Was my father right to embrace predestination?
If we take the doctrine seriously, then we dare not draw the circle of salvation along religious lines. Or any lines at all.
One of those old carousel slide projectors, circa 1970, rattles on with a click, a whirr, and a hum.
First slide: Madison Square Garden, 1957. Dad is 16, sitting next to his father, surrounded by a sea of thousands. Billy Graham is at the podium, declaring that God has chosen you, loves you, is calling you to come down front, to embrace the call. The atmosphere is electric, and here and there, people are beginning to make their way down the aisles. Graham’s voice is rising. Dad stands up.
Second slide: Dad is 74, doing some gardening, and feels a strange discomfort in his back. A week later, we’re all talking about pancreatic cancer. The parade of doctors begins. In two and a half years, he’ll be gone.
