Answers! Answers!
Proverbs 15
KJV
1+ A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Who will say he /she never received instructions from his/her parents concerning how to answer questions? My generation paid attention to this very subject hence quarrels and misunderstandings among associates were minimal! Not so today.
At school, teachers took us through the process of how to answer questions, they told us what to do, that we should first do our best to understand the question by asking ourselves “What is it about?”
(An understood question ( problem ) is half solved! )
After which you proceed to map out the approach. We were taught to arrange thoughts in a sequential manner such as would be understood by the Examiner Etc.
They told us, the Examiner will not be with us to ask us what we meant by this or that so our thoughts must be clearly expressed – clarity in thought and expression!
Like examination questions, so is life, we are asked many questions by all manner of people we come across daily. The first thing to do is to identify the question, what is it about, is it about something you know or don’t know?
The process of hearing ( Listening ), thinking before answering takes time and this is what James meant when he wrote ;
James 1
KJV
19+ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Many a relationship has collapsed because of how a question was answered. Do not rush to answer a question! Slow to speak means giving thoughts to, and being measured in what answer you give especially the words you’ll use. Also of concern is the tone in which they are expressed!
The passage reads “ a soft answer” which suggests that there is a “ hard /harsh answer “.
Words are categorised, we have “ soft” and “hard or harsh “ words Every man unconsciously carries with him/her in his/her head a dictionary and a thesaurus! We build the contents of these as we grow!
Their contents are heavily influenced by the environment- home, school, workplace, social/religious gatherings etc. words we use daily are from these sources. Grow up in a healthy environment and your dictionary /thesaurus will have good (words) entries! The opposite is the same.
Proverbs 15:1-2
NIV
[1] A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. [2] The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.
It is not every question one must answer, silence is Golden we are told and it is true. Be silent, if you must stay to listen to the question or walk away if this is possible
Even the Apostle Paul warned ;
2 Timothy 2
KJV
23+ But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
Be careful how you answer questions! Please!
A thought to share with you