Sometimes you hear a teaching you've heard dozens of times before, but this time something doesn't sit right.  Maybe a verse seems disconnected from the verses around it.  Maybe the explanation doesn't fit the larger story.  Maybe you notice that an important piece of context has been left out.  It could be a sermon, a communion message, or a talk with a leader.   What should you do?

Investigate it.

Not because you're trying to prove your church wrong.  Because you want to understand what the text actually says.

Take Your Time

Read the passage yourself.  Then read what comes before it.  Read what comes after it.  Read the entire chapter.  Sometimes read the entire book.  Ask who is speaking. Ask who is being addressed.  Ask what problem or situation prompted the conversation.  Look at the historical and cultural setting.  Compare translations.  Use good commentaries and resources from people with different perspectives.

And don't begin with:  “How can I prove this teaching is wrong?”  Begin with:  “What was the author actually trying to communicate?”  Follow the evidence wherever it goes.  You may discover the teaching was perfectly reasonable.  You may discover it was incomplete.  Or you may discover that the passage doesn't support what you've always been told it supports.  And that's when things get interesting.

Ask the Next Question

If you discover that something has consistently been taught without its context or doesn't accurately represent the author's intent, there's a very important question you're allowed to ask:  What else?

That's it.  What else could I have been taught incompletely?

That question isn't rebellion.  It isn't disrespect.  It doesn't mean your church is terrible or that your teachers were intentionally misleading anyone.  It simply acknowledges something important:  If one interpretation can go unexamined for years, others can too.  So examine them.

One Question Often Leads to Another

This is where wrestling usually begins.  You investigate one passage.  That passage connects to another.  That raises a question about something else you've been taught.  So you investigate that.  Then another.  Eventually, you may discover that the problem wasn't one isolated verse.  It was a pattern of reading verses the same way.  And that's where things can become uncomfortable.  Discovering one teaching that doesn't hold up under examination is relatively easy.  Discovering many is different.  Because now you're no longer reconsidering a teaching.  You may be reconsidering a framework.

“Many” Is Where It Gets Uncomfortable

When one becomes many, bigger questions naturally appear.

  • Why were these passages taught this way?
  • Do they depend on one another?
  • Did we inherit a particular way of reading Scripture without realizing it?
  • What happens if one of the foundational assumptions changes?

And perhaps the hardest:

What am I supposed to do with everything I now see differently?

You don't have to answer those questions immediately.  There is no prize for reconstructing your entire theology by Friday.  Take your time.  Keep reading.  Keep learning.  Keep asking.  But don't shut down the investigation simply because you're uncomfortable with where it might lead.

“What Else?” Is a Good Question

Sometimes we're afraid of that question because we know it might disturb things we'd rather leave settled.  But “What else?” doesn't predetermine the answer.  It simply keeps the investigation open.  Maybe nothing else changes.  Maybe a few things do.  Maybe many things do.  You won't know until you're willing to look.  That's what wrestling is.  You encounter something that doesn't quite fit.  You investigate it carefully.  You discover something you didn't expect.  And instead of immediately replacing one certainty with another, you ask:

What else?

Sometimes that little question is where the real journey begins.