Questions

Question:  noun – a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information.

I recently heard a podcast interview (LOVED IT – highly recommend you listen!) where the interviewee talks about many of the questions she had as she learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The interviewer commented that she was very “theologically inquisitive.”

Of course, this sent me pondering about the role of questions in my life.  As a coach, part of my training tells me to question every thought.

Doesn’t that sound like I should doubt everything?  But I don’t think that that is the purpose or intent.  Look back at the definition.  We don’t ask questions to raise doubts; we ask questions to “elicit information.”

In a math class, I might ask a question to understand how to work through a problem.  On the street, I might ask a question to find my destination.  In a coaching framework, I might ask a question to understand what thoughts are driving my feelings. As a parent, I might ask a question to better understand my child, or maybe even to help my child better understand something.

I love applying this to a gospel setting.  Joseph Smith asked many questions as he was seeking a religion to join

“What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?” (JS-History 1:10)

I know that when I journal and I have a question, my pen and paper flow with a multitude of answers.

We are encouraged to attend the temple, church, and general conference with a question, and we will be blessed with answers!

It’s only as we ask questions, that we will receive answers.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)