Not a dumb question, just not enough information. How was the bean iffy looking? When did you paper towel it, before or after freezing? Had you gotten it wet before freezing?

I think that if you freeze a dry bean, it may survive and maybe kill insects but if you freeze a soaked bean, a fresh bean or a germinating bean, you may kill it.

What kind of bean was it?

Happy I didn't know if it was a bug hole or just a ding. I put it in the freezer first, straight from the fridge where I store my beans.
Yesterday morning I put it and 4 other beans from the fridge in dampened paper towel in a closed container on top of one of our aquariums (bit of bottom heat). I looked at them this morning and the one in question had sprouted.
'What kind of bean was it?' Rattlesnake.
I've had beans sprout in 3 or 4 days using this method but never 1. My question is did freezing the bean or was it the ding (breaking the seed coat) that caused the quick germination.

I would guess that one bean was just more vigorous.

If a person had enough seed they could do a test, freeze some and compare to not-frozen, both nicked and unnicked.

It's interesting. You may have found a way to increase or speed up germination, Annette.