questions and answers

In the Sunday paper last week, there was a comic strip.  (The comic strips are still the best part of the Sunday paper.) The strip was simple. On one side of the strip was a middle aged man sitting behind a desk.  On the front of the desk was a sign that read, "QUESTIONS ANSWERED".  On the other side of the strip was a younger man, a twenty-something fella sitting behind a desk.  On the front of his desk was a sign that read, "ANSWERS QUESTIONED".  These are the signs of our times.  Generational, cultural, philosophical change has produced this sort of paradox in thought.  There are people who believe in the answers.  They believe that life's big questions have been answered sufficiently: by science, religion, the B-I-B-L-E, some other dogmatic system or text.  Some of them may think that they have the answers to give; in a book, a sermon, a speech, a half-hour infomercial.  They believe that the Truth is knowable and that it has all been given. Others are not so sure.

Other people are questioning  the conclusions that have been given.  The belief that there are answers, absolute conclusions, to life's questions is being tested or even rejected by some.  Because the answers may have been too simplistic, reducing complicated things to a bumper sticker slogan or a bible verse.  That church sign- before the jump- is an example of this and contributes to the reason why many people have rejected American religion. (And I found that picture on google.) "Come inside to get the answers" religion has turned off a lot of people. I bet someone is reading this and assigning conservative and liberal labels to the two comic strip categories I've described. Its not that simple.  Because this is about people and where we live in our minds and in our hearts everyday.  Its about the struggle every one of us faces to make sense of the things we cannot understand.  
 I met a guy last week who walked away from Roman Catholicism because his questions were not sufficiently answered and, as a child, the very questions he asked were not welcomed.  He couldn't even ask.
I suspect most people live in between these two poles.  They don't believe that any system of belief or idea has the answers. They may not be overtly questioning those traditional answers or ways of thinking either. But that is not to say that all of us are not searching for answers.  Every person on the planet is trying to make sense of their world, their lives.  Everyone is assigning meaning to their experiences.  Some are more reflective than others, but everyone asks why and assigns a "because" of some sort.
Most Americans claim that they are believers in God.  But less than 40% of Americans are adherents to a religiour or faith tradition.  Could it be that a lot of believers in God are not satisfied with the answers that traditional, doctrinal, dogmatic religion proposes?  Could it be that they are not satisfied to be atheists, either, because the mysteries of life demand faith in God?  I suspect most people want to believe in God and want their belief to inform, shape, and make sense of their world.  Most people want their lives to mean something, they want significance.  I think that is why there is a trend toward spirituality.  People want deeper meaning, mystery, and a connection to God. But they aren't finding these things in the traditional religious systems, congregations, and doctrinal orders.  Unfortunately, they are searching alone.  And what they are finding is not always good or "of God."  
Jesus asked over 300 questions in his life, as recorded by the evangelists.  Questions like: "Who is greater, the one at the table or the one who serves"? and "Do you see this woman"? and "Are you a teacher of Israel and yet yo udo not understand these things"?  One of his most famous questions was in response to the question "who is my neighbor"?  Jesus replies with the story of the Good Samaritan and then says, "Which of these three was neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers.?" Rev. Robert Driver-Bishop wrote a fine devotional book based on the questions of Jesus. As a teacher of faith, Jesus reveals that our questions can lead us to deeper faith in God.
I think Jesus wanted people to live a God-centered life.  He understood that there are great obstacles and powers that defy and deny God.  He recognized that the religions themselves could become impediments.  He questioned traditional answers and answered the deepest questions about life and death.
Followers of Jesus believe that the way Jesus lived and died was the Truth.  He integrated his humanity with the divine will of God.  He demonstrated integrity.  But he recognized that the answers are not always black and white, either.  There is complexity, mystery, strangeness, invisible things that affect us all.
What are your essential questions? What prompts you to ask, "why", in hope that a voice from outside yourself, a voice of wisdom, a trustworthy voice, responds?
Jesus also said, "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you." He said this because he believed that we have access to God.  May we ask.  May we question the answers.  May we also br ready to receive new answers along the way, believing that God continues to speak  to us.