To master the question

There is great power is being a skillful questioner.

A person who questions well holds the initiative in directing a conversation or a thread of thought. A good teacher is able to question well and teach the student. A lawyer must have this resource at their fingertips. An entrepreneur must be able to see an opportunity where others do not see it, how to turn an opportunity into making wealth. Their abilities to turn opportunities into money cannot happen without the question being asked first. The scientist, the doctor, the police detective, the forensic accountant, the repairman – all must start with a question. Especially the beginning of relationships; Do you love me? Do you want to be my friend? Can I take you on a date?

To be a successful student, the questions must be asked, tests and examinations determine the abilities and knowledge levels. The irate parent seeking to know the start of a fight between two children.

Questions are a critical part of a conversation, seeking to know the feelings of a friend or companion. But care must be exercised! Too many questions and it becomes an inquisition (in the American “cop” movies the suspect is “grilled” with ceaseless questions). Too few questions could demonstrate a lack of interest or concern. Also the tone of the voice used is key, the aggressive tone could be the start of World War Three!

Language is an imprecise tool, often the words do not match up to the intended thoughts of the speaker, thus patience and generosity of judgement is important for the hearer to apply. Personally I like to take some time before posing a question or even responding to a question, but then my mind gets distracted and I disappear off into some tangent of thought. This drives my wife nuts and I can’t really blame her either.

Self-questioning continually helps an individual to raise the bar in whatever field of endeavour they may be involved in. The top athletes or sportsmen and sportswomen are always evaluating themselves. I always feel sorry for the captain of a losing team who is interviewed with some probing questions by the interviewer.

Years ago I came to an important discovery: When a person has the ability to ask a question, it often indicates that they usually have the capacity to understand the answer. The question opens the mind to “see”, to comprehend. The more meaningful questions that can be asked, the greater the rate of growth can be.

To those of us who believe in God, we have our faith based in the perfection of God’s attributes. A key as I mentioned in my previous article is the omniscience or all knowingness of God.

In the Bible we have the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden. After they had partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God asks Adam “where art thou?” It is obvious that God knew exactly where Adam was, yet the question was posed? Why? Do we think that God was being deceitful? Not possible, should be our response, God cannot lie for goodness and honesty are attributes that are possessed in full by him. Thus we need to consider the matter more carefully; could it have been a mechanism to bring Adam out of hiding and into conversation with God. The next question after Adam’s reply was to ask if he had partaken of the forbidden fruit. The artless Adam answered in the affirmative. Some may look at Adam’s reply and see an attempt to deflect the blame onto Eve, personally I would rather be generous in interpretation. Thus Adam was taught through questioning.

If we had to look at the beginning of Genesis chapter 3, we can see the lies of Satan when he tempts Eve. He uses a sophistry of mixing truth and lies in his conversation to deceive Eve.

Of course the Master of questions is Jesus Christ.

He used questions with great skill to teach both follower and foe. However, the most questions he reserved, were for his closest disciples. In almost all of his miracles he used questions to develop the weak faith of the supplicants into faith with sufficient strength that would allow their healing to take place.

The primary purpose of his questions was not for his edification but rather to help those he conversed with to look inward, and discover how to grow. Often he did not immediately respond to the pleas of the afflicted, I do not believe for a minute that it was callous indifference but rather granting the supplicant time and opportunity for added effort to strengthen and crystallise their desires into a more potent force for their own benefit.

The greatest enemy of Christ is Satan, or the Devil.

He too is a master of questions but his purpose is to destroy mankind, not save it.

The focus of his questions is to pull us down, not lift us. His keen eye of malice knows our weaknesses and exactly where the greatest impact will be. Thus, I do not believe that when Satan tempted Jesus, it was just an empty charade where Satan went through the motions. Rather I believe it was in deadly earnest, where the stakes were even the ultimate destiny of the world and all its souls of mankind, even the soul of Christ himself. The key element in the questions asked by Satan to Jesus were: “IF thou be the Son of God…”. It is easy looking back through the passage of time, knowing of the success of Christ and his mission, to dismiss the power of the temptations in Satan’s questions. It must be remembered that Jesus came to earth just as all mortal men and women do, with no memory of their premortal lives when born. He had to grow from “grace to grace” in all areas of life, he had to grow into an understanding of his divinely appointed role as Saviour of mankind. He had an understanding at a young age, that is apparent from the episode at the Jerusalem Temple. But the enormity of his task and the significance of exactly who he was did not develop all at once, hence in the eyes of Satan there must have been chance of corrupting the Saviour from the purity and singleness of purpose that his mission demanded for the salvation of men. All of Satan’s questioning was based around satisfying the appetites of food, fame and power. Satan was refuted by the Saviour using the scriptures. After these temptations the scriptures say that angels came and ministered to Jesus. To me this is a further evidence of what Christ had to endure, both from the 40 day fast and the dreadful temptations of Satan.

So questions, a part of daily life, posed by us and to us. In groups or individuals, the permutations are endless. Even animals ask questions, listen to your animals and you will hear. My dog Zena has a questioning bark, I hear and I have a duty to respond to her. My one cat, Nancy-Boy always asks questions, particularly when he is looking for my wife! Sometimes he wants food and other times he is asking for the French doors in the kitchen to be opened.

Young parents, when your toddler tirelessly and tiresomely asks questions, take the time to answer them. Questions are a wise investment, especially if they are answered with sincerity. The response is well worth the effort.
And of course, ask them questions, as many as possible, for too soon will time have flown and they won’t be there in our homes anymore.

I have many questions I would have loved to ask my father but he is gone.
Could I have used my time better with him? Of course I could have.

What about you? Do you still have time?

To ask the Question?