Del Shannon asked back in the 60s
To end this misery and I wonder
I wah-wah-wah-wah-wonder, why
Why, why, why, why, why she ran away
I come across this in my studies. I encounter it when I teach. Or even in conversations regarding Bible study.
I don’t understand this thought. In fact, I think I disagree. This thought leaves me downright emotionally disgusted.
We have several options.
- We can ignore the passage (hard to do if we’re emotionally involved)
- We can just cut it out and pretend it was never there
- We can call the author names and decide that not all the Bible is true
- We can quit reading the Bible altogether and cut ties with Christians
—Or—
Like Del Shannon, we can wonder why, why, why, why, why.
I purposely wrote why five times. A time-honored technique for finding the root cause of a problem in manufacturing is to ask why five times. Imaginatively called the Five Whys, one will discover the answer usually before five. On a recent interview, the head of creativity at Disney said that in his experience it may take asking six or seven times.
<Statement>I don’t like this passage.
Why?
I don’t agree with it.
Why?
It offends my values.
Why is that, what values do you have versus those?
<Statement>
Why do you hold those views?
(Statement, maybe taught as a child or read it somewhere, etc.)
Why did you believe that rather than this?
<Statement>
But I add another step—
What if?
What if I can show you a companion thought that places this thought into context?
And so on.
Try this on yourself. Try it with a friend. Caution—when asking why don’t sound like a defense attorney cross-examining a witness. We ask why from curiosity. We must ask as a curious person who then listens carefully to let the other person fully explain. Pauses after the comment are acceptable. That shows thoughtfulness and consideration.
Faith Venture 
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