Questioning God?
The Armstrong Churches of God have always portrayed the "truth" about God and Scripture as fragile, and something that is only revealed to a few and easily lost. In other words, they have always actively discouraged their members from questioning God or their interpretations of Scripture. For them, once you have received the "truth," your sojourn for understanding is over. Indeed, according to them, further questioning or exploration is dangerous and might lead you to lose the understanding that you have attained. Does that bring to mind one of Christ's parables? It should.
The Gospels tell us that Jesus presented the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Pounds to his disciples. In both parables, a man commits some of his resources to his servants. In the Parable of the Talents we read that "he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money." (Matthew 25:18, ESV) When the man returned, the servant explained to his master "I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours." (Verses 24-25) Likewise, in the Parable of the Pounds, the servant who had received one pound, told his master upon his return: "Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow." (Luke 19:20-21, RSV) Interestingly, in both of these parables, the master of the servants was very displeased with the servant who had failed to increase what had been entrusted to him. Indeed, in the Parable of the Talents, we read that the servant's master replied: "You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:26-20) Hence, from these two parables, it is reasonable to conclude that God and Christ expect whatever understanding has been given to their servants to be increased by them. According to Jesus Christ, it isn't a one-and-done kind of deal!
Indeed, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told those same disciples to "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." (7:7-8, ESV) In the epistle of James, believers are instructed that "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5, ESV) And, there is also that ACOG famous quotation from Paul's second letter to Timothy: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." (II Timothy 3:16, ESV) How does that happen? By studying and asking questions! (see Acts 17:11, II Timothy 2:15, and I Peter 3:15) In conclusion, I like the way that my Bing Copilot (AI companion) put it: "In summary, the Bible encourages us to ask, seek, and knock, and it emphasizes the importance of prayer and seeking wisdom from God. š" In other words, if you've never asked those questions, how can you expect to ever be able to answer the folks who are unafraid to ask them?
Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix
