Questions, questions

Some people are just argumentative; if you tell them that the sky is blue, they want to point out that when it’s stormy, then the sky is really more of a gray color. When you point out that it isn’t stormy, then they say, well, not right now, and not here; but later on it may be, or somewhere else it probably is. If you continue to talk to them, they will suck up your whole day arguing about things that don’t really matter.
Sometimes people want to argue the Gospel. You don’t want to just dismiss them, because it is important, but, a lot of times, it doesn’t really matter what you say to them, they just want to argue. It’s also sometimes hard to tell if someone has a legitimate concern, or if they are just being argumentative.
If someone asks, “Can God make a rock so big that even He can’t lift it?” then it’s a pretty safe bet that they just want to give you grief. I have heard some interesting answers to that question: One guy answered, “God made you, didn’t He?” but that answer requires a little inside information. In the education field (particularly military education) it is generally understood that there are two extreme types of learners (most people fall somewhere in between); there are those who absorb every piece of information you can give them, as fast as you can give it to them (these people are known as ‘sponges’), and then there are those who don’t seem capable of absorbing anything (‘rocks’). Another popular answer is, “Yes, God can make a rock so big that it’s impossible for Him to lift, it, but, then, lift it anyway, because with God, all things are possible.” My personal favorite is, “Yes, God could make a rock so big that even He can’t lift it, but He won’t, because then there would be something He couldn’t do.” That answer usually makes the questioner mad, because he/she didn’t want an intelligent answer, they wanted to be able to say, “See, there’s something God can’t do!” Granted, some people ask questions like that just because they are trying to be clever, but those people generally don’t get nearly as upset.
One good thought-provoking question is, “What do you think Jesus wrote on the ground?” I think that if it were important, then the Bible would tell us what Jesus wrote on the ground. My best guess would be that He wrote down the names of the men who were there holding stones, and He listed some of their more recent and more prominent sins. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if He did not write out dates and times that each of them had been with the adulteress that they were accusing (or, if not her, then someone like her). One suggestion is that He simply wrote, “Where is the man?” in big letters. After all, they said that they took her “in the very act,” I don’t think that she was committing that particular act alone. Did the man get away somehow, or was he right there with them, ready to stone this woman? To be honest, that’s something I’d like to know, but I realize that it must not be important.
In any case, we are instructed to avoid foolish and unlearned questions. It doesn’t really matter if they are argumentative or thought-provoking, what does matter is if answering that question actually helps somebody, even if only in a small way. We don’t have to let people just waste our time, but, we do have to be ready to give an answer of the hope that lies within us.