Abstract Coping with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions are often catalysts for paradigm shifts in technology, medicine, and in personal and community value systems. The value system paradigm shifts for individuals may be enlightening and positive or lead to a negative skepticism. Challenging questions Important to Christian value systems are often about origin, evolution, pain and suffering, age of the earth, and various creation scenarios. Education has the responsibility to help individuals learn how to honestly cope with difficult questions in ways that support positive outcomes. Sometimes it is learning that the answer to a question may not exist, can be delayed, or may be consider in alternative ways. Contemporary and historical examples are used as a framework to formulate approaches that can be helpful in coping with Difficult, Unanswered and Unanswerable Questions. Robert Moon, June 28, 2007 -i-
Coping with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions By Robert Moon A great challenge for education is to prepare individuals who can cope with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions. Such questions are often catalysts for paradigm shifts in technology, medicine, and in personal and community value systems. Paradigm shifts in personal values may be enlightening and positive or lead to negative skepticism. Important questions challenging Christian value systems include: Why all the suffering? Why would a loving God allow this to happen? Such questions are often linked to questions about origin, evolution, age of the earth, and creation scenarios. Education has a responsibility to help individuals learn how to honestly cope with difficult questions. Sometimes it is learning that the answer to a question may not exist, can be delayed, or may be consider in alternative ways. The ideal answer to a question gives the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and the answer can be validated to be true by an acceptable processes. For the most part it is only very simple questions that meet this ideal expectation. Ideally, good answers to questions contain verifiable truth. Sometimes what seems to be a good answer is later found to be only part of the whole truth. An Unanswerable Question is one where there is no way to obtain information/data that will help formulate an answer that can be tested as true or false. An Unanswered Question as yet has no proposed answer which can be tested. There are many reasons why a question might be considered a Difficult Question. A difficult question might be considered as answered and later be determined to be unanswerable. A Difficult Question might have a proposed answer that seems inconsistent with answers to other related questions. Some apparently simple questions have had answers which were believed for millenniums but later demonstrated to be false. Such a question was how does the sun rise and set? The obvious answer was that it rotates around the Earth. Associated with this perception was the belief that the Earth was the center of the universe. The challenge to this answer gave rise to the Copernican Conflict. Copernicus proposed that the Earth rotated on its axis which made it appear that the sun rose and set and that the Earth was not the center of the universe. After Copernicus death mathematicians and astronomers who held this new position were persecuted as heretics. Eventually the evidence was so compelling that Copernicus s position was generally accepted. -1-
Some Answers Can Wait. It was a beautiful sunny day in the mountains of Wyoming. It was the kind of day the church hoped for when they planned the picnic-hiking-outing. As I walked with a gentleman, who regularly attended church I discovered that even though his wife was a member he had never joined. When I asked why not? he described some issues about geology. I asked Jack do you believe in a Creator God? He said yes. If you get to heaven and discovered God did it in six days about 6000 years ago will you turn around and go back? He said no. If you get to heaven and discovered that God did it in a different way that involves more time will you turn around and go back? He said no. I then said there are people in the Seventh-day Adventist church just like you. A few months later my son, who was pastor of the church, told me the gentlemen had been baptized and was actively supporting church programs. My son also mentioned that the concept of delaying getting specific answers to his geological questions until he got to heaven had helped enable him to become a baptized Seventh-day Adventist. A Personal Experience with Difficult Questions. When a teenager I did a lot of hiking in the high Sierras of northern California. At that time most hikers were friendly and helpful. Sometimes we would share a campfire and get into discussions about laws of nature and origins. This is how I was introduced to honest in heart skeptics, agnostics and atheists. This started me thinking seriously about challenging questions concerning origins, creation, evolution and God. In college I took double major in mathematics and chemistry with a minor in physics. These disciplines provided tools to examine questions about origins, but provided few answers. Many faculty seemed unwilling to admit there were issues or dismissed questions with unsatisfactory simplistic responses. Some even seemed embarrassed to discuss the questions. However others including Drs. Walter Utt and Paul Quimby were instrumental in coaching me through the development of strategies to deal with Difficult, Unanswered, or Unanswerable Questions. In my junior year I told Dr. Quimby about my experiences in the high Sierras and asked him if, for my upper division religion requirement, I