Sometimes in the attempt to be profound some really don't even get what they are really saying... I found these two questions from someone trying to make a point on how stupid people in the emerging church are, yet truly has missed the point of his own questions as to why they are "unanswerable" or as he stated, "they don't like to". The truth is we like to answer question, but they must be "good" questions instead of questions meant to make someone feel stupid of to set someone up for you straw man argument.
First off the piece is a mishmash of "anti emerging/anti postmodern"... which as many of us have been trying to explain, we are not "post modern" because that is anti Biblical in it's pure form as much as "modernism" is... which is ironically as most often is fought for by people who asking these types of questions. So right off the bat the straw man is set up before we even get to the "questions". So maybe a pure post modern person can or truly does not like to answer the question, but then again maybe the question is not "right" in and of itself. (If one must know about the "piece" email me privately and i will direct one to it... but otherwise it is not that good to even really give it this much time!)
Here are the questions... (remember there are no stupid questions, but there are ones that are not clear.)
1. Is there such a thing as a right answer?
That is assuming you are asking the “right” question… doesn't it? To get a specific you need to request a specific… for even in math 2 + 2 = 4 unless one is working in the higher numbers as in 2.5 + 2.5 = 5 It is still 2+2 but the answer is not the same. Have you noticed that the gas pumps say .xx9999 after the price? So in effect you are actually paying $ 2.26 instead of $2.25 which in on the big sign… it is rounded up. So an answer can be just as askew as the question if the question is not specific. Get it? So is there a “right” answer… yes… to the “right” question. Often we expect to get the "right" answer when we should listen to get the one that is "needed". I think that the story of Nicodemus in John 3 or of the rich young ruler in Matt 19:23, or the woman at the well in John 4. All these people asked the "right" questions... but got the "needed" answer... and it was not the expected "right" answer.
2.Does the Bible have the right to tell you how to think?
First off it is not the “Bible” telling us anything. It is God who through His written word tells us something. So the question is askew.
So assuming you mean does God have the right to tell us how to think? Yes… The Bible’s only authority is that it is God’s word…
Now this person may try to say then "By your own admission then, none of your answers to me have been right. And you can't give me a correct answer to anything else I say. So since you aren't right, don't you think you should stop answering me?" (Or something along those lines.)"
This person is turning and running because he can't be right... funny huh?
Don't let that manure pile baffle you one bit... instead then ask... "If man is a fallen creature and the bible teaches no one is "right" in the eyes of God, Whose "right" is better yours... pointing at him if he is in front of you... or God's "right"? I personally choose God's right over yours.
Yet, here is the question I ask but almost get no answer except so backhanded rhetoric about “not being discerning”… or about "drinking bong water".
In what way does God desire us to relate to Him?
Does He want us to just be fearful of Him? What does the Bible say about that?
Does God what us to relate to Him by what we get from Him… Blessings? Eternal life? Is God that big Coke dispenser in the sky?
Does God desire us to love Him… as He has Loved us? Ahhh, I think you are getting closer.
Now a person like that cares not for anyone but his own selfish ambition and his need to be "right". He is trying to win his argument by not continuing to engage with you... (yet you may have noticed he had no intention in the first place to converse... just prove his righteousness is greater than yours... so let him prove that... whooopy you are in Christ's Righteousness and have no need for this persons foolish selfish ambition that blinds him from the true Right that comes from Christ..)
So often one asks questions thinking they are being smart, but the question must make sense in order to get an answer… especially one that makes sense. Also, context plays a huge role in getting the "right" answer. So if one is making a point by asking a question, it is fair to advertise the context in which you are asking the question.
Does God have the right to tell us how to think... yes... God has the right to snap His huge metaphorical fingers and make everything He created never exist... for He is God... So it is by Grace we are here at all as God could just get tired of us all and say "goodbye" and we would not know the difference. God would be perfectly just in doing that and would owe us no explanation whatsoever.
Yet, there is something about this Love that God has for us and desires from us. It is freely given and to be freely received and to freely expressed back to Him. God can demand and will in the future hold us to His "RIGHT" or righteousness. Until then we are under Hims Grace and Mercy so that one may be saved.
Now, again, we do love to answer questions... but be sure if you are asking questions and are demanding a"right" answer... ask the "right" question.
Blessings,
iggy
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