Here is a conversation I had with my son about predestination vs free will.
My son Bryan moved his arm and asked, “Did God move my arm?”
I was lying in bed, unaware that I would be discussing the heavy topic of predestination vs. free will. I answered, “You moved your own arm. You decided to move your arm, and then you moved it. That’s because you have free will. On the other hand, God holds all the atoms in the universe together, so God allowed you to move your arm. Apart from God you could not have moved your arm. In fact, God predestined before the foundation of the world that you would move your arm, and therefore you did it, probably so that we could have this conversation, and so that you would know God on a deeper level. Does that answer your question?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
After waiting awhile, he asked me other questions, and we talked about how, in the book of Job, God had control of Satan, but Satan had free will. This caused my son to want to read the book of Job. I told him I’d read it with him, and we had a wonderful one-on-one study.
Tags: free will, parenting, predestination, Spiritual Conversations
