In search of a good question???

Questions are very, very important. Questions are (somewhat) like flashlights. Questions, like flashlights, help illuminate. Also, like flashlights, questions can only shed light on that at which it is pointed.

An indelible impression was made upon me as a student of biblical interpretation under James Walters. We, students, were frequently asking our teacher questions. Rather than answer, he would probe the nature of the question itself. This was very frustrating at the time. I distinctively remember him saying, "The quality of the answers you receive from the Bible is directly tied to the quality of the questions you ask it." Though I did not fully understand him, I knew a very important point was made and I have never let it escape me.

I bit later in life, I am studying counseling techniques. Again the issue of question quality is paramount. I quickly realized that a large part of what separates good/bad/mediocre counselors is the ability to ask quality questions. Questions , for a good counselor, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Under the surface lies the integration of theories and techniques. The asking of questions themselves is an art form.

By this point in my life, I am realizing that there is far more to questions than I had previously realized.

One simple point I remember from those days is the idea of assumptions the underlie questions. A big deal was being made at the time about moving away from questions that assume dysfunction and moving toward questions that assume health. Rather than assume something is broke and in need of fixing, lets assume that things can work right if given adequate opportunity. This leads to questions of constraints.

What is it that is constraining healthy functioning? Marriage is naturally good and mutually satisfying. If your marriage is not, it is not because you are dysfunctional, it is because something is constraining the good and normal marital processes.

This is a serious oversimplification, but I hope you can see the point.

Back to the indwelling Holy Spirit in Acts...

What constrains the Holy Spirit's dwelling with me? What constrains God's will in the family of believers known as the Sunshine Church of Christ?

What are your thoughts?