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I have always thought we need more punctuation marks. As it is, we really only have three ways to end a sentence. Even those are fairly new. The question mark came about in the middle ages when scholars would write the Latin “quaestio” at the end of a sentence to show that it was a question, which in turn was shortened to “QO” then to “?”.
Yet a lot can be said with those. For example, when Victor Hugo wrote his publisher about the sales of his book Les Misérables, he simply wrote “?”. They responded “!”.
Years ago, I hear someone proclaim “never put a question mark where God has put a period.” That’s very good advice. Also, we might say don’t let what the Bible says is an Exclamation point become a question mark. Too many times we know what the Word says but our reaction to it puts a different spin on it. We react as if the Good News isn’t that at all.
As it is we would do well to remember the word of James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Our words might be right but they can be useless if we don’t punctuate them with action.
Barry Haynes
Hope church of Christ
Hope, AR