It seems to me that an awful lot of people are talking, but not enough people are asking questions.  One person who I can always count on to ask great questions is my good friend, Anne, as you can see from her many thought-provoking posts here on PMIAB.  I have found another wonderful inquirer in David Dark, who raises questions as well as eyebrows from the front cover of his newest book, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything.  You can find numerous reviews of Dark’s book online.  Read them if you like, but you will only be wasting time that could be spent procuring and reading the book itself. 

As for me, I could quote ad nauseum from the book—and have elsewhere (you’re welcome, Facebook friends!), but I will appropriate here just one extended passage that I found personally remarkable, from the chapter on questioning our interpretations:

What will help you to give your otherwise theoretical faith legs?  Would reading the book of Job as if it were an allegory allow the Sermon on the Mount to change your buying habits?  If so, by all means, read it as an allegory.  Does the thought of Jonah residing in the belly of a large fish inspire you to share your resources with people deprived of access to food and medical attention?  Does inerrancy of the Bible assist you in being good to homeless people?  Does it prompt you to offer free tutoring to underprivileged children?  If so, move deeper in your commitment to the doctrine of inerrancy.  Read as you need to read to be invigorated and encouraged to do what you need to do.  Then believe as if your life depends on it.  Get worked up.  Quickly.  Move your interpretations in the direction of more righteous practice, and don’t look back.  Read as you need to read to be invigorated and encouraged to do justly.  Do what you need to do.  Love your neighbor.  Think what it takes.  This is the text.  Let it mean love.  The rest is commentary.(The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, p. 169-70.)

Now, go read it.

1. anne Says:
   October 13th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

   I seem to question more everyday. There seems to little I am certain of now. I think there was some peace in the black and white. Is that peace worth the narrow world view?

2. DVD Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 5:22 pm

   I think I understand what anne means by peace in the knowing, but for some reason I find peace in not knowing. Maybe it’s being freed from having to know?