might do an independent study with him where I could explore ways to address the questions. Dr. Quimby agreed and this began a year and a half of conversations and study. Dr. Quimby was a historian who for many years was a missionary in the Orient. Part of the time he worked for some China s most famous leaders. He gave what they paid him to the church and he took only his missionary salary. While in China Dr. Quimby gained valuable insights about Eastern philosophy and religions. These insights were helpful as we worked on difficult, unanswered or unanswerable questions. No question was out of bounds. I began by systematically looking at Biblical prophecy and statements about science. I explored the dialogue between God and Job about science. While I found statements that seem to be more scientifically accurate than expected for those living at Job s time; I found others that used the creation ideas/motifs of the ancients. -2-
My study with Dr. Quimby led me to recognize the profound messages of Job. Job where were you when I did this? Explain how I did this? And, Job had no answers. There were other things behind the scenes that Job didn t understand. Job eventually expresses his commitment to serving God even if God choose to slay him. Job s relation with God was a faith-based experience that transcended any Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions posed by his tormentors or by God. I found interesting things about prophecy and science that were helpful but I also found many Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions. My studies led to approaches that I did not originally anticipated resulting in the formulation of a hypothesis. Hypothesis: If the Creator God of the Bible exists (with his declared attributes of love, mercy and justice) then He should have declared a life-sustaining approach to relationships where intelligent beings could live happily together in a society that will not self-destruct. A Variation on Pascal s Wager - My quest to examine the hypothesis led to an approach that I later found was a variation of Pascal s Wager. I found a faith affirming key to the hypothesis in the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah. His life and teachings provided a life-affirming framework for living that I desired to follow. Most people contemplate questions about human origin and rules for social behavior. With a majority of individuals the concept of God or gods becomes part of their consideration. Pascal did not think that the atheist or the believer would be convinced by his arguments concerning the existence or nonexistence of God. Instead, he proposed a Wager Logic. I have a choice: either (1) I believe God exists or (2) I do not believe God exists. (1) If I believe God exists, and God in fact does exist, then I will gain infinite happiness. However, if I believe God exists, and God in fact does not exist, then I will have no payoff. (2) If I do not believe God exists, and God does exist, then I will have infinite pain. However, If I believe God does not exist, and God does not exist, then I will have no payoff. Thus, I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by believing in God, and I have everything to lose and nothing to gain by not believing in God. On these grounds, one would be foolish not to believe. A problem some have with Pascal s Wager is his belief that if God exists and they do not believe, the results will be the eternal pain of Hell. Pascal likely came to this position because he was part of the Catholic community which believed in eternal Hell. This makes his God concept that of an eternal torturer. This seems inconsistent with the life and teachings of a loving Christ although some would argue otherwise. Philosophers struggles with epistemology and ontology have resulted in various schools of philosophy. Some philosophers concluded that a formal proof that God exists or does not exist is beyond the human capability. Those who take this position are still left with -3-
questions of an axiology, what is the benefit or what is the value of God(s) versus no God(s)? Questions about the value of God(s) versus no God(s) immediately lead to consideration of what type of God(s). A study of this question led me to understandings that help with the God questions which relate to epistemology and ontology. My considered of the question "if God is like this what is the implication?" led me to a variation of Pascal's Wager. The important issue to thoughtful seekers who contemplate the possibility of a relation with a supreme being is what is God like?. A disciple asked Jesus to SHOW us the FATHER. Philips request with Christ s reply as found in John 14:8-10 (KJV) translation states: (8) Philip saith unto him, Lord, SHOW us the FATHER, and it sufficeth us. (9) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the FATHER; and how sayest thou [then ], SHOW us the FATHER? (10) Believest thou not that I am in the FATHER, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the FATHER that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. The variation of Pascal's Wager I formulated while studying with Dr. Quimby, I later found was similar to what others had developed. It was a result that considered various philosophies, religions and concepts of God(s). It allowed me to say God if you're like this come into my life and make a difference, show me! The concepts of God that allowed me to make this invitation were, in part, from John 14: 7-10 and the subsequent study of the life and teachings of Jesus. I found hope in the relationships revealed in this study and was happy to invite such a God into my life. My rational for inviting such a God into my life is as follows: 1. If the God reflected in the life and teachings of Christ exists and I invite him to be part of my life, He will make my life more meaningful now. He will also lead me into a path where I eventually have an eternal joyful existence with a loving God and safe loving intelligent beings. 