Like I'm a four-year old

In the movie “Philadelphia” starring Tom Hanks & Denzel Washington comes a quote that I have used as a silent mantra for most of my life. “Now explain it to me like I’m a four-year old.” You see, I find myself in an unrelenting pursuit, a life-long high-speed car chase towards answers. Ironically, some answers to questions I know full well I will not receive on “this side of the coin.”

But I pursue, nonetheless, like a dog chasing it’s own tail. Somehow I have convinced myself that I am special and will get a glimpse of eternity that far better theologians ever have. I am naïve enough to think that I may get a glimpse of God even better than Moses himself. Although, seeing that my friends look at me strangely enough now, I shudder to think what their reaction would be if I were suddenly glowing like the sun as Moses did when meeting The Big Man.

God is big. Really big. I mean, He is as wide as the east is to the west. I mean, a few seconds ago in our human understanding on the world, we thought it was flat and that boats would fall off the edge of the earth. How are we to assume we can understand God if we cannot understand the very world we live in?

 Now, stop for a moment and think of listening in to a serious conversation about the matter. Picture if you will a ship that sails off to sea, never to return. A storm has sunk the ship and the crew is lost.

John: Did you hear about Captain James?

David: No, what happened?

John: They set of a’sailin. Fell off the edge of the earth.

David: What kinda fools go off thinkin they would not fall off the edge?

John: I know. The goobers.

Flash forward to today, a few seconds later. Substitute some of these phrases to help show how far we have advanced:

(On the invention of the locomotive): “People will suffocate because of a lack of oxygen when traveling more than thirty mile per hour.”

Rock-n-Roll is satanic and should be banned.

AIDS can be spread on a toilet seat.

My, oh my, how we have advanced over the years. Foolish questions then are replaced with new and improved foolish questions. But you must admire our resilience. We keep moving forward, keep reaching out to the unknown. And this is a good thing. Simply think of advancements in medical science. No more doctors notes to school saying “Billy cannot go to school because he has a blood-letting.” or “Sally will be having a hole drilled in her head today to reduce swelling.” I myself, will be benefiting greatly from progress in surgical techniques by undergoing a procedure, called a Ileoanal anastomosis, which was impossible a mere fifty years ago. Cancer was one time a death certainty. But today, we have greater hope than ever before of surviving.

But we do tend to place a stigma on certain diseases or social statuses. And this can be traced back to biblical times. Leprosy is the oft-repeated phrase in scripture used to describe a disease. But it was also used to convey our paranoia, our bias and our fear of the unknown in how we treated those affected. With disdain & contempt. Imagine if you will, someone comes to you, cancerous. No hope for survival. You do your very best to bring love, comfort and compassion to them. Now replace “cancer” with “AIDS”. Where do your thoughts take you?

Now imagine you have contracted AIDS through a transfusion. You are now shunned by many. You are now the “leper”. Imagine the rejection, the loathing by others. In your weakened state, you care not about what you have but only that you get help, get better or most of all, be loved by someone.

So when I see the pain, the suffering, the hatred, the unfairness of the world, I cry out for answers. I demand, like Job, an audience with God Himself. And I find that I want it explained to me “like a four-year old.” I want answers to questions. Ironically, if I were to actually hear them from God, my head would explode from His bigness. Like giving intellect to an ant, my physical form cannot handle such power. I would better survive a tornado or hurricane than the voice of God.

Yet I pursue these questions with all my might. Why? Should I not just simply be content and accept that these answers I seek are out of my reach? Why do I not accept that there are things I simply cannot understand?

I guess it is because in the depths of my heart, my soul, I KNOW there is more out there than what meets the eye. I see scientific wonders of God’s brilliance all around me. He shows Himself to me in the mysteries of Quantum Physics and Black Holes. I wonder if He delights in our explorations with the same fervor a parent does when their own child discovers this world through fresh eyes. Eyes not jaded by pain and sorrow and despair. I hope that God looks at our reaching as a desire to appreciate all that He has created. I hope He delights in how we pursue Him relentlessly. I hope that discontentment amongst us all, allows us to make God more visible to those that have lost that child-like awe and wonder.

God said His name is “I Am”. As a four-year old, it was all the explanation I needed. Somewhere along the way, I refused to believe that answer was enough and I tool my own bite of the apple. Like my forefathers, I have regretted my choice. I now ask questions of a four-year old to adults around me. And more often than not, I don’t like the answers. I find that with each question, I keep asking “Why?”

Why does the color of your skin matter?

Why do religions fight each other?

Why do so many people go hungry?

How long do I keep asking why?

Someone please explain it to me, like I’m a four-year old.