Jehovah’s Witness: Have you ever read the Bible?
Me: I enjoy reading it.
JW: Well, Hurricane Michael destroyed so much. We live in a chaotic world, don’t we?
Me: Yes, we do. And my only hope in this chaotic world is that God is sovereign over Hurricane Michael and all evil. Don’t you agree?
JW: Well, I believe he is very powerful but that Hurricane Michael was outside his control.
Me: Did Hurricane Michael catch God by surprise?
JW: Of course, it did. Think about Adam. Do you believe God thought Adam was going to be deceived?
Me: I actually fully believe God knew all things from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22 which means every part of history is carefully orchestrated to give God the greatest amount of glory in heaven above and earth below. Even Adam’s fall was not a cosmic oops to God, but occurred exactly as he planned.
JW: But don’t you believe that Adam was a free agent?
Me: Yes, I do.
JW: So, we are all free agents.
Me: No. Our ability to choose divine things ended in Genesis 3.
JW: Well, that can’t be because in Matthew 4 Jesus chose to reject the devil’s offer and he used his free will to do so.
Me: Precisely, Jesus is the greater Adam who conquered freely what Adam failed to conquer.
JW: OK. Thanks for chatting.
Me: I actually appreciated how your tone
This is a pretty accurate summary of my 10 minute conversation with a JW this morning. It’s not very coherent (it jumped to other related topics without resolving the previous one) and I am sure I could have done a better job communicating my thoughts. Still, these conversations help chrystallize the Christian message. We all need our cozy convictions challenged.
