Topic:   Asking questions to bring oneself closer to God.

Ask the Author: Question and Response

I am a Christian and I study with a Christian group that says that I am too analytical at times. I sometimes ask questions that brings me closer to understanding God’s word. Is this a bad thing?

- David, Jacksonville, FL, USA

My friend, imagine if you will, two people driving different cars on the same highway. Both people use their cars to get them to and from work. Both individuals take good care of their cars by keeping all regular maintenance appointments, changing the oil, etc. Imagine that the only difference between these two is that one is more mechanically inclined than the other.

The less mechanically inclined individual, in this case, has little idea how his car engine actually works. This person really has no need or want to look under the hood and understand the mechanics. This individual simply enjoys spending his time doing other non-mechanical activities. Yet at the same time, he takes good care of his car by keeping all regular maintenance appointments, changing the oil, etc. This individual is at peace with his relationship to his car.

The more mechanically inclined individual likes looking under the hood and likes understanding how all the pieces of the engine work together. He enjoys and finds peace in the exercise of separating something into component parts, in order to more thoroughly understand his vehicle. This individual equally takes good care of his car by keeping all regular maintenance appointments, changing the oil, etc. This individual is also at peace with his relationship to his car.

Now would you consider the more mechanical individual’s actions bad, simply because he enjoys and finds rewarding the act of looking under the hood? Would you say that it’s a bad thing for this person to want to understand his car on a deeper level, if this is what he enjoys and finds meaning in? Equally so, is it a bad thing for the less mechanically inclined individual not to want to look under the hood simply because he finds peace in spending his time elsewhere? 

As you drive with your kids on the highway would you not have equal gratitude and appreciation for both these individuals because they take care of their cars, understand, and keep them safe in the best way they know how? Would you not want them both to have equally fulfilling lives, and spend their time in what brings them peace of mind, understanding and joy?
 

View larger images of front & back cover 
of the great spiritual / self development book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.