I remember it like it was yesterday. I grew up in a main line church but while in college became part of a charismatic college group that met on campus.  A very good friend of mine, part of that group, began to suffer a nervous breakdown and began to battle some suicidal thoughts. He had already begun to receive help from the mental health professionals who were monitoring his situation.  It was not too uncommon for some students away from home the first time to become overwhelmed. We agreed to meet at his dorm room at 3:00 to pray for him.  While there was no indication that he was under spiritual oppression or attack, the reality was that college was just becoming overwhelming for him. 

I arrived late to the prayer meeting as my last class of the day ran over.  I arrived and entered the room and was mortified by what I saw.  There was my friend, lying and shaking on the bed with no one praying for him.  Instead, there was one student praying over the window so that he may not jump out.  Another was praying over the letter opener, that he may not be tempted to stab himself with it.  Another was praying over his belt hanging in the closet that he may not be tempted to hang himself with it.  And still others prancing about the room, shouting into the air, supposedly binding the demon of mental illness. But no one was actually praying for him!  The room was full of unordered chaos!  Quickly I took charge and called others to surround him and lay hands on him. I prayed that the God of all comfort would bring him peace. I wish to say he automatically got better and finished the semester, but he did not. School was just too much.  But he did have a wonderful testimony after this season in his life had passed, as he would later tell me that without the grace of God, he would not have made it.

That scene always befuddled me.  Why did those Christians feel more comfortable praying over inanimate objects and shouting in the air than praying over the one in need?  I realize now that it was a combination of many factors.  First, most of them grew up in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and were only replicating what they saw countless others doing. Secondly, they had never been taught how to pray for someone in need.  But the main culprit was that their lack of personal time in studying scripture that led them to incorporate ideas that were never taught in scripture but were popular in Christian fiction. 

I saw a Facebook post not too long ago that read “It is not that people are not uneducated, it just that they were educated just enough to believe what they were taught but not educated enough to question what they were taught.” Scripture never supports the idea of doubting but does endorse the need to ask questions.  When Mary the mother of Jesus was first presented with what was about to happen to her while still a virgin, she asks “How can this be …?”

Later we find Jesus in the temple listening and asking questions.  And as a result we read:

• Luke 2:52 ESV – 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

The implication is that when we learn to ask questions, we increase in wisdom.  This book is about the hard questions I have pondered over the years. And like Mary I have asked many times, “How can this be . . .” It took me several decades to learn what I now know today, and I am glad to share those thoughts with you.  But don’t believe what I say just because I say so, learn to ask questions for yourself that you too may grow in your both your knowledge of Scriptures and the Power of God.