Questions of God: About questions

Questions gnaw at us. They prod and poke us. They inspire our imaginations. They cause us to relive painful things from the past. Sometimes they come as friends, agents of change and discovery. Above all, questions are important, the real ones anyway. I’m not talking about “how-are-you-fine.” I’m talking about “why am I here on this planet?” “What am I here to do, if anything?” 

Real questions rarely get asked out loud these days, because everybody is supposed to just already know their answers.  Real questions are big. Real questions upset the apple cart and make people uncomfortable. 

Why did thirteen people, mostly just kids, get gunned down at Columbine High School that April day?

How can a guy like Jim Jones lead so many people to take their own lives?

Does what I do on a daily basis make a difference to anyone at all other than me?

Will we ever be free of the images of hate and fear we hold on to from past events, like the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 or hurricane Katrina?

Is it possible for people to put aside their prejudices and love one another? 

Is there a purpose to our lives or are all of these things we occupy ourselves with just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

I once read a book that said the answer to life, the universe and everything is forty-two. But, the problem was that the question was so incredibly complex that, in order for the great computer made to calculate the problem to come up with an answer, it had to erase the original question. And so it goes. I think they call that an infinite regress.

The first question in the Bible, remember it? It is very famous, unforgettable, actually.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The New Testament identifies the serpent as the Devil and Satan, or Adversary.

And all he really did was make Eve, and Adam, look to their own interpretation of what God had said, and make them wonder, “What was it He said again?” And since then, the Devil has not changed his strategy one bit. So he doesn’t show up in your bedroom in a red suit wielding a pitchfork saying, “Hey there, I’m the Devil, let’s go do some bad stuff!” He just comes to you and says, “Did God really say?…” And the questions come.
(from JavaJazzJesus)