Questions

So, I was watching the TN FL football game Saturday night and all I can see are those ugly orange shoes that the TN players are wearing. But that isn’t the point of this post.

Anyway, right before the second half starts, the sideline reporter says to Zooke, the head coach of the Gators (paraphrased with my own sarcasm added), “So, your quarterback is playing well. Are you going to run the ball at all in the second half?” What is the coach supposed to say? “No, we are going to pass on every down. We only gained 54 yards on the ground in the 1^st half. The running back had his chance. Too bad.” Of course not. Even if they were going to pass on every down, they wouldn’t tell the sideline reporter.

It leads me to a pet peeve of mine. Stupid questions.

You hear them on the sidelines of sporting events—“Coach why did you lose by 45 points tonight?” The answer is usually obvious—the other team is way better than us, and we can’t play offense or defense.

You hear them in the Miss America pageants—“If you could wish for one thing for the world, what would it be and why?” The answer is always world peace.

You hear them during interviews—“So, are you for the war in Iraq or not? If you say “yes” you are a warmonger, if you say “no” you think it is great to have a homicidal maniac in power.

You hear them from people you know—“How are you doing?” They don’t really want to know; they’re just being cordial.

Stupid questions lead to stupid answers and stupid conversations.

What happened to good questions? Questions that make you think; questions that don’t have pat answers; questions that actually mean something. A good lesson writer can ask those questions that get the people thinking and responding. But those questions are hard to come by.

I see that Jesus was always asking good questions. Normally when people posed questions to him, he answered in kind. Their questions were meant to trap Jesus or paint him in a doctrinal corner. But Jesus made them do the thinking. He asked the good questions. Socrates asked some good questions and made people think about their own presuppositions before he tipped his hand.

Imagine, someone making a statement, say on a forum or blog, that you disagree with and instead of reacting, you asked some insightful questions to mine out some more of their thinking and the things that lie behind their beliefs.

Imagine, someone is caught in a sin and instead of running to an indictment first asking how something might have happened, or perhaps what you could do for the injured party or to restore the offending party.

Imagine someone complaining about some arbitrary thing in the church, and instead of taking sides asking questions to see what lies behind their complaint.

As one who is quick to give his opinion about things, I would like to see myself and others around me ask good questions first, and then respond second. It is a call to humility, a call to understanding, and a call to patience.