By: Callie Walchenbach
Don’t Stop Asking Questions, In a brief message to a graduating class, I offered four remarks that I wish I knew when I graduated 8th grade. Here is one of them that I don’t think is limited to highschool: Find people smarter than you and ask them questions until they tell you to stop. In an age of “Hey Siri” and ChatGPT and Google Search, we have forgotten that some of the most valuable knowledge comes from those alongside us.
Instead of asking our co workers for help on a task, we turn to a YouTube tutorial. Rather than asking our neighbors for a cup of sugar, we rely on unknown Instacart shoppers. We don’t open a book or call our moms for help because we know Amazon’s Alexa will tell us what to do.
I believe that so many have lost the love of learning because society has deemed there is no need for it. Do you really need to understand how to craft an academic paper if AI can do it for you? Is memorization even necessary if the Internet is essentially attached to our hands? Do I even need to ask about someone’s hobbies if they already post about it on their Instagram story?
I have noticed that the majority of all questions can be divided into three categories: interest, need, and knowledge. I am not claiming every question can fit into one of the following categories, but I would argue, generally speaking, we can label most questions with the following:
Questions of interest: How many siblings do you have? Where are you from? What are your deepest longings?
Questions of need: Can I have some help? Will you show me how to change my tire? May I borrow a cup of flour?
Questions of knowledge: What is the context of 1 Corinthians 5? What is happening in the political arena? How do I make the perfect chicken enchilada?
From what I witness amongst my generation, as well as in this upcoming one, it seems that we are hesitant to ask these questions. We are fearful of being judged, mocked, or humiliated for not knowing. We don’t want to bother others. We would rather turn to the device in our pocket. While it may just be more efficient, I believe it is costing us real knowledge and stripping us of authentic relationship. There is vulnerability in admitting the need for help, and in both asking and answering questions; and vulnerability is the catalyst for intimate relationship.
My dad is the master of asking questions. More often than not, we are waiting on him to finish a conversation with a stranger where he asked questions about their hobby, vehicle, or career. As annoying as it was as a teenager, I realize now what a gift it was to witness. Because of a simple investment in another image bearer, he becomes better and therefore everyone around him does too.
In a world that is hyper individualistic, asking questions turns the attention away from ourselves and onto our neighbor. Like Tim Keller has famously said:
“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything.1”
How can we be fully known if we are hesitant to reveal our areas of lack? And in turn, how can we fully love others if we are resistant to actually knowing them?
Questions of interest allow us to be fully known and fully loved.
Questions of need give others the gift of serving and in return, the blessing of being helped. Questions of knowledge are the stimulant for engaging and life giving discussion.
My question is this: Can a body of believers look so radically different simply by asking good questions?
Perhaps loving your neighbor is as simple as asking them about their family; perhaps loving your neighbor is willingly admitting that you do not know something and need help; perhaps loving your neighbor is merely asking for a cup of brown sugar.
I believe that a body of believers that, in an effort to conform our character to the all-knowing Creator, steps out in vulnerability, pursues knowledge, and abandons the easy way will look radically different than the culture surrounding us.
Asking questions, whether it be pursuing intellect or the hard work of learning, can be an act of worship. Mark 12:30 asks believers to love God with their mind; Loving God with your mind begins with the asking questions. A life of knowledge only comes to image bearers who, out of reverence for God, work really hard to use their minds to seek understanding. This pursuit of knowledge does not just include knowledge of the sacred. God has gifted His creation with the capacity for learning to write code, and work with their hands and understand our neighbors; all for His glory.
It all begins with a question.