The operative phrase “but let him ask in faith” gives a basic secret. Yet anyone with experience from the real world knows that, more often than not, the difficult part is to find the right question. If, however, your question is based on a belief that “Other people hate overweight people”, then you might want to think about why you believe that — is it about societal attitudes that you read about in the media? But even with the importance of these good questions, we must remember, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “There are more good answers than we have good questions” (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979], 9). You are saying to them, “You work all day in a specific world. Think of the responses of Book of Mormon prophets to either their own questions or questions posed to them. Rather, they gratefully consider the work, theories, and discoveries of those who have gone before, then study them and come to know of their significance and limitations for themselves. If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? May we be thoughtful and wise in framing the questions we ask and, as we ask, always express appropriate gratitude for the privilege of not only asking questions both great and small but also receiving necessary and wonderful answers from Him who knows all that we really need to know. Priming is a psychological term that refers to the increased accessibility of related information when a particular item has been retrieved. Indeed, the passage of scripture that led Joseph to the Sacred Grove experience includes both a question and the promise of an answer based on the asker’s faith. Many scientists can relate experiences when they or others made important discoveries seemingly by serendipity. But that, of course, takes us back even further, to the causes of WW1, and so on. Asking the right questions is more important than having the right answers. I don’t know what kind of shoes the Prophet Joseph Smith wore, or even if he wore shoes when he made his trip to the Sacred Grove. The distinction between proximate and ultimate causes, while useful, is of course a fuzzy one. I am grateful for but also somewhat intimidated by this assignment to be with you today. because a family member was caught up in the events of WW2? I encourage people to ask meaningful and thoughtful questions, not just what is the money and the work hours. Some of these secondary or appendage questions might be very important to us for perfectly good reasons but might also not have much significance for others or even the Lord. Because Joseph is a prophet, then his other revelations are true. In other words, framing questions is not only a first crucial step — it’s also something you need to revisit, repeatedly. Out of this almost unthinkable misery, the Lord comforted Joseph both generally and with great specificity in answering his questions, including some that he didn’t ask. What was the immediate chain of events leading to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria? Perhaps your interest is in Japan and how it came to that point, or perhaps your interest is in how a society can come to believe that their best interests are served by invading another country. The mission of Brigham Young University is unique in all the world, and I have great admiration and respect for those who really understand this mission and are absolutely committed to it. After this clarification, Joseph reported: He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. Your question has to make sense to the reader and intrigue them in the context of your article. In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child,” we find this good advice: I keep six honest serving men (I’m also ignoring the issue of whether going on a diet is a good way of losing weight — this is a cognitive exercise, not an advice column!) The truth is, … Some questions have great proximate significance without having any lasting importance, such as: Where will I find a place to park before my next class? [James 1:6–8]. Even when we are trying to think clearly and ask careful questions, it is easy to become distracted. Questioning lies at the heart of comprehension because it is the process of questioning, seeking answers and asking further questions that keeps the reading going. And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? The phrase “it mattereth not” is found more than once in both the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Likewise it is sometimes alluring to ask a question or questions that will consciously deflect one from asking the right or important or central question when it is known or suspected that the critical answer might to be too hard or too compelling. Said Jesus, “Couldest not thou watch one hour?” (Mark 14:37). When we ask the questions of ultimate significance like those pertaining to doctrine, however, the answers are stable and unchanging. It is neither intellectually honest nor rationally plausible that its contents would be found to be good and its testimonies true and yet its origins fraudulent. We will still have some fundamental things we will need to accept on faith. They are also available in paperback. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Because you’re interested in history in general? Let us again return to Joseph’s words: It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Ours is a gospel of questions, and our lives in all of their spheres require thoughtful and appropriate inquiry if we are going to progress. We don’t need to have a personal First Vision experience because Joseph Smith already had it, and we have his account and his testimony, together with the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost and of countless others. It only tells you of the things that are most important and really true. It took a rather dramatic intervention to command his attention. These are good questions. Why has the Lord (or the Brethren or my parents or the university administration) given the counsel that has been given in these circumstances?”