Search for Questions Without Answers

Jesus repeatedly said, “ask and ye shall receive.” The restoration of the gospel occurred because a boy didn’t accept the answers he was given by religious leaders, but asked God directly. The Book of Mormon is punctuated by a promise that God will answer any sincere question. Beware of any who tell you not to ask questions or that certain questions are off limits.

Situations that fail to find a solution in orthodoxy are fertile ground for receiving revelation. Postman and Weingartner wrote,

We are unlikely to alter our perceptions until and unless we are frustrated in our attempts to do something based on them. If our actions seem to permit us to fulfil our purposes, we will not change our perceptions no matter how often we are told that they are 'wrong'. (Postman and Weingartner, “Teaching as a Subversive Activity”, p. 93.)

In forming questions, we should be specific. Ill-formed questions yield less effective answers. They reveal the bias and/or ill preparation of the asker. For example, asking “is the church true” reveals that the asker errantly believes that either everything the church does is sanctioned by God, or nothing the church does is sanctioned by God. A better question would be to ask what is really wanted. As Heisenberg said, “We have to remember that what we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our methods of questioning.” For example, “should I be baptized into the LDS church, given that at least some doctrines it teaches are true” is a much more effective question than “is the church true.” The Spirit has to answer your question: even if your question is ill-posed, he will tell you the answer that will bring you closer to God.¹ The way we ask questions will inform what we believe more than anything else.

Every faith group has developed a vocabulary of words whose meaning goes beyond the ordinary meaning for outsiders. In the LDS church, words like authority, prophet, sustain, atonement, and apostasy have very different meanings than they do to non-LDS. A precise vocabulary is important. While it is easy to adopt the vocabulary of the status quo, we should strive to use more precise words:

The level of abstraction at which one uses language in any context is an index of the extent to which one is in touch with reality. The higher the level, the less is the contact with reality. (Postman and Weingartner, “Teaching as a Subversive Activity”, p. 120.)

There are experiences and situations that simply cannot be described with the status-quo vocabulary. Without a precise vocabulary, it is impossible to have a belief system that is falsifiable. Using an imprecise religious vocabulary limits the degree of thought and introspection that one can have. As an example, there are those in the church who think that the definition of “prophet” is “someone whose words you obey without question,” while some in the church define “prophet” as “someone who repeats words God spoke to him.” Say what you actually mean, and you will have a new source of questions to ask. A vague vocabulary makes for a vague and weak religion. Vague questions can only lead to vague answers. An articulate, precise question will lead to an articulate, precise answer.

Although unintentional, the verbal biases of LDS vocabulary have the unfortunate effect of preventing members from obtaining anything but a superficial and vague understanding of the doctrines and an inability to distinguish them from tradition. Loaded, biased vocabularies have the side effect not only of evoking negative emotions in response to critical thinking, but also of preventing such thinking in the first place through inability of expression.² Parsing semantics will sidestep the emotive responses engrained in the broader unspoken definitions of common terms and open the door to a deeper understanding of doctrine and traditions. We see what we say, but we must learn to say what we see.³ Specificity in terms unfortunately brings negative responses from those who are not interested in more accurate expression, who will see your efforts of verbal precision as subversion.⁴

We ought not assume an answer is the final answer. Alma taught:

It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. (Alma 12:9-10.)

God can only reveal as much truth to a person as they are prepared to receive. What happens, then, if one asks a question whose answer they are not ready to receive? God’s answer to such a person will be partial—it will consist of what they are ready to receive.⁵ To the person who is fully ready, the full answer will be given. This is one reason why two people can pray over the same question and receive two seemingly different answers.

God said, “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it.”⁶ The Spirit can reveal something that is true in your “sphere” of understanding, but to someone who has attained to a different “sphere,” or a higher degree of knowledge, would be false. This concept is hard for some to accept,⁷ but consider a decimal point number as an analogy. Additional digits of precision are true, as are less digits of precision. However, to the engineer possessing the decimal of ten digits’ precision, the decimal of two digits’ precision is less true. Then there are those who round off and receive even less precision. Just as one could add digits of precision infinitely, God’s truth never ceases (even though there is a finite limit to Telestial knowledge).

Nephi experienced the progressive nature of God's law when God amended “thou shalt not kill” with some particulars that indicated, in the case of Laban, that it was indeed correct to kill. There was a higher law, an additional digit of precision. As an example, consider the group of disciples in the New Testament that had received the authoritative baptism of John, but had not yet received the baptism of the apostles.⁸ They recognized a higher law, and submitted to rebaptism to gain the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Because the degree of glory we enjoy in life is dictated by the degree of God's law that we live,⁹ we should always be willing and eager to receive further light and truth in order to expand and clarify the law we currently have. This will likely cause us to change what we are doing. To facilitate this process, we should always be willing to ask questions to further our understanding of answers we have already received—like a child. We should never judge someone who fully believes that their actions are in accordance with God’s word when we have received a different answer to the same question, knowing that it is very possible that they have progressed past us in knowledge. Instead, we should do as Nephi did when presented with his father’s strange claims of having a vision that contradicted Nephi’s understanding: we should pray and ask God. Even if we are not prepared for the answer, God will mobilize the necessary experiences in our life to bring us to the point where we can receive the same knowledge.