A Conversation About God with a Child

A conversation about God with a six-year-old child

An experiment with simple questions

I decided to try a very simple experiment.

I asked ChatGPT to answer my questions as if it were
talking with my little granddaughter, who is six and a half.

I set only one condition: the answers should try to stay
within what is written in the Bible, using words a child could understand.

From there, I began asking questions the way I imagine a child might ask them.

There was no script.

The questions came up from the answers themselves.

In the end, I noticed that the conversation had gone through, in a very simple way,
subjects that often seem difficult: Jesus, God as Father, sin,
God's will, the Holy Spirit, church, forgiveness, sanctification and Christ in us.

The dialogue below is the transcript of the conversation as it happened.

I did not correct the questions, I did not revise the answers and I did not try to adapt them
afterwards to what I think.

I preferred to leave it as it is.

Maybe a child can help us ask simpler questions.

And maybe simpler questions help us see some things that,
from so much explaining, we ended up making complicated.

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— Who is Jesus?

Jesus is a man who came from God.

He was born of a woman, grew up, lived among people and taught about God,
whom he called Father.

Jesus said he did not do things on his own. He did what he saw the Father do
and spoke what the Father taught him.

And God was with him.

— What do you mean God was with him?

The Bible says that God was with Jesus.

God gave Jesus the Holy Spirit.

That is why Jesus did good, helped people and did things that a man
alone could not do.

Jesus himself said:

“The Father, who remains in me, does his works.”

It was God acting in him.

— Ah, I see. And what did he do?

Jesus did many good things.

He cared for people, healed the sick, taught about the Father and showed how to live
doing God's will.

And something very important happened:
Jesus died and God raised him.

After that, Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him out on people.

So what God did in Jesus could also happen in us:
God acting in us by his Spirit.

— Why did he do that?

Because God loves the world.

God sent Jesus to save us from sin and give us life.

Jesus came to do the Father's will.

And he said he came so that we might have
life, and life in abundance.

It all began in God's love.

— Save from sin, what is that?

Sin is when I do not trust God and do my own will,
instead of his.

Jesus showed that we need God to live a different way.

That is why God gives us the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit helps us know God's will and do what is good.

It is God working inside us.

— But I already do what is good.

Yes. You do many good things. 😊

But Jesus said something interesting:

“Only God is good.”

This means that even when we do good things, we still need God.

Because sometimes I want to do one good thing… but I do another.

That is why God gives us his Spirit:
to do in us what we cannot do on our own.

— And what is all this for?

So that God may be our Father, and we may be his children.

Jesus came to show us the Father.

And God gives us his Spirit to live in us, teach us and guide us.

So, little by little, we learn to live as Jesus lived:
not doing only our own will, but letting God do his will in us.

It is as Jesus said:

“The Father who lives in me is the one who does the works.”

— But isn't God in command of everything?

Yes. God is Lord of everything.

But not everything that happens is his will.

That is why Jesus taught us to ask the Father:

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

If God's will were already being done in everything here,
Jesus would not need to teach us to ask for it.

That is why we can also ask:

“Father, guide me to do your will.”

— Doesn't God command what people do?

That is not what the Bible shows.

People often do things that God does not want.

That is why Jesus taught:

“Your will be done.”

If God commanded everything each person does,
no one would do things against his will.

God is Lord of everything,
but we can still do our own will.

And that is exactly why we need God to teach us
and guide us by his Spirit.

— So how can we do what Jesus said?

Jesus said that we cannot do it on our own.

He said:

“Without me you can do nothing.”

That is why God gives us the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit teaches us, helps us and guides us.

So we can talk with the Father and ask:

“Father, guide me with your Spirit to do your will.”

And God keeps working in us.

— And don't the others have to change too?

They do too. 😊

But Jesus taught something very simple:

first I look at myself.

He asked:

“Why do you look at the speck in the other person's eye and do not notice
what is in your own eye?”

I cannot change another person's heart.

But I can ask the Father to begin in me.

And God can also work in others.

— Do I need to go to church for this?

No.

Jesus taught that you can talk with the Father
in your room, even with the door closed.

He said:

“Your Father, who sees in secret…”

You can talk with the Father wherever you are.

And it is also very good to be with other people, to learn together,
to help one another and to love one another.

But God is not stuck inside a church.

— So I don't need the priest, the pastor, the bishop?

To talk with God, no. 😊

Jesus taught you to speak directly to the Father:

“Our Father…”

And the Bible says there is only one mediator between God and people:
the man Christ Jesus.

Priests, pastors, bishops and other people can teach, help and care.

But you can talk with your Father directly.

He hears you.

— It's true, everybody says we have to be good…

It's true. 😊

But Jesus did not teach only: “Be good.”

He said something even hard to understand:

“Only God is good.”

So it is not just trying to be a good little girl.

It is learning to trust the Father and letting him teach us to do good.

Because the Bible says it is God who works in us,
giving both the willing and the doing.

So even the good we do can begin in him.

— Huh, if only God is good, then aren't people good?

That is what Jesus said:
“No one is good except one, that is, God.”

People can do good things.
You can too.

