren't yet ready to push things too much, but it did feel like a giant leap forward.
Fairly often, in a one to one, people will talk to me about more complex topics, but they nearly always fear sharing their views with the church for fear of being seen as 'unsound.' If I can, I will point them at resources to help their thinking, or offer them a variety of ideas I've encountered, but always resist telling them pat answers. I also say that I will continue to support them whatever they conclude. Maybe it is because of this that periodically people feel the need to pray quite pointedly that I give more attention to my spiritual life!
There was a Christian song, I think sung by Martyn Joseph, in the 1980's that said something like "I will keep on asking the questions, but answers will never come to me, for such is the mystery" - and I think it is true. For every question listed above there is a simple answer - and it's probably wrong, or at best partial. It is good to ask questions, it is good to seek understanding - but above it's a relief to know that ultimately where answers are concerned it's God's problem, not mine!
Comments
The relevant song is Treasure the Questions by Martyn Joseph. The most relevant lines are (you recollections are right in spirit, if not in fact!!) are: -
Locked in my hear there's a child knocking the door to get out
He's asking the questions that hurt, sometimes they're questions of doubt
I don't pretend that they're easy, I don't pretend that I'll win
When the search in this life is over, that's when the troubles begin
And if i don't find out, the search is not in vain.
And if i don't find out, i'll hold on
And I treasure the questions as they rage in my mind
And I treasure the questions some day i will find
You see I ran out of answers a long time ago
So I'll treasure the questions wherever i go
Oh for a church that asks such questions,...even if they think I am a heretic in answering them!
I have song in my head by Michael Card that says something like: 'questions tell us more than answers ever can'
Thanks Paul, yes, that was the song I couldn't quite remember - not another one (which I misquoted anyway!). Hope life in Northampton is good.
J - which song was that? I probably have it on tape somehwere...!
Martyn Joseph has a smilar line in his later song "Condition of my Heart":
"...It's funny: the older we get the more we keep asking.
Maybe to never stop asking is part of the plan."
Good songs both. And many of his others.
Martyn Joseph has a similar line in his later song, "Condition of my heart":
"...it's funny, the older we get, the more we keep asking.
Maybe to never stop asking is part of the plan."
Great songs both. And indeed many of his others.
Sorry about the duplicated comment. I didn't think it had gone so I did it again. Feel free to delete one! (And this one!)
Hi Trevor, thanks for the comments - think I'll leave them all there, at least for now, makes my post look as if it's more interesting! Maybe I need to rediscover Martyn Joseph - when I got fed up with Word Record Club (as it then was) about 20 years ago I pretty much stopped buying that genre of Christian music and moved more to ostensibly worship stuff. Probably a bad move, a lot of the more theologically competent stuff and/or more challenging stuff seems to come from people like Paul Field, Martyn Joseph and Adrian Snell.
The Word Record Club! Now there's a blast from the past. ;o)
Here's the great man's website. His stuff is still worth investigating.
http://www.piperecords.co.uk/martynj/
In terms of his most recent stuff, I'd recommend 'Deep Blue' (his last but one album), rather than 'Vegas,' his most recent offering.
prefer his last but one album