Discovery by Asking Questions

Learning by asking questions seems to be one of the best ways to actually get to the truth of something under scrutiny. I think this is a key piece of true religion. There are great examples from the past that show just how influential some well considered questions can have.

1. Nephi and the tree of Life
2. Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Strong Opinions, Weakly Held

The famous quote from Stanford professor Paul Saffo sums up a lot of these ideas in an easy to remember mantra:

Strong Opinions, Weakly Held -Paul Saffo

It represents what I think is an important point of any question, coming to an answer/conclusion, but letting that conclusion be displaced by a better answer/conclusion.

A comic by Kostas Kiriakakis really helped me solidify this idea in my mind.

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I'm fascinated by this comic because it teaches a principle I am coming to appreciate more and more, focusing on a question rather than stubbornly on an answer. If new information can displace a weak explanation for something, why hold onto the weak answer? I think that dogma (be it religious or political) too often stems from the thinking that favors answers over questions.

As a teaching tool

As a teacher, asking questions is a great way to encourage critical thinking. Jesus often did this while teaching.

Difficult questions

Elder Corbridge talked about finding answers to difficult questions in his talk called Stand Forever at BYU. Deception is a sign of modern day in the scriptures, and hard questions should be expected. He distinguishes between primary and secondary questions. Primary questions matter more.

There are only a few primary questions. I will mention four of them.

1. Is there a God who is our Father?

2. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world?

3. Was Joseph Smith a prophet?

4. Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on the earth?

He was encouraging in a tone that urged individuals to look around and believe rather than trudging through secondary questions filled with doubt.