Sometimes, a question is bad not because of the question itself but because of the reason it is asked. In Luke 10, a lawyer asked Jesus what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turned the question around and asked what the Law said. The lawyer responded, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus commended the answer and said, “Do this, and you will live.” But the lawyer had another question. He asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Now, that was a great question. But Luke tells us the man asked it “…desiring to justify himself.” See, he wasn’t asking to learn but to try and justify or excuse himself. We should never ask questions based on such motives.
Even though this was a poor reason to ask the question, Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Sometimes, bad questions might give us an opportunity to give good, life-giving answers!