2. If God does not exist I believe that the expectations for relationship and responsibility found in the life and teachings of Christ are superior to others I have studied and will help me have a more meaningful life now. It is a great placebo if nothing else. 3. If God exists and I chose not to invite him to be part of my experience, my perception of the teachings of Christ are that my eventual outcome will be eternal destruction not eternal torture. Some concepts about God(s) have been and are now used to get believers to intimidate, coerce, torture, and/or kill others who do not believe or act correctly. This is detestable! The God who is part of my experience (real or imagined) is not like that. I have never regretted my decision to make the invitation to the God reflected in the life and teachings of Jesus to become part of my experience. -4-
A beginning to the important God quest is the third question of Table 1 (which follows) where generic questions of philosophy are applied to the examination of the God concepts. Table 1. Philosophy and the Considerations about God Area of Philosophy General Question God Specific Question Epistemology 1. How Can we Know? G1. How can we know if God exists? Ontology/Metaphysics 2. What is Real/True? G2. Is God Real/True? Axiology 3. What is of Value? G3. What is the Value of A GOD LIKE THIS? To consider question G3, it is essential to define A GOD LIKE THIS. Different definitions for A GOD LIKE THIS will result in different answers to G3. I have had the pleasure of having friends who were compassionate but skeptical seekers. Some became part of a Christian community when they discovered that not all Christians viewed God in the same way, and some difficult questions could wait to be answered. Most systems of human government have been self-serving of those in control, lead to pain and suffering of the majority, and eventually self-destructed because of corruption. The big prophetic pictures in Daniel and Revelation provide a similar scenario where the eventual answer is the establishment of God s eternal government. The pessimism about human nature and human governments is reflected in the doomsday clock created by scientists shortly after the atomic blasts that destroyed two Japanese cities. Many of these scientists were agnostic and atheists. The doomsday clock is the antithesis of the optimism found in the Humanistic Manifestoes I and II that gave rise to a hope that through knowledge there is the potential to bring the best out of man in ways that he will solve his own problems. Such optimism is reflected in the works of Karl Marx where each is to contribute according to his ability and accept according to his need. The idealism of Karl Marx overlooked the historical reality of human nature. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men... There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. (Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian...'. Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 5 Apr 1887) The historical perspective of pain and suffering resulting from an impaired human nature brings special meaning to God eventually establishing the kingdom of His saints and destroying the destroyers of the earth (Revelation 11:18- last part, Revised Standard)." The sermon on the Mount gives an approach to human relationships that will not selfdestruct. Near the end of the sermon is a passage that is simple yet profound. It states "Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that -5-
is taught in the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12 New Living Translation.) Similarly Matthew 22: 35-40 expresses the concept that the law and Prophets hang on the two commandments of loving the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. God offers to freely provide anyone salivation who through faith accept His grace. (See John 3:16 and Ephesians 2: 8 10). This includes eternal life in a community which includes those redeemed by Jesus the Christ. The key to being a part of God s eternal kingdom (based on love mercy and justice) is about relationship; it is not about Gnosticism. It allows some difficult questions to wait for answers or to have multiple possible answers. It is not about special formulas or secret knowledge for achieving a saving relationship Is there a merciful, just, and loving God? I believe in such a God and that I experience Him in my life. This is my statement of faith but not an answer that can be validated in the traditional manner. A belief/faith response to some important Unanswerable Questions is supported by a persons life experiences. Their life is a witness to others that their faith makes a difference in how they live. Hopefully such a witness will draw others into a redemptive relationship with their Creator God that will have eternal value. I have seen where helping students develop successful strategies for coping with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions make the difference between being a Christian or being an atheists or agnostic. The concepts and stories presented suggest some beginning approaches for coping with such questions. The success of Christianity in this postmodern age, I believe, in part depends upon teaching how to deal with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions. Helping Christians Cope with Difficult, Unanswered, and Unanswerable Questions will assist them in Integrating of Learning, Faith, and Practice. Revised: May 12, 2009 C:\01BOB\ARTICLExRM\CopeDifficultQusecions04W ithabstracf.wpd -6-