Take a moment to think about questions you’ve asked in faith.
What’s one that’s challenged you the most recently? I’ll start…
I’ve been wondering how much God really cares about the specifics of what we do in life. I’m not necessarily referring to the right and wrong stuff, but the things we do day in and day out. Does he really care which house we buy or where we work? What does it matter to him?
How ‘bout you…anything you’ve been questioning lately? Just post your questions, don’t try to give other people answers.
Updating…
Paul Romig-Leavitt runs a ministry called Torn Curtain Arts.
Music by Dan Spinks.
Good stuff Paul!
Paul you are an inspiration and you never cease to amaze and encourage me with your energy, thougtfulness and dedication to Christ. Keep it up man!
On the subject of whether God is interested in “which house you buy” as a second home owner I believe he is very interested. In fact I know the address he is interested in you buying!!!!!
Hey man! thanks so much for your encouraging words! I’ve been thinking about your family a lot lately! how are you all doing? send me an e-mail. Christa and I wold love to meet up with you at water world this summer!
Paul
Thanks Paul. I believe that when we question stuff, we allow God to reveal the strength of the faith He has granted us.
Thought-provoking, Paul. I like what you said, “I have a lot of faith in the Truth.” You’re right that the biblical heroes of the faith boldly interacted with God and that he’s not afraid of our questions. One thing I’m reminded of, though, is that honestly asking a question out of deep desire to know, experience, and be obedient to the answer is one thing, but questioning God in an accusatory or demeaning way is another. When my daughter asks me a question like, “Why do we bleed when we’re cut, daddy?” I’m sure to give her an answer and even enjoy the conversation. But when she accuses me of cutting her and “making” her bleed, then we have to discuss things like responsibility and natural consequences for our actions. In other words, I’ve had to catch myself on many occasions… Asking God questions is wonderful interaction. Questioning God can be counterproductive.
I love your Golden Dancer rocking horse analogy. It fits perfectly.
Hey marty, thank you for really interacting with this video and sharing your thoughts on the difference between questioning God and asking Gog questions. I really love the picture of the relationship between your daughter and you, but what happens in the time when she truely believes that you did “cut” her? I think about the times when because of some kind of confusion, I begin to doubt the intentions of the people who really love me because they hurt me? What would happen to your relationship with Raya if really did allow something to hurt her? would God do that? Why? What happens to our relationship with God If we really have some anger or sadness that’s directed at him but we’re too afraid to say it? or feel it? because we’re worried about what it might mean to our “faith.” What if it actually takes more faith to approach God with our anger at him? Would we simply spiral out of control and end up some kind of cynical atheist? Or maybe once we’ve finally been totally honest we can move into a deeper intimacy with him. It’s not like he doesn’t know what we’re thinking, he just wants US to say it. because the essence of this is trust.
Such a great little excerpt, Paul. I’m blessed by your honesty and continual search for the Truth and what God has for your life. We miss you, dude!
Wondering lately about how God really looks at personal transformation. Is the homeless man who professes faith in Christ but who doesn’t change the circumstances of his lifestyle any less a believer than the got-it-all-together guy who looks like the “model christian”? I don’t imagine that’s the way God measures things, but it’s certainly how we tend to measure “success” in terms of evangelism or “conversion.”
I agree Kande. To some extent I think that it’s easier to judge the homeless’ lack of transformation simply because they aren’t able to hide it as easily as we are. I also wonder if our (evangelicals) obsession with evangelism and lack of followthrough in the area of discipleship plays a role in that? The attitude seems to be that once you’re a Christian you’re supposed to have everything together, and that’s just not he case. I love it when people like Paul are willing to talk about their questions and struggles, it’s beautiful.
Thank you for your insight Paul! I am so inspired that we are existing in a culture right now of Christians that are comfortable with saying, boldly and shamelessly, “I struggle with x y z in my faith…I have questions that may seem like I am “resisting” traditional doctrine…sometimes I get mad at God, and that’s ok!” I am so encouraged by hubs like this that remind us that we aren’t alone in our desperation of searching for and experiencing a Real God and a Real Faith…one that has tattered edges and blurred lines and sometimes makes us hurt and sometimes makes us laugh and sometimes just makes as shut up and look around.
