Well... kind of...

Have you ever been asked a question about love? Has anyone asked you if you loved him or her? Have you ever been asked if you could define love for someone? It’s tough. If anyone in the world can clearly define love, part of me thinks that the truest reality of that whole experience is lost in part. We can’t ever fully explain what love is - it’s too much beyond us, too much outside of our lives, and just too big to wrap our heads around it.

As I’ve walked the road of being a Christians for many years now, I am struck by the reality that quick and simple answers to questions often don’t come easy. "We live in a ‘sound-bite’ culture" says Dr. Ravi Zacharias. What does he mean? He means that when we are asked questions by our friends and families about God, questions about which books and books have been written, we are expected to give short, under 3-minute answers. Why? Because people are often too busy (and at times too scared) to really consider the health of their souls.

But the hugeness of responding to questions about our faith is something with which we have to come to terms. When someone says, "Why is Jesus the only way to Heaven?", we have to be willing to engage them fully, and make sure they are willing to hear a complete answer and not just one that will silence their questions. I have a friend who was regularly being asked questions about Christianity at work, and he would often respond, "Well... kind of... it depends...". Why this response? Because the nuances of answering these questions demanded it. Here’s an example. In Psalm 51, David says that it is against God alone that he has sinned. Is that true? Well, kind of. Certainly, David (in stealing someone’s wife and having her husband killed) has wronged many people - the wife, the husband, even his parents have been dishonored. But what is David getting at in his writing? He is expressing that idea that ultimately, the greatest sin that he has committed is against the perfect and holy God who created and maintains the universe. So you can see how a "kind of" answer is almost necessary here?

I think God made the world like this for two main reasons. First, these kinds of questions and answers force us to slow down and to consider the hugeness of God and of our very existence. Secondly, we see that these kinds of issues force us to live by faith (Romans 1:17). When we don’t have all the ins and outs of the answers squared away, we see that we have to trust, that we have to walk humbly before our God, because He is the One in Whom all the answers can be found. No matter how many answers we give, the ultimate goal of God is not that our theology is finished but that our hearts are filled with faith in Him. And that is something we don’t have to say, "Well, sorta..." about.

- Tim Carpenter, Campus Ministry, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at UNH