Jeremiah just turned four. He has three brothers and two sisters, so he is no stranger to heroes and battles He's also being brought up in a strong Christian family and frequently hears theological discussions.
This morning he built a cross out of Tinker Toys, and explained:
(Holding the cross up) This is the Cross where God died. The Heroes killed God.
Then he turned the cross around so it resembled a gun.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! (or however you spell machine gun sounds) Then God killed the Heroes!
Oh, dear...
Somebody please tell Jeremiah about Jesus' words for those who had just nailed him to The Cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"
Don't worry; he knows that well enough, Diane. Forgiveness is a big thing in his family. But Jesus destroyed death and sin! I think he's not so far off to put it in Superhero terminology.
Maybe "Rat-a-tat-tat?" Or perhaps "Takka-Takka?"
What's more, Jesus destroyed death and sin THROUGH the Cross, so I thought the transformation of cross to gun was pretty clever.
Today Joseph said "Heroes save the world," and Daniel said "Just like Jesus!" Some three-year-old theology for you . . .
I love it, Daniel!
We're not sure where the "Heroes killed God" part came from, except that Jeremiah knows that sometimes those with superpowers are bad guys.
Another story, from this morning. The three youngest are playing around the pool, filling and dumping water bottles. Naturally, that led to a discussion of treating others as you want to be treated—which breaks down if you actually want water poured unexpectedly on yourself, but works in general.
Joy made a suggestion: "So if someone pours water on you, you can pour water on him," to which Jeremiah immediately and enthusiastically responded, "Don't do evil for evil!"
