"The highest form of spirituality is the quest for better questions." -Kevin Kelly

I heard this quote while listening to a podcast today. Kevin Kelly is one of the founders of Wired magazine. You may have heard one of his TED talks about the internet or read his opinion on Artificial Intelligence or maybe you have read a copy or two of his magazine. If you haven't, I highly suggest looking into some of his stuff. The interview I listened to on Homebrewed Christianity was looking at how technology shapes what it means to be human. Most of us would be a little uncomfortable with the idea of technology being able to shape humanity but if we are honest it is an undeniable fact. When we come together, we spend a considerable amount of time glancing at our phones if not becoming fully engaged with people miles away from us while ignoring those we share air with. When we drive somewhere, we don't worry about asking someone for specific directions and landmarks to look for because our GPS will get us there more quickly and accurately. As an added bonus, we don't have to listen to John-Boy describe the barn that sits at the corner of the street we should watch for. I think one of the most significant ways that technology shapes humanity is in the way that we ask questions.

One of the more profound statements Kevin Kelly made in that interview was "If you want answers you ask a machine". This is the world we now live in. We ask questions of machines ALL THE TIME. In fact, we ask machines questions so often that we are beginning to lose the ability search that part of our brains that store some long lost fact we had acquired in 7th grade Social Studies. Our brains are literally being changed. Gaps are being closed and new ones opened. Paths that at one point helped information travel from our memories to the place of recollection, are rarely traveled. We also don't trust the answers we get from each other. Because we know ourselves so well and our inability to recollect some random trivia, we are aware of our friends shortcomings.

"What movie was that, from the 90's where Brad Pitt played the stoner roommate?".

"That was True Romance with Christian Slater".

"Really? I don't think that was it I'm going to check Google".

There is an illusion that has been created that implies we can somehow erase ignorance. It is a fear that so many people carry around. We don't want to be ignorant but more than anything, we don't want to appear ignorant. The funny thing is that technology asks the kinds of questions that create an expanded and "new ignorance" every day. As certain technological questions are answered it leads to more and more questions. Science has always operated in this way. New research booms often come from the answer of one small problem that leads to an endless number of newer and more exciting questions to study. I think this has been one of the founding cornerstones of scientific research and has been a large part of its progress. Science doesn't feel that it has solved the problem. It isn't afraid to ask good questions.

Expanding Theological Ignorance

I was thinking to myself, what would it look like if we, as believers, didn't take so many things for granted? For those who are reading this that think that seems like a scary question, let me remind you of a few things that believers have "taken for granted", and gotten wrong, since their creation.

Slavery.

Women being kept silent.

The world being flat.

Sickness always being a result of sin.

Segregation.

-and the list could go on.

I'm not bringing these things to discount the good things that believers have done, or their faithfulness, I'm just saying that there is a level of ignorance that exists in our understandings of all things. I'm also saying that it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Ignorance can lead to good questions. Our claiming to understand something or to have mastered it really only closes the door on further exploration. Take for instance what Paul says to Timothy in his first Epistle.

1:15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the foremost.

If we treat this verse like a proof text, then it becomes the answer to the latest Bible Bowl challenge.

"For 500 points, why did Jesus come into this world"?

"To save Sinners."

"That is correct!"

I'm not saying that I disagree with that statement but I am saying that it doesn't leave me with any feeling of completeness. I can have peace with a saying like that but it also leaves me with a feeling of ignorance. Thousands of books have been written about the topic. What does a God look like who sends his son into the world to save it? Who are the sinners? How are we saved? What does it mean to be saved? What are we saved from? I'm guessing that some of you who are reading have a quick answer for all of those questions as well. If you are honest with yourself, you will find that each one of those answers, that I'm sure is accompanied by a scripture, has dozens of questions of their own. The power of this trustworthy statement that Paul shares with Timothy isn't in that through it Timothy can answer the trivia question. It is in the way that a statement like that leads Timothy to ask some follow-up questions in his prayer time.

Jesus was a master at this illumination of our ignorance. Every time a teacher of the law would come to Jesus with a question, Jesus answered with another question. Or, worse yet for the teacher, he answered with a story. And stories have a way of giving answers covered in more questions. They were left saying, who is the father?, who is the son?, what are the seeds?, what is the lost sheep?, where is the neighbor?, and layer after layer after layer, on and on and on. Jesus wasn't trying to confuse us, he was just refusing to allow our minds to settle on a simple answer in a complex world. Jesus was trying to get the people to ask better questions. Instead of asking if Jesus died on the cross and was raised on the third day, our question should be what should my life look like if I followed the type of God who was willing to die to reconcile and redeem this broken world? Instead of just asking how salvation happens?, we should be asking what it would look like to participate in and proclaim its coming to this world. When you read the story of the Prodigal Son, instead of just seeing yourself as one of the characters, ask yourself what it would be like to be any of the characters. Have you ever been the father?, the wayward son?, the jealous brother?, the pig in the pen?, the farmer?, the food given to the pigs by the farmer? There are so many layers of questions in the stories of Jesus that we should be asking better questions. In the story of the seeds that fall on different types of soil, are we the seeds?, are we the soil?, are we the one throwing the seed? I think you get my point.

Where do we go from here?

As I said at the beginning of this post, our minds ARE influenced by technology. We have gotten a bit lazy with our asking of questions. You direct questions with simple answers to robots. These are the questions like who directed a certain movie, or sang that song, or who won Super Bowl IV? Those question have closed answers for the most part and have there place. The problem comes when we try to ask infinite questions to a finite systems. You WILL get an answer but I have the feeling that it won't change anyone's life. Challenge yourself to read scripture, at least occasionally, without searching for a specific question. Take notice of the way that it hits you. Think about the way it may feel for another group of people to read that same text. What type of questions does it lead you to ask? Do you feel like you just don't like it? (It's ok to feel a certain way about scripture. I think if we were all honest, there is at least one or two texts that don't sit well with us.) Part of the reason that the Bible has been around for so long and has confounded and challenged some of the most brilliant minds throughout time is that it can't be solved. Try as we may, when we think we have it figured out it has a way of colliding with our world and producing new challenges. Don't be afraid of asking questions. There is no such thing as a bad question. Scripture is littered with people asking questions. Some of them are painful to read. Some of them are violent and ignorant. All of the questions that man asks of God require us to be on some level of engagement with Him. All in all, I'd say that's a pretty good place to be.