Questions, Questions, Questions

Some years ago, there was a newspaper sold at the grocery check-out lanes that used the tagline, “Inquiring minds want to know.” The paper was filled with stories about paranormal subjects and gossip about famous people. It did a better job of raising questions than answers. I don’t think I ever bought a single copy of the rag, but I still use the tagline on occasion. I have the curiosity of a cat, I suppose. I realize not everyone does, as my wife often points out. However, I think it is good for Christians to have a healthy curiosity about some things.

I usually save my WHAMM for the end of these articles, but I am going to explain it up front this time so I don’t lose readers in the weeds where I am going. Being curious about things that are “unknown” will often help to bolster our faith and give us ammunition for its defense. Unbelievers will often throw unanswered questions at us to challenge us. Of course, it is unfair of them to suppose we know everything, but they think pointing out something we don’t know will diminish our trust in what we do know. This is why I think giving some thought to things that Scripture does not give clear answers to is worth doing.

There is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, the box being what we know to be true from the Bible. It is unreasonable to imagine that God has revealed everything about Himself and the universe He created in His Word. In fact, God said through Isaiah that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. What is true, as Peter points out, is that Scripture includes, “Everything necessary for life and godliness.” In other words, the biblical record contains everything we need to know to obtain salvation.

The category of “unknown things” has been rapidly shrinking since the advent of the scientific age. Granted, some of what has come of scientific thinking has challenged faith for a time, but eventually, what we know from the Bible is being proven by what we learn from science. Questions about the origin of the human race provide a perfect example. Charles Darwin famously questioned the reality of divine creation by suggesting that human life evolved from lower life forms through natural selection. Darwin himself admitted his theory would be untenable if we found that the inner workings of a living cell were more complicated than he believed. The invention of ultra high-powered microscopes has dashed Darwin’s argument on the rocks of scientific fact. (See Think About It)

Another scientific question as yet unanswered is whether there is sentient life on some other planet in the universe. Science has shown that there are indeed other planetary possibilities, perhaps numbering in the billions. While it is true that Earth is a unique planet as regards its suitability for human life (See The Privileged Planet), there is no good reason, biblically speaking, to assume God could not have created sentient beings on one of the other planets. C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy does a masterful job of imagining what unfallen beings might be like on other planets.

There is a principle of logic here that needs to be applied to our biblical understanding. Failure to mention something in a text, biblical or otherwise, does not preclude the possibility of its existence unless said existence would contradict something known to be true from the text in question. For example, an elementary text on photosynthesis may not mention the effect of ultraviolet rays on the process. This does not exclude the possibility of the ray’s existence or how it might change the process. Similarly, just because the Bible does not mention life on other planets or explain how God might have dealt with life there does not exclude the possibility of its existence.

Some Christians worry that if SETI ever does discover proof of sentient life outside our galaxy, the message of the Bible will be weakened somehow. This is nonsense. The Bible doesn’t mention gamma radiation, black holes, dark matter, DNA, viral infections, cancer, and countless other things that we know exist. My faith is actually strengthened when I read about new discoveries because I allow my “inquiring mind” to consider how the new facts fit in with the oldest body of truth I know: Scripture.

This entire train of thought was set rolling when I began to wonder about God’s relationship with all the nations not mentioned in the Scripture. The major prophets contain numerous words of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel. The future revealed to Daniel covered most of the events pertaining to the Mediterranean world, aka Israel’s neighborhood. And yet, historical and archeological records prove there were ancient civilizations in Asia that coexisted with the biblical nations of the Mediterranean area mentioned in the Bible. Other than some apocryphal notes that the Apostle Thomas may have evangelized Southeast Asia, there is no mention of these millions of people.

I find myself asking what to make of that fact. My inquiring mind asks questions, but there is nothing in my thoughts that undermines my faith. My best guess is that when God separated the nations at the tower of Babel and then called Abraham aside for His chosen work, He left the other nations in the hands of the other “gods” alluded to in Psalm 82. In that Psalm, Yahweh God, the One True God, chides His subordinates for doing badly in their oversight of the nations under their purview. My highest thought, though not as high as God’s thought, is that He was waiting for the Messiah to bring His love to whosoever would believe in Him. No matter where they lived.

If your brain is tired at this point, join the crowd. An inquiring mind exercises the senses in a way that can be exhausting. I find it to be a good kind of tired though, like the kind you get after a strenuous physical workout. Just as the muscles are strengthened by hard work, the soul is built up by chewing on the meat of God’s Word instead of lapping up only the milk. The writer of Hebrews says, “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have trained their faculties for the distinguishing of both good and evil.” Any questions?

Related posts: The Hidden Things; Bible Trivia; Understanding the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect; What’s the Deal With Ninevah