Reverend Clovis Jones had taught his daughter bible verses since she was young enough to speak. He had aspirations of her becoming a great biblical scholar some day. He imagined her having a biblical answer for every question anyone might ask.
When his daughter Amy got to be a teenager, she refused to learn any more bible verses. She began to object to his answers for her life. Eventually she moved out and stopped going to church. The minister was crushed.
Turning to an old friend, Reverend Jones asked Texas Buddha for advice. Pulling out a Lone Star Beer to offer his friend TB began to speak:
“Math books sometimes have answers to homework assignments in the back. A student who spends the semester copying the answers in the back will have no idea how to respond when the actual exam comes because he or she has learned answers instead of the principles of math.
“I know that you look at the bible as an answer book, but think about it. When believers are told not to think or struggle, but just to memorize the answers, they are helpless to respond when life presents its exams. Answers have no meaning if we have not first learned how to ask the questions.
“Go back to your daughter and ask her what is happening in her life that has made her outgrow your answers. Your daughter has grown up. The only way you can influence her now is to become her student as well as her teacher.”