more theological questions

So we just tