By the time most of our children reach junior high school, their natural curiosity has been neutralized by an insidious set of unwritten assumptions:<\/p>\n
Assumption 1: Questions can be embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to admit you don’t know something. What is important is never to reveal your ignorance. Don’t admit you don’t know something because others may think less of you. In today’s world, truth doesn’t matter. Image does. Silence your doubts, ignore your questions, don’t do anything that might cause someone to think ill of you. As Flannery O’Connor reminded us, “mystery is the great embarrassment to the modern mind.”<\/p>\n
Assumption 2: Questions can make people uncomfortable. Questions can cause others to question. Our doubts might resonate with others’ doubts. Because of our questions, others might have to face questions they have learned to ignore. Questions force us to think, to struggle, to interact with truth. In other words, the act of questioning is discomforting. Many Christians have silenced their questions; they’ve ignored the gaps in their thinking and don’t want those questions reawakened.<\/p>\n
Assumption 3: Questions can be dangerous. Many in our culture have opted to stay safe by limiting our knowledge to what we already know–a self-induced retirement of the mind. If we ask too many questions, the resulting answers might cause us to change. We might become accountable for truth and have to act on it. The Pharisees wanted to shut up Jesus for good. His constant questions were threatening to the status quo. Jesus’ questions were dangerous because the very asking of them was eroding the power structure. Jesus had to be killed because He had to be silenced. Asking “who is my neighbor?” and “whose image is on this coin?” can start a riot<\/p>\n
Assumption 4: Questions can be “right” or “wrong.” All of us have had the experience of asking a question, only to be told the question was inappropriate, irrelevant, or “wrong.” According to this rule, “wrong” questions reveal a lack of faith, a refusal to believe, a rebellion, a carnal heart. “Wrong” questions are unanswerable questions. “Wrong” questions threaten the majority viewpoint.<\/p>\n
… Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38-39<\/p>\n
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By the time most of our children reach junior high school, their natural curiosity has been neutralized by an insidious set of unwritten assumptions: Assumption 1: Questions can be embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to admit you don’t know something. What is important is never to reveal your ignorance. Don’t admit you don’t know something because others… <\/p>\n