I love questions. I love to ask them and I love to answer them. The reason for this is probably because I am both a learner and a teacher. So are you. There are things you know that you can pass on to others and there are things that others know that they can pass on to you. There should never be a time when you aren’t willing to ask or answer a question.
This is especially important for Christians. Christians are commanded to always be ready to answer questions. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (I Peter 3:15). In some ways this is the theme verse of my life.
First, we see in this verse that we are to be ready to answer everyone who asks why we have hope in Christ. This reminds us that in order for people to ask about the difference Jesus makes in our lives, we first need to be living differently. People need to see that we handle difficulty and trial differently because of Jesus in our lives.
Second, we need to always be prepared to answer. How can we always be prepared? By studying. Like a student who has to be prepared for pop quizzes, we never know when the question is going to come. So we should be constantly studying our Bibles, attending Bible studies, reading good Christian books, listening to good Bible teaching and learning more about Jesus.
Third, we should treat questions and their questioners with respect. So many times we treat people as interruptions. When someone asks us something, we should start seeing it as a God ordained appointment. Questions are a great learning opportunity. When someone asks, they are usually ready to listen to the answer. Answering questions is the best way to meet people where they are.
Peter says to do this with gentleness and respect. Don’t belittle genuine questions or treated questioners poorly. We don’t need to beat people over the head with our answers. We are not trying to win arguments or debates. We are trying to win people.
One of the great joys of my life is being able to help someone by answering their questions. That doesn’t mean I have all the answers. But if I can help someone else by sharing the little bit of knowledge I do have, I praise God for it. “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
Did Adam & Eve Have Bellybuttons?
This question, while amusing, is often asked by children. It’s a valid question. I don’t know the answer for sure for two reasons:
I’ve never met Adam and so this isn’t something I’ve seen for myself.
The Bible doesn’t answer this question directly.
But we can engage in some reasonable speculation. This is the story of Adam’s creation according to Genesis 2:7. “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” And then God created Eve. “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man…” (Genesis 2:22).
Our navels come from our time in the womb when we needed nourishment from our mothers through the umbilical cord. But God created Adam and Eve as full-grown adults. Therefore, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that Adam and Eve did not have bellybuttons because they didn’t need them. It makes me smile to imagine their children pointing at their own bellies and saying, “Dad, how come you don’t have one of these?” Then Adam would tell the story of his own creation, teaching his children where we all come from.
This question leads us to the more important one: “Who made me?” And the answer is quite clear. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule…over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Out of all God’s creatures, it is only human beings that were created in God’s image.
Human beings are the crown of God’s creation. When you think about the magnificence of God’s creation, that is a wondrous thought. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet…” (Psalm 8:3-6). God made us in his own image. He made us like him so that we reflect and represent him to the world. This is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility.
God made you, body and soul, exactly as he wanted you. David knew that. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…”(Psalm 139:13-14). You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise the Lord for that today!