Then you (you meaning me) say, "Yeah, but don't you want to understand it further, like how it works?" And then they say, "No; we're not supposed to know everything."
And then you raise your eyebrow and give them that skeptical/quizzical look that says, "Um ... are you sure about that?" [If you're not sure how to do this look, see the image below).
And then they look you square in the eyes and go, "Jesus calls us to have child-like faith. Booyah. Game Over." And then you shrink down to mini-Mario size. I've probably lost that game thirty times by now. Except I think I found the invicibility star today!!!
Ok, time to return to reality. These conversations are not a game or a competition by any means. If they are for you (you meaning me) there are other issues at hand. Which is why my next post will be about dealing with bitterness and cynicism, for all you people with issues.
Seriously though, this is a conversation I've had several times, and the conclusion has never sat well with me. Does having child-like faith mean we must be content with not understanding things? Is God truly shushing our questions? Is knowing that He is God the only thing we need to know?
[hyperbolic scene of God's reaction to being asked a question: "For crying out loud, kid! What do you need to know things for? I'm God, and that's all you need to know! Now go back to playing with your iPad and let me handle things. For Pete's sake!"]
Anyways, enough ranting about my feelings about the matter, let me tell you about a realization I had today. It occured to me that the phrase "child-like faith" comes from Matthew 18.
In this passage, the disciples are playing King of the Hill, trying to win the prize of being Jesus's Right-hand Man (I'm not sure why everything keeps turning into a competition in this post). They ask Jesus to pick his favorite. So Jesus does. He picks a little kid who wasn't even playing! (gotta love his sense of humor) Then he says,
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." In other words, get some child-like faith, dudes! But wait - he goes on to say, "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
In other words, this whole passage is about humility ... not inquiry. In other words, having child-like faith does not prohibit you from asking questions and seeking to understand how things work. In fact, several other passages in the Bible call us to have mature - not childish - faith.
If you don't believe me, just go to www.biblestudytools.com/search/ and type in the word "milk." Oh, and filter out all the Old Testament hits. Otherwise you'll be reading about curds and whey and honey.
Because this is not a competition, I refuse to end this post by saying "Booyah." Even though I really, really want to - come on, it'd be so ironic and clever and ... immature. Right.
But I shall end it by stating that I'm very glad that God doesn't shush our questions. 'Cause I ask a lot of them.
What are your questions?
Took Mark over the summer (not that that makes me an expert). Just a couple sentences from the notes for Mark 10:13-16:
ReplyDelete"The point He is making does not draw upon alleged qualities of children, such as “innocence” or “humility,” but upon the social status of small children in His time. As children are completely dependent upon others, so all who enter the kingdom of God must come as a child, completely dependent and powerless to make demands."
But humility could stem from their status too