Questions

I had lunch with a friend today and we spent a lot of time talking about knowledge and wisdom. If you want to know if a person is wise and has knowledge, look at two things: first, observe their choices, decisions, actions and reactions, attitudes and behaviors. Wisdom and knowledge is not so much what lives in ones head, but how one moves his/her feet. Godly wisdom and knowledge is seen in the ability to live a godly life. Secondly, listen to the questions they ask. Asking questions is an art form, and those who have mastered the art of asking questions are those who are demonstrating that they not only have information about a given subject, but that they have wisdom and knowledge about that subject. Jesus was a master at asking questions. His questions had the ability to not only draw people out, but draw people in (introspection). Thinking about questions got me thinking about something Rob Bell said in his controversial book ‘Velvet Elvis’ –

“When the rabbi would ask a student a question, he would seldom give an answer. Have you noticed how rarely Jesus answers questions, but how often he responds with another question? Rabbi's had no interest in having the student spit back information just for information sake. They wanted to know if the student understood it, if he had wrestled with it. This notion is difficult for the modern mind to grasp because we generally think of education as the transmission of information. The better the student is, the better she is able to produce the right information at the right time. In the world of Rabbinic education, the focus was on questions, which demonstrated that the student not only understood the information but could then take the subject a step further."

The point is simple – questions reveal the wisdom and knowledge we have. When we know something, it will show up not in regurgitating information, but true knowledge will be seen in the questions we ask.

What kind of questions do you hear being asked? What should I wear? Should I purchase this or that? Was that movie any good? The questions we ask (or don’t ask) are very revealing of who we are. Questions are an art form and for me, I pray that I will master that art of asking thoughtful and thought provoking questions.