Suffer the Velociraptors to Come Unto Me

Humor, Life

A theological discussion, conducted in my car on the way to day care this morning.

Dramatis personae: Me, 39, Evan, 7, Abby, 5, Elaina, 2.

EVAN:    Daddy?

ME:   Yes, Evan?

EVAN:   How did Jesus get rid of the dinosaurs?

ME:   . . . I beg your pardon?

EVAN [impatient]:  How did JESUS get rid of the DINOSAURS?

ABBY:  Yeah!

ELAINA:  ‘SAURS!

ME:   What do you mean, get rid of the dinosaurs?

EVAN:  Weren’t there dinosaurs around once?

ME:   Yes . . .

EVAN:  And didn’t they used to eat people until Jesus came, and then Jesus came and got rid of them?

ABBY:  YEAH!

ME:  [stunned silence]

EVAN:   . . . or something like that?

ME:  No, son.  The dinosaurs were gone long before Jesus.

EVAN:  I thought Jesus got rid of the dinosaurs.

ME:  You’re thinking of the moneychangers, and the people who sold doves.

EVAN:  [openly incredulous]  Doves?

ME:  Never mind.  Daddy was joking.

EVAN:  Jesus didn’t save us?  I thought Jesus saved us.

ELAINA:   SAVE!

ME:   NOT.  FROM.  DINOSAURS!

EVAN:  What did Jesus save us from?

ME:  Sin.

[dead silence]

ABBY:  And that’s why Santa brings us presents?

ME:   No, it’s . . . you see, Christmas is really . . .

ABBY:  Jesus wants us to be good.  Like Santa.

ME:  Jesus does not want us to be like Santa.

ABBY:  No, I mean Jesus and Santa want us to be good.

ME:  Oh.  Okay.

EVAN:  Will Jesus get very angry if we’re not good?

ME:   Uh . . . Jesus will be sad.

ABBY:  Will he get a headache, and have to go lie down?

EVAN:  Jesus doesn’t want us to be mean!

ELAINA:  MEAN!

ABBY:  So no fighting!

EVAN:  Jesus says no punching!

ABBY:  Jesus says no SPITTING in the FACE!  PTUI PTUI PTUI!

ELAINA:  [laughs uncontrollably]

ME:  I think you guys should talk to Pastor Kristen about this.

Edit:  If you liked this, you might enjoy some of my prior Christmas adventures with the kids.

Last 5 posts by Ken

9 Comments

  1. astonied  •  Dec 23, 2008 @12:11 pm

    LOL! My kids think that I lived amoungst the dinosaurs when I was a child.

    (Report comment)

  2. David  •  Dec 23, 2008 @12:18 pm

    EVAN: I thought Jesus got rid of the dinosaurs.
    ME: You’re thinking of the moneychangers, and the people who sold doves.
    EVAN: [openly incredulous] Doves?
    ME: Never mind. Daddy was joking.

    EVAN: Jesus didn’t save us? I thought Jesus saved us.

    A classic within a classic!

    (Report comment)

  3. KipEsquire  •  Dec 23, 2008 @12:47 pm

    I think Elaina was the big winner in that round.

    (Report comment)

  4. Dave  •  Dec 23, 2008 @1:01 pm

    That’s awesome:

    (Report comment)

  5. Dave  •  Dec 23, 2008 @1:01 pm

    Ug. Was supposed to be:

    ABBY: Jesus wants us to be good. Like Santa.

    ME: Jesus does not want us to be like Santa.

    (Report comment)

  6. Grandy  •  Dec 24, 2008 @11:13 am

    Dagnabbit, I mis-posted my comment. But you missed a great opportunity to get the kids some quality role playing time here!

    (Report comment)

  7. Jag  •  Dec 29, 2008 @12:53 pm

    I actually had a theological discussion with my increasingly argumentative 4.11 year old last night:

    Me: Go to sleep. You’re tired.
    Him: No i’m not.
    Me: Yes you are.
    Him: You’re not god. You don’t know me.
    Me: ….
    Him: Only god knows everything.
    (ok, I may have been caught off guard at this point having been traveling for about 12 hours)
    Me: I’m your father. As far as you are concerned, I am god.

    (Report comment)

  8. louise  •  Jan 8, 2009 @11:35 am

    I was laughing so hard I nearly fell off my chair. Sounds like elders in the making!

    (Report comment)

  9. Ken  •  Jan 8, 2009 @11:37 am

    I’m pleased that you are here, Louise, but please don’t tell Grandma about the blog. I’m pretty sure I’d get shunned based on about 90% of the content, and the other 10% would kill her.

    (Report comment)

1 Trackback

Leave a Reply

Allowed tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>