Questions in Religion and Science

Questions are a large part of my conversion and lasting time spent staying in this church.  As I read scriptures and learn about how prophets receive information from God, it seems more and more to me like they receive revelation as the result of asking questions. You could say I have a question-based faith.  Some of the first ones I ever asked in prayer while addressing a deity were, "Are you real?" "Is church right for me?"  "Which church?"

I ask questions in science and especially in veterinary medicine.  Most recently I've been researching nutrition needs for horses with a metabolic disorder that makes it difficult to process starches and sugars, comparing nonstructural carbohydrate levels in various feeds.  Earlier this week I had a discussion with my veterinarian regarding the best way to keep a wound clean, and how the latest research is now showing something different than what people have assumed to be true for years.  Science's gold standard used to be betadine or chlorhexidine to clean a wound, but now research is showing that tap water or saline solution is much better, as it inhibits healing the least.  As soon as I learn new information I'm eager to use it, to test it, to discover the nuances within that nugget of knowledge.

From the father of one of the leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints:
"There are all kinds of contradictions that I don't understand, but I find the same kind of contradictions in science, and I haven't decided to apostatize from science." Dr. Henry Eyring

I have similar feelings towards my faith and religion.  I spent more than a year researching this church before I was baptized, and most of what I learned I found through questions.  For example, in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 18:27-28 a church leader named Alma is counseling his christian followers to help those who need it.  Some of his guidance is:

"And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.  

And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul."

Some of the questions I ask when reading these passages:

What is "substance"?  Money?  Time?  Emotional reserves?  What can I give?  What do I need?

Who is a "needy, naked soul"?  Is it the homeless man sitting with a cardboard sign by the side of the freeway?  The child who is tired and cranky?  The successful professional who suffers from insomnia?  The horse who never complains that his saddle hurts him?  Am I a needy naked soul?

These are some of the kinds of questions I ask when I read.  If you were to open my scriptures and examine the notes I've written in the margins, you'll find that most of the comments are actually questions.  I find I very rarely, actually I NEVER have complete answers, but I learn from the process of asking the questions.  It may be the scientist in me dedicated to learning more about what interests me, or it may be the child of God inside me who wants to know the details.  It may not be an "or" situation at all, I see no reason why the child of God inside me can't also be a scientist.