Answers Without Questions

Recently I have been reading a fascinating book by Richard Lovelace called Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal. It is a book about how God brings renewal and revival in His church. Here is a sentence from Lovelace that has stuck in my head this week:

Modern man is not immune to the impact of traditional Christian terminology; he is simply inert in the presence of answers to questions he has not yet been induced to ask.

This is a profound insight. When we talk about 'engaging the culture' at Coram Deo, we do not mean shying away from the terminology of the gospel (terminology like holiness and sin and hell and atonement and salvation). We mean inducing people to ask the right questions first. The terms (the answers) are not useful unless people are asking the questions!