Now, before I make my point, let me clarify a few things. First of all, I believe that questions are good, as long as they are asked honestly for the purpose of discovering truth. Secondly, a pursuit of truth is vital for life because hope is rooted in the possibility of truth. This means that asking questions to find truth is a wonderful idea—the best idea, in fact. After all, truth can be tested and still remain true. Therefore, asking questions in the search for truth is something that all people should do.
So how does this relate to Christianity? Well, Christianity claims to be true. This means that it is open to being tested. In fact, it's begging to be tested. G.K. Chesterton notes, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."¹ Just because the answers are not easy to find does not mean that they are not out there. I think it's interesting to note that Christianity has not yet been proven wrong—and the only thing one would have to do to disprove Christianity is to disprove its Book, the Bible. Hundreds of minds have scrutinized this Holy Book in the attempt to expose falsehood. The problem? Not one could do it. Many of them actually ended up believing it!
So what's the point of all this, you ask? Questions are good. Searching for truth is a meaningful, beneficial, and necessary pursuit. So far, Christianity has lived up to the test of questions; it has proven itself to be true. So when we have questions, it's okay to ask them.
But what about those questions that don't seem to have an answer? You know, the ones that theologians have debated over for centuries, the ones that human minds can't seem to grasp.
Don't get me wrong: Such questions do exist. However, they are not directed at all towards the means of salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 14:6). The issue of salvation is firmly established, and this is all one really needs to know in the end.
The "impossible" questions deal with other issues (like the idea of "predestination," for example). And yes, humans have debated them ever since the Bible was written. I'm sure there are answers for these questions, but I think it's quite possible that these answers are incomprehensible to our human minds.
So what do we do here? What about these seemingly unanswerable questions?
First of all, accept what you know. We know the way to salvation and the truth of Christ's resurrection. Accept these facts, believe in Christ, and live in the joy that He brings!
Secondly, know that God has the answers. And He doesn't always reveal everything to us because we just won't understand. (Look at Job's story, for example!) But He does do more than that. He gives us more than answers.
He gives us Himself.
In C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces, this theme is presented beautifully in the retelling of the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche. His protagonist, Orual, struggles with questions and pleads with the gods for a chance to demand an answer. But the gods don't give her an answer. Instead, they strip her pride away, ever so gently, and reveal themselves. Orual is left humbled, saying, "I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?" (p. 308).
There will come a day when we will learn the same lesson that Orual did. We will face our God—our Creator—with our questions and our doubts and our filthiness, and He will turn to us with a face full of love and forgiveness. He will see us as clean, redeemed by His own blood. And before that face, all our questions, all our doubts, all our fears—everything—will fade away.
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¹ From Chesterton’s What is Wrong with the World? (1910). Source: Brainyquote.com.
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