Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Last week I got an email from Angela, one of the young parents at Holy Trinity, who wanted to tell me what 4 year olds are theologizing about these days. She shared with me the questions that her son Henry had asked over the course of the previous two days…

Does God die? How is God Jesus and God at the same time? If God doesn't die, why didn't God make it so we don't die? Does God like the cold weather? Does God like pirates? Do pirates do bad things to God, too? Where does God live? Was God ever a baby? Does God love sharks? Why did God make sharks? Does God talk to us when he isn't right here?

Henry alternates between calling God a he and a she. Angela wonders if maybe he is thinking of his pastor as God. He told his mother that he met God once and told her what he liked, and that God had brown hair. When his mom told him that she, too, asked God why we had to die, but that God didn't answer, he said, "Well, if you two are kind of close, maybe you could ask again and she will tell you."

Questions are such an important part of faith. We all have them, although we may not feel as free to voice them as a 4 year old does. But questions are nothing to be ashamed of. They’re not marks of ignorance or weakness, the way they so often are perceived in our world where we always seem to be competing to prove who is most competent. Questions are the product of a lively and curious mind.

I hope that your minds are full of questions about God. I’ve found in my own life that the questions never go away. Instead, I keep coming up with new ones. One of the things I have learned, though, as I’ve matured in my faith, is to be at peace with the questions. They don’t keep me awake at night the way they used to. I’m okay with the fact that for the best questions, there are no real answers. And I rest secure in the peace of God that passes all understanding. God's love for me is bigger than my questions, and that is enough for me. But despite that, I still have questions.

What are some of the questions about God that you carry around?