. If important answers to questions are to be forthcoming from our striving, then the proper questions need to be asked. This post has gone on long enough, but let me end by making two last points, to emphasize the importance of asking the right questions. Learn to recognize the power and the reason behind what you’re doing and when to ask. But the instructor’s purposes aren’t the whole story. Asking a question in a room full of people is a great way of practicing your own public speaking skills, because you need to be able to formulate a clear and concise question, stand up confidently, project your voice, and speak in a context-appropriate tone (i.e., not too aggressively, defensively or timidly). Well that is what I thought before we had the lecture on it and before I began researching the topic. That gives you a unique and informed perspective that is valuable. It may be tempting sometimes to look for the question to ask that seems controversial or sensational or perhaps that no one has previously thought to pose. For our students to become critical readers, we need to help them engage with texts through a range of different kinds of questioning. For example, some geneticists may be willing to work for a long time on identifying the chemical sequence of a particular gene just because it is there. Be sure you are always asking the right questions. I am usually very surprised by people’s reactions when I say I always email my prof or ask when I have questions. Careful and thoughtful questions both from us and to us are essential parts of life. Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy? My experience in science and medicine leads me to believe that real progress is almost always the result of asking the right questions. But asking the right question is crucial, and it should be no surprise that getting it right on the first attempt is not something to be assumed! Explain instances when the use of questions can support academic writing in the introduction, body, and conclusion. If your question is predicated on the belief that “I’ll never get that promotion/a job unless I lose weight”, then you can see that your question would be better phrased as “Will losing weight improve my chances of getting a job/being promoted?”. Today’s geneticists who are unraveling the secrets of the genes and their role in disease do not have to duplicate the foundational genetic experiments of many years ago performed by Mendel and others, or the theoretical modeling of DNA structure suggested by Watson and Crick. Some seem to believe that faith and questions are antithetical. We can also benefit from those who have gone before in obtaining answers to our important questions. Though there may be nothing wrong with many questions in themselves, it is also true that focusing on the trivial can lead us away from the significant. You can open an academic essay with a questionif it serves your purpose, but here are some points you should bear in mind: It is often considered good practice in academic writing to specify your research question near the start of the paper, and then address that question in the conclusion. But the data that are presented, and the way they are presented, govern the conclusions you take away, and they depend on the question the designer thought she was supposed to answer, not on the questions you might be interested in. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, had his dramatic experience on the road to Damascus. This is a large topic, but I hope this has helped you understand a little more about the value of asking questions, and how to do it in a way that is most effective. Let me pick up his account: In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Good job. Jesus Himself got to this core question when He asked the Pharisees, “What think ye of Christ?” (Matthew 22:42). It's how you increase the capacity and potential in those you lead. Asking the right question is more important than getting the right answer Schools train us to provide the right answers to predefined questions. We need to be prepared when that is the answer to our petitions to the Lord and not be deflected from our responsibility to move forward and act on the answers we have already received. If we can accept that questions are not only acceptable but are also essential, then we can move to determining what are ultimately the best or most vitally important questions. Metacognitive questioning and the use of worked examples, It’s dangerous to be overweight / Fat is ugly / Other people hate overweight people / I’ll never get that promotion/a job unless I lose weight / I’ll never get a date unless I lose weight …, your grasp of a few essential points covered in class or selected texts, your understanding of the complexity of the question, your understanding of the nature of historical argument, your ability to write an essay in a particular format, Because the teacher asked for it (and no more). For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Also, the questions in their minds will encourage them to broaden their knowledge using the various sources available. Because it’s that time of year, let’s look at the common question “Should I go on a diet?” This might be nested in these beliefs (do note I’m simplifying this decision considerably): We’ll ignore the first assumption (“I’m overweight”), because that should be a matter of measurement (although of course it’s not that simple). How do you test them? Either it is the word of God or it is an imposter of the foulest rank. Ron Gibori. Such could not be further from the truth. This skill will not develop on its own without any contribution from the student. Because Joseph is a prophet, then his other revelations are true. By his own admission, early in his life his priorities may not have been where they should have been. I refer to the questions that he asked himself as he tried to understand the answers he had received from the Father and the Son. Asking questions is a good strategy, but is there a methodology to questions that would yield better insight? . When did it happen? . Follow. The Restoration itself was unfolded by the proper and necessary melding of both. Your own goals are important too. There will always still be questions we have, of course, and things we don’t understand fully—and even some things we may not like very much. © Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Joseph Smith, though very young, reflexively understood another important principle related to proper questions. [Joseph Smith—History 1:10]. The simplest question, for the simplest situation, is: What were the causes of WW2 covered in the text? Much of the time, however, people let others frame the questions, not realizing how much this shapes how they think. For example, since the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is then very clearly a prophet of God. Though we continue to learn more about why it is increasingly impossible that one such as Joseph Smith could have written this scripture on his own and why the alternative explanations advanced for the book’s origins are not credible, it is highly likely that the Lord will insist that this great witness of His hand in the affairs of His children will need to remain in the realm of faith so that we can demonstrate our faithfulness. [Teachings, 121]. Second, questions are also an example of another important concept in memory research — the retrieval cue. One of the key ways that we learn—not only here at BYU but throughout life—is by asking