Philosophy 101

In two weeks I’ll start College and one of the courses I’m signed up for in Philosophy 101. The thing I find odd about this is that people are worried about me. For one, my best friend is worried about the subject matter. Perhaps worried that I might start questioning my religion. Or leave it all together. I’m not sure.

One lady I talked to at church saw my Philosophy handbook and asked me if it was Christianity based. I said Philosophy was about questions, and Christianity was about questions, so yes.

She promptly told me Christianity was about answers and walked away.

I agree, but only slightly.

Philosophy asks the basic questions of life: What is the purpose? Does God exist? What is right? What is wrong?

Get the idea?

Most people have a problem with the question “Does God exist?” but what’s so wrong with asking that question? If you’ve never asked it and explored it for yourself, how do you know it’s true? If you’ve never asked what is right and what is wrong, how do you determine what is right and wrong? What’s wrong with asking any of these questions?

The underside of Philosophy is that you never have a concrete answer. You don’t have hard facts. You do have something that you believe and (hopefully) a good argument to back it up. This is the other thing that people have a problem with: they get the idea that Philosophy promotes the idea that right and wrong can be determined by a person. But this isn’t true. Instead, Philosophy promotes the discussion of what right and wrong is. If a Philosopher tells you that right and wrong is whatever you deem right and wrong, then they are simply voicing their opinion, not the opinion of Philosophy itself.

Back to the original question, though. Is Christianity about asking questions, or seeking answers?

It seems to me that question is a little like splitting hairs. You can’t have answers without questions, and questions lead to answers. The true danger, I believe, comes when a person asks a question, gets an answer, and stops asking more questions.

We live in a society that says you ask a question, you get an answer, and you’re done. But in Jesus’ day questions were a way of exploring a subject further. You asked questions to better understand something. For example, I might ask if heaven exists. I get the answer ‘yes.’ So, how do I get there? Follow God and have a relationship with him. How does that look? How do you have a relationship with him? What does it mean to follow God? Follow the Commandments. Which ones? All of them. Is that possible? No. Then how do I get to heaven?

Get the idea of the thought process? It seems a bit confusing, but it makes a lot more sense if it’s played out in your head with your thoughts.

What we must do, as Christians, is submit to God by knowing that we can’t nor will we ever know it all. We must always ask questions. We can’t ever know God nor have all the answers. If we did, God would be obsolete. He wouldn’t be….God.

That’s why Christianity is about questions.

Questions that may or may not lead to answers.