Apologetics: Is Asking Questions a Sin?

A little bit ago, as my family and I were sitting around the dinner table, we were talking about spiritually abusive churches. If you guys have read my testimony or have even been around since the start of this blog, y’all know that my family has left several churches due to everything from shady to outright spiritually abusive pastors and I have written extensively about those experiences. During this conversation, my dad brought up a sermon by the pastor of the first church we went to (sarcastically dubbed by yours truly as the Church of the Holy Dollar) in which being cynical was painted as a sin.

But let’s define what the heck cynicism is.

If he had meant cynicism as being constantly suspicious of everyone and everything to an unhealthy level, I could see why it might be a sin. However, from how Dad described it, the way the pastor talked about cynicism made it sound more like he was referring to simply being someone who questions things, expresses their doubts, and looks for an answer.

That is not a sin. Anyone who tells you otherwise should be avoided.

In the Bible asking questions is consistently treated as a good thing. Numerous biblical figures questioned God and wrestled with their faith (some even literally wrested with God.) From Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Jesus Himself, people in the Bible questioned God. In the Gospels, Jesus encourages His followers to ask questions (Matt 7:7-8) and encourages them to be discerning (Matt. 7:15-20). Similar encouragement is found in the Epistles, and discernment is even considered to be a gift of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:10.

From this, we can clearly see that expressing doubts, asking questions, and being discerning is not a sin according to the Bible. It is actually treated as a healthy and normal part of the Christian life. So why do so many churches treat it as a sin?

The main reason why this is is because many churches sadly see Christianity as a money-making scheme. Even if they start out with good intentions, all it takes is one egomaniac taking over, or a pastor who gets too big for his britches to start treating the church as his personal piggybank. Anyone who questions the teachings or methods, then, is viewed as a threat to that church, and asking questions, even if you mean well by it, is treated and painted as a sin, even though the Bible never treats it as a sin.

Until next time,

M.J.