questions. Although the answer to some of our questions may be “it mattereth not,” sometimes not only the answers but the questions themselves are pivotal and matter a great deal. What role did the Versailles Treaty play in providing the conditions leading to Germany’s invasion of Poland? Clearly in these two situations communication and knowing how to ask questions is quite important. The trick is knowing when, and how, to ask for help. But if your instructor wants you to reveal your understanding of the complexity of the topic, you’ll probably want to come up with a number of specific questions that can each form the basis for a different paragraph in your essay. Consider the... Bloom's Taxonomy. These are not dichotomous concepts, but ones on a continuum. So how do you know if your questions are the most effective ones for your task? With all of the good questions that might be asked, which are the most significant? Whenever you are attempting to find the answer to a question of great importance, you should, when possible, go to the primary source. We could spend much more time than we have allotted to us today in giving other examples where the Prophet Joseph Smith asked the appropriate questions and received the doctrinal insights and understandings that are so precious to us in our day. Briefly put, questions are more important than answers because questions seek and frame and expose while answers, at their best, are temporary responses whose accuracy changes and shift and decays over time, needing to be reformed and remade and reevaluated as the world itself changes. I always thought that you only asked questions when you didn’t know something. For example, since the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is then very clearly a prophet of God. These are the kinds of questions that we might ask ourselves so that the Lord will not need to do so. In order to use essay questions effectively, it is important to understand the following advantages, limitations and common misconceptions of essay questions. The journalists's handy toolbelt of who-when-what-why-where-how questions al… Extend the key questions with subsidiary questions to ask. I remember the query of the old-time comedian who liked to ask: “What is the difference between a duck?” To puzzled listeners he would then give the answer: “Its leg is both the same.” If we are not careful, our questions and answers may not be much better. Well, duh. Their names are What and Why and When Great leaders constantly ask questions and are well aware that they do not have all the answers. I would submit to you that these three questions constitute much more than Joseph’s passive curiosity. Let’s look at a learning task: you’ve been asked to write an essay on the causes of the Second World War. A good question can create an "aha" moment… We want them to ask questions that help to: The proximate cause of WW2 from the European point of view might be Hitler’s invasion of Sudentenland; for Americans, it might be the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor — but these are obviously not the sole cause of the War. Although faith is absolutely essential in obtaining answers to the questions we ask through prayer, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father’s plan is also helpful in obtaining the answers to other important questions that we would ask. I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? What is really important, however, is that Joseph went to the grove and had his sacred experience that literally changed the world. You know of his First Vision experience. For example, you should feel free to read any commentaries about the Book of Mormon that you wish, but be sure that you spend adequate time reading the Book of Mormon itself directly and then ask the important question it asks you: And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Some questions and answers will be unique to you alone, and some are common to everyone. To his great credit, however, with some very significant help from Alma, he became what God expected him to become (see Alma 8 and 10). We know with great appreciation what Paul became and did when his questions were answered. Coming from the perspective of his own trials and experiences, as well as being tutored by the Holy Ghost, he was able to understand “that the great question” in the minds of the people he was teaching was “whether the word be in the Son of God, or whether there shall be no Christ” (Alma 34:5). So, given that massive tomes have been written about the causes of WW2, how do you go about writing your comparatively brief essay? Think of the tremendous suffering of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his associates in Liberty Jail during the cold, miserable winter of 1838–1839. This essay question assumes that the 19th century was very important in the development of archaeology and is asking you to explain why it was so important, and to give your reasons for each of the points made or issues raised. Not only will this drive more effective conversations and exchanges, it may also save time and energy. Not only do we acknowledge to ourselves and to the Lord when we don’t know the answers to questions that are posed, but we need to admit we don’t know to others when appropriate. None of us attended the Sermon on the Mount in the Holy Land, but we didn’t need to be there because we have the New Testament account available to us, together with the special insights added in 3 Nephi and, most important, the tools and mechanisms to know for ourselves that those teachings are true. Asking great questions gives those with whom you are speaking the high gift of insight, perhaps verbalized for the first time. What was the immediate chain of events leading to Germany’s invasion of Poland? If you do, on the other hand, have an interest in a specific aspect of the multiple causes of WW2, you can still satisfy both your teacher’s goals and your own by briefly describing the ‘big picture’ — covering these same questions, but very briefly — and then pulling out one set of questions to answer in more detail, as a demonstration of the complexity of the issue. One of the fundamental truths about asking proper questions in faith and in the proper way is that the answer received may not be that which was expected or hoped for, and sometimes is even an answer to a more important or fundamental question than we had thought to ask. [1 John 5:14–15]. But you have the advantage of all the work that has gone before and all of the questions that have been asked by others. Declaring war on Germany up as a young boy people are looking you... Then his other revelations are true engage with texts through a range of different kinds of questions that be... 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