Sometimes you’re going to come across some uncomfortable questions and discussions, whether someone brings them up to you or whether you brought them up. It’s important not to always brush these things aside, because if you can’t answer a question or have a helpful discussion, these things will just keep bothering you or whoever brought them up, and you or they might go looking for answers or listening to discussions where you shouldn’t.
Sometimes a question can be answered right away and a discussion can be short and simple, but often an uncomfortable question cannot be answered right away and an uncomfortable discussion cannot be had so easily. Sometimes both a question and a discussion need some time spent talking about them, and even some time spent studying the issue or topic before anyone finds a satisfying, true conclusion.
A lot of uncomfortable questions and discussions frequently have to do with theology, morality, and religion. There are other topics just as uncomfortable, but I’ll focus on these for the moment. If you can’t question (or ask questions about) your faith and if other people can’t either, then is your faith really as stable and trustworthy as you think and say it is? If you and other people can’t have a reasonable discussion about what you each believe and why you believe it, why should either of you believe that either of you is correct?
Regardless of the topic, it’s very important that we are able to talk about difficult and uncomfortable things with each other, and to do that in a way that doesn’t drive us apart. Friends, family, co-workers, complete strangers, and we ourselves can all have some uncomfortable things to ask and talk about. Constantly ignoring something just because it’s uncomfortable is a very unhealthy thing to do. If you keep sweeping things under the rug, eventually you will have a dirty, lumpy, nasty rug. If you refuse to acknowledge the snake in your path, you’ll get bitten.
Related:
Reminders on Faith and Doubt
Uncomfortable But Important
Challenging Questions
Giving an Answer
“Do You Have Any Questions?”
You Are Allowed to Ask Questions