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Stupid Questions


Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?" (vv. 4-9)


It has been said, "The only stupid question is the unasked question." There is truth in the statement, but the following questions were probably not considered before making the comment. These questions were taken from official U.S. court records. They were actually asked by educated lawyers.

Question: Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know anything about it until the next morning?

Question: Was that the same nose you broke as a child?

Question: Were you alone or by yourself?

Question: You don't know what it was, and you didn't know what it looked like, but can you describe it?

Question: How long have you been French-Canadian?

Question: Do you have children or anything of that kind?

Question: What happened then?
Answer: He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify me."
Question: Did he kill you?

Question: I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture.
Answer: That's me.
Question: Were you present when that picture was taken?

Question: You say that the stairs went down to the basement?
Answer: Yes.
Question: And these stairs, did they go up also?

Question: Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
Answer: By death.
Question: And by whose death was it terminated?

Question: Mrs. Jones, do you believe you are emotionally unstable?
Answer: I used to be.
Question: How many times have you committed suicide?

Question: She had three children, right?
Answer: Yes.
Question: How many were boys?
Answer: None.
Question: Were there girls?

Question: Do you know how far pregnant you are now?
Answer: I'll be three months on November 8.
Question: Apparently, then the date of conception was August 8.
Answer: Yes.
Question: What were you doing at that time?


It's sometimes hard to fathom that intelligent people would ask less than intelligent questions. We have high expectations for educated people. But Nicodemus seems to fail in the same way in the scripture of John. He asked what seemed to be an intelligent question, but discovered he wasn't as smart as he thought. Jesus had to admonish this teacher for not understanding the concepts of God's love, the Son's salvation offered through faith, and the Holy Spirit's ability to give a new birth to believers. To his credit, Nicodemus eventually understood. However, the jury is still out on the lawyers.