Seth Godin has a good take on becoming a smart person that can apply to the church. Here’s a portion:
If smart people in your industry are talking about an issue you don’t know cold, it’s very important that you don’t just sit there and nod your head sagely. I think there are two constructive paths. The first is to ask. "Wait, I was with you until a second ago. What does that mean?" You’ll be amazed at how smart and engaging this makes you seem if you say it at the right time.
The second approach is to write it down and not go to bed that night until you know the topic better than the person who brought it up. How else, precisely, are you going to become one of the smart people?
Have you ever been in church and “nodded your head sagely?” I know I’ve been there. Why aren’t we asking more questions?
I suppose we’re afraid we’ll look dumb, but our fear keeps us from learning about God and growing closer to Him. Which, ironically, is dumb.
Seth isn’t just talking to the ones who aren’t asking questions though. It’s a reminder for us that as we talk about things with people, we should stop to see if they’re understanding. We should create a culture where people feel safe asking questions.
So let’s get smart.
Post some God-questions you’ve always wanted to ask in the comments. Do it anonymously if you want. We’ll spend some time looking at the questions in the coming weeks.
Love this post.
My question is, who was it that said “There are no stupid questions?’
I don’t know, but Amazon has a book available about it by Tim Brownson.
careful you’re going to spark theological debates 🙂
i’ll put myself out on a limb, though. i have yet to do that second bit and do research on what sort of basis there is for a literal interpretation of genesis, but i did just finish “the language of god” by francis collins and this has me thinking about it. so, tell me jason, what do you think?
Haven’t read the book you mentioned, but I believe they were literal days. I’ll explore it in another blog post.
read said book and then please elucidate!
There’s a brilliant Friends episode where Joey does this exact thing – plays along when he has no clue, then starts buying encyclopedias…but lesson #1 is, buy the whole set, not just the “V” volume. 🙂