To believe when there is no answer: the first faith
characteristic listed in Alton’s faith letter is perhaps the most essential
one for mankind who dwells in a perpetual state of being the endless questioner. We want ready answers and can even impatiently
dismiss as irrelevant those questions that do not have them. Certainly a key to human progress is the ability
to tolerate and continue to ask open questions.
This is the heart of discovery—the ability to sustain effort even in the
face of uncertainty, even mystery. I
have sometimes fantasized about being the “answer man” and have speculated on
what such a talent would be worth. In
the endless, costly trouble shooting in all manner of activities what if
someone could say upfront “I have the answer to that” and be right? This would make the power of superman seem
trivial. Before almost any activity and
part of any speculation is a host of questions many of them implying great
effort and patience in attaining final answers.
To be effective and sustain effort it is necessary to believe even when
there is no ready answer—to continue searching with an open mind in the face of
mystery. To believe when there is no
answer is another way of saying we have energizing trust and assurance that there
will be eventual answers. Some questions
remain open for a few hours, some for many generations. The essential characteristic of man is to
believe when there is no answer and thus continue in the pursuit.
I have seen on bumper stickers all my life that “Jesus
is the answer.” The question that
produces that answer is “what would a savior look like?” But before this answer can be appreciated one
must first be posing a personal question “how can I be saved?” and a related
host of other spiritual questions that only seem relevant after a certain state
of mind is reached. So while Jesus is
the answer, prerequisite questions appear.
And a final question will remain open:
why ultimately is man interested in the ethical and spiritual dimension
at all? Faith is to believe when there
is no answer.
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