But that is different from saying that a person is good the way God is good.

Sometimes we do good and other times we do what is not good.

That is why we need the Father.

What is good comes from God.

— But I already have a father and a grandfather.

Yes. 😊

You have your daddy and your granddad, who are part of your family.

But Jesus spoke of another Father.

He said:

“You have one Father, the one who is in heaven.”

It is God.

Your daddy and your granddad can take care of you, teach you many things and love you.

But Jesus taught that God is the Father of us all.

That is why he taught us to begin like this:

“Our Father, who are in heaven…”

— I've heard of that prayer, and it goes on saying,
hallowed be your name. What does hallowed mean?

“Hallowed” is a kind of difficult word. 😊

It means recognizing that God is holy.

And holy means that God is different from us:
he is God.

That is why the Bible says:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.”

So, when we say “hallowed be your name”,
we are saying something quite simple:

“Father, may your name be recognized as holy.”

— At church, the other day, I saw something strange.
Someone said, be holy as I am holy,
as if God were telling us to be holy.

Yes, that is written in the Bible. 😊

God says:

“Be holy, because I am holy.”

But that does not mean you have to manage to be like God on your own.

The Bible also says that God is the one who sanctifies us.

“To sanctify” means to set apart for God and make holy.

So there are two things written:

God says: “Be holy.”

And he also says:
“I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”

That is why, even in this, we need him.

— And how does he sanctify us?

By the Holy Spirit. 😊

The Bible speaks of the “sanctification of the Spirit”.

God gives us his Spirit, and the Spirit keeps working in us.

He teaches us, guides us and changes our way of living little by little.

That is why he is called the Holy Spirit.

It is not just a person trying to become holy alone.

It is God working in that person by his Spirit.

— Ah, and why doesn't God do this with everybody?

Actually, the Bible says something very beautiful:

God promised:

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.”

And Jesus said that the Father gives good things to those who ask him.

So we do not need to think that God only wants to do this with some people.

We can simply talk with him:

“Father, give me your Spirit and guide me.”

And trust him.

— But if he is God…

Yes… 😊

If he is God, he can do it.

And the Bible says he wants to do something very beautiful in people:

“I will put my Spirit within you.”

But we also see people resisting God and doing their own will.

That is why the Bible says:

“Do not quench the Spirit.”

So God can act in us, but we can also
get in the way of his action.

That is why we can talk with the Father:

“Father, do not let me do only my own will.
Guide me with your Spirit.”

— And what about this forgiveness thing?

Ah, forgiveness. 😊

Jesus spoke a lot about it.

In the prayer to the Father, he taught:

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

It means something simple: I also make mistakes.

When I make a mistake, I can ask the Father for forgiveness.

And when someone makes a mistake with me, I can forgive too.

Because Jesus taught that I should not keep looking only at the other person's mistake.

I also need the Father's forgiveness.

— Granddad keeps talking about Christ…

Christ is a very important word in the Bible. 😊

Jesus asked his friends who they thought he was.

Peter answered:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

So, when granddad talks about Christ, he is talking about the one who comes from God
and leads us to God.

And the Bible also speaks of something very beautiful:

“Christ in you.”

It means that what God showed in Jesus does not stay only in a story
from a long time ago.

God wants to act in us too.

— What do you mean?

It is a little difficult, but the Bible explains it like this. 😊

Jesus said:

“The Father is in me.”

Then, the Bible says:

“Christ in you.”

So it is not just learning things about Jesus and trying to copy him.

It is God putting his Spirit in us
and working inside us.

Little by little, what comes from the Spirit appears in our life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…

This is what the Bible calls
Christ being formed in us.

— So, if this is a good thing, why don't they teach it in schools?

Because school teaches things that all children can study together,
even when their families believe different things. 😊

Some people believe in the Bible. Others have another religion.
And some have no religion.

That is why, normally, school can teach about religions,
but not say that a child must believe in one of them.

Jesus and the Bible you can get to know at home, talking with your family,
reading the Bible and also with other people who want to learn about this.

— So all I have to do is ask to be guided by the Holy Spirit and it's all right?

It is a very simple beginning. 😊

Jesus taught that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

So you can talk with the Father:

“Father, guide me with your Spirit to do your will.”

But this does not mean we will never make mistakes again.

When we make mistakes, we can recognize it, ask forgiveness and keep learning.

And the Bible says:

“Do not quench the Spirit.”

So we can ask, listen, learn and let God work in us.

— How can a person know they have received the Holy Spirit?

Jesus said something interesting:

“By their fruits you will know them.” 😊

And the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.

So we do not need to look for something strange happening.

We can look at what is appearing in life.

If God's Spirit is working in me,
little by little his fruit begins to appear.

It is like a tree: we know the tree by its fruit.

— Ah, I see. Thank you, Mr. Chat.

You're welcome! 😊

I really liked your questions.

When something about God seems difficult, you can ask.
And you can also talk directly with the Father.

Jesus taught that the Father
hears even what we say in secret.

So it can be very simple:

“Father, I still haven't understood. Teach me.”

And keep walking. 🌱

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