Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
Happy New Year

Thursday, November 19, 2009

BEWARE THE ANSWER MAN

THE ANSWER MAN is my most recently viewed Netflix movie. It stars Jeff Daniels and is a very good story. I especially enjoyed it because it turned out "the answer man" didn't have all the answers.

Ron and I once found an Answer Book that went with a very old Bible Study put together by James and Tammy Faye Baker. The question portions of the set were missing but who would need those? Here were the answers in clear and fine print. We presented this book of answers to my brother the minister and told him he could quit all the difficult research he put into his sermons because now he had this easy book of answers.

My faith is not grounded in achieving all the answers in this lifetime but in always searching and in being cautious of anyone who claims to have ALL the answers. My parents taught me to constantly search for answers in new theory and new discoveries as well as inspirations from the past.


The character in the movie
played by Daniels is named Arlen Faber. He had written a bestselling book GOD AND ME then had gone into seclusion. People greatly admired Faber's book and wanted to meet this man who seemed to have face-to-face meetings with God. This man was a genius at having right answers for every concern people might encounter so why was Arlen Faber's own life such a wreck?

In the end he has to acknowledge that he never had these question and answer sessions with the Creator. Then people wanted to know how he wrote such a good book and how he had such great insight. He did not know.

Have you met people who seem to have all the answers in life, only to later learn their lives are tainted in some way. If they have all the answers how can their own lives be such a mess? Does that change the good answers and make them bad or simply give you caution whether to believe it all or not? Have you ever gone back to read things you wrote years ago and suddenly wonder where it came from? It is like it was channeled through you by someone else -- someone smarter than you could possible be?

Too many answers and sometimes even fleeting profound thought can lead us astray. Beware the answer man even when it is you.

4 comments:

  1. I have known a few people who possess to know all the answers but in the long run have an empty space in their heads.

    Enjoyed the post as usual.

    Yvonne,

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  2. That last line is very good advice. To answer your question - yes. One of my earliest mentors, whom I idolized, was my high school sociology teacher. I went away to college and didn't see him for a few years and then met up with him again after I moved back to California. Lo and behold, he was an alcoholic and he hit on me! That was so depressing.

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  3. I can believe that people have the right answers and can relay those to others...but that doesn't mean they follow them themselves.

    My word verification is testus...which is really what life is right?

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  4. You know I really believe that God talks to me when I am not listening. Sometimes, I have the feeling that I know the answer to a problem we are having and that the answer did not come from me. When things are major in nature and I apparently have jumped in the right direction for no visible reason.... I just say "Thank You God" and accept that He takes care of me. We had a deer jump on our car in Kentucky on our way to Florida and it was a real mess.
    ($8,500. worth of mess) My hubby wanted to turn around and go back to NW Ohio, but I said, "Let's head for Ft. Myers". The car was driveable---it just looked awful, but when they started taking off ruined parts....they found the battery was cracked and leaking battery acid onto the transmission case. We had driven sixteen hours without any problem and we are happily in Florida for the Winter, but without God telling me that we should get on with it... I would be in Ohio without any urge to go through the move south again. (He Leadeth Me, He Leadeth Me!)

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