I too am excited about living in a time where it’s Ok to talk about our questions and struggles! I’ve seen real transformation happen when people become a little more transparent and I think that God uses that venerability in ways I don’t understand (but want to be a part of). You are certainly aren’t alone Erin! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for helping me to not get relaxed in my beliefs. Our faith should always be worked at.
Interesting video. I believe that entering into any relationship unquestioning limits that relationship, questioning God is not a lack of fatih but rather a natural part of the conversation. The listening for the answers to the questions is the difficult part… not always the answer I want to hear but God’s answer to me.
Yeah, I find the listening part challenging as well. Sometimes I seem to get “answers”, but more often I just get a sense of peace within the questions, which would be faith.
[...] Romig-Leavitt and her husband Paul run a ministry called Torn Curtain Arts. Music by Greg [...]
I just love this video. You’ve packed so much in there in just a few short minutes. I agree that God not only is okay with questions, but welcomes them, because he wants to be known. Great stuff. Now I’m off to put this link on Facebook!
Thanks for the video, Paul, Craig, Dan.
It’s interesting to me because when I finally got permission to really question and really feel anger, fury, rage toward God, it became a part of the process that led me to not being a Christian anymore.
The questions I asked started out being about myself: “God, how could you let me be abused? How could you let my mom be raped for years by her father?”
But they moved to wider questions: “God, how could you create a universe when you knew about all the starvation, disease, famine, war, rape, abuse–the untenable weight of the suffering of billions, stacked up through the years, in so many cases with no redemption anywhere even remotely in sight?”
I never heard any answers. And I finally got tired of the one sided conversations.
Thank you Benjamin for being so honest and humble in sharing a piece of your story here. I’m really honored that you allowed this ideas of this piece stir something up.
I’ve also been truly wrestling with the question of “evil,” and there is really no satisfying answer for me yet but I will say that there have been some conversations I’ve had recently that have been hopeful.
I don’t imagine God even wants to answer this question. How would we comprehend the perspective? Because one thing I guess I really do believe is that his perspective is different that mine… really different.
The story I’m going with right now is that God wanted to create a love relationship outside of himself. He knew that He could not do this without also creating true freedom and by consequence, pain, which by consequence created evil. This means to me that God saw the cost of love (pain, evil, suffering) and still chose love. So God DID indirectly created evil and suffering. The question I’m wondering about is, is suffering and pain essential to what it means to have a meaningful relationship with God and can you truly have a relationship without those components? If so, then what?
Anyway, thanks for being brave.
Paul
I guess I’m a little late in seeing this video. One thing I have struggled with for years is supernatural healing. I think I believe. I know people I think have been healed of both minor things and major things. But I struggle with a lot of unbelief as well. I’m not sure whether I don’t believe it can happen when I pray for someone or whether its a wider unbelief. The funny thing is that I want to believe it and I know the bible talks greatly about it. But it has definitely been one of my toughest issues to handle.
Great video. Along with the choice/freedom to love God came the freedom not to. Also the freedom to ask anything (whew! what a relief). I guess because my Dad is such a questioner I got it either through nature or nurture. As I searched I found it fascinating that so many “doctrines” formed out of just such a process—questioning the status quo.
One of our pastor’s favorite quotes from his old seminary professor is that Paul preached for the “renewal” of your mind, not the “removal” of your mind. How can you know what you believe if you don’t examine your faith? There’s a lot of false junk floating out there in Christendom, it takes questioning to dodge to nonsense yet hold on to the gems.
I could not agree more. I’m currently doing a project for my high school on The Power of Knowledge in Inherit the Wind. I am writing from the agnostic perspective and wish that more people were smart enough to think before confining to any single religion or set of beliefs.