Gordon McDonald’s review of the biography of Steve Jobs challenged me. The whole article is good, and McDonald closes each observation with discussion questions that could inspire fruitful discussions with your family or church leadership team.
Apparently, Jobs was a church-goer when a child. Then one day, he asked his pastor to explain how God can know everything in a world where some children die of hunger. The story indicates that the pastor tried to end the discussion quickly, and that Jobs never returned to church.
Most churches are unsafe for question-askers. Like Jobs’ pastor, most Christian leaders feel uncomfortable when asked questions, and try to quickly end the conversation. Oh, we’re not rude, and usually do not try to make the question-asker feel bad. But those haunted by questions (or one persistent question) learn that few Christians will sit with them in their time of doubt.
This interests me because I’m preparing to teach about the Biblical Job, who raised many questions. Job’s questions were not always polite, and I imagine he voiced them rather heatedly at times. His friends literally gave up with sitting with him.
However, the strangest lesson of the Bible may be this: God endorsed the questioning, challenging, probing Job.
I hope I would have been a better friend to Job — that I would have embraced him while he blustered. I hope I would have been a better pastor to Jobs — that I would have encouraged him to explore his questions. I hope that I have enough confidence in God to encourage people to ask him every question they have.