By Dennis Miranda
During a weekly campus outreach recently, I had the wonderful pleasure of speaking with three students one on one. Today’s post will reflect the conversation with Dave, the first student I spoke with. I’ll post about the other encounters in the weeks to come.
Dave was sort of in a rush at first, no doubt wanting to devour whatever contents were contained in that covered dish he so zealously guarded. But he was a good sport, nonetheless, and amused me by pausing for a moment to take a gospel tract and hear what I had to say.
A future Army officer and Methodist Dave believed that all human beings are God’s children. He was surprised, however, when I mentioned there was a difference between God’s creation and the children of God.
Looking back through our conversation there are two things I wish I would have done which I now know for the next encounter.
First, I should have asked Dave to clarify his statement using the three “Columbo Questions” that Gregory Koukl, president and founder of the apologetics ministry, Stand to Reason, uses:
- What do you mean by that?
- How did you come to that conclusion?
- Have you considered the implications of your view?
Afterwards, I should have taken Dave through the book of 1 John and pointed to those passages in Scripture which reveal the doctrinal and ethical criteria used in determining the children of God and see if it aligned with Dave’s view.
Nonetheless, before we parted ways I did have an opportunity to ask Dave if he was born again. He said he wasn’t sure. So I recited to him John 3:3 as food for thought.
***Stay tuned for my encounters with Karen and Herschel in the coming weeks***
