Every man has at some point to deal with a loaded question from a woman, a question to which only one answer really is acceptable…
There is absolutely nothing wrong with us asking questions of God, of ourselves, of other people. Questions can be a valuable way of learning; Jesus often asked questions to stimulate thinking and conversation. But we have to face the fact that loaded questions are dangerous, because they do not genuinely want the other person’s honest answer; they want an answer which pleases us, even if it’s untrue.
The serpent in the Garden of Eden asked loaded questions. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen 3:1) Not only did he rephrase God’s commands in a wholly negative form, he went on to cast doubt and aspersions on God’s character and integrity, implying that God has only issued this commandment not to eat from that tree to protect Himself, rather than to protect Adam and Eve. He sowed ideas into Eve’s mind, offering the tantalising lure that eating from that tree would lead to man being ‘like God, knowing good and evil.’ The Voice paraphrases the snake’s answer in this way: ‘Die? No, you’ll not die. God is playing games with you. The truth is that God knows the day you eat the fruit from that tree you will awaken something powerful in you and become like Him: possessing knowledge of both good and evil.’ (Gen 3:4-5, The Voice)
Loaded questions can blind us to the fact that they lead us inextricably to one answer only, without letting us discern if that is the correct answer. So often, when we ask questions, we are not willing to face unpalatable answers. We keep asking questions just to get a different answer! But no matter how many times I ask the question ‘What does 2 + 2 make?’, the answer will be 4, even if I don’t like that answer. We need to be careful with loaded questions. No matter how many times we ask God if it’s OK to do something He has forbidden us to do, the answer will be no. If we hear otherwise, we’re kidding ourselves… or listening to the wrong voice. There is a world of difference between honestly asking God something and being willing to accept whatever He says and asking God loaded questions, when it doesn’t really matter what He says, because we’re going to do our own thing anyway. We have to beware loaded questions. The enemy is a master at them and because of that, it’s easy for us to fall into the trap of asking them ourselves…