Where
did Cain’s wife come from? On one level a wholly irrelevant question; on
another a most profound puzzle, but it is questions like this that can set
people off on a journey that could lead to a very different understanding of
the Bible and then the Christian faith itself. There are some who feel that
such questions are better kept under a lid and should be avoided at all costs.
But for many the questions just don’t go away, they gnaw away on the inside and
insist on being heard.
A quest for answers
Over
the centuries many have followed the questions they have and in their quest
have managed to change the church. Here’s one paragraph about such quests from
Brian McLaren’s book – A New Kind of
Christianity – that I find quite powerful:
Paradigms
and dogma can be defended and enforced with guns and prisons, bullets and
bonfires, threats and humiliations, fatwas and excommunications. But paradigms
and dogma remain profoundly vulnerable when anomalies are present. They can be
undone by something as simple as a question … a question about the divine right
of kings, about the origin of species, about the relation between matter and
energy, about the way races can and should relate to one another, about the
motion of planets, and about standard operating procedures used by the Church.
10 questions
In
his book McLaren asks and attempts to answer 10 questions that he reckons many
believers struggle with today. Questions such as: ‘Is God violent?’ ‘How should
the Bible be understood?’ and ‘How do we relate to other religions?’ For some
the old stock answers continue to be sufficient but for others these answers
are wholly inadequate.
What
questions do you have? And are you willing to allow them to lead you on your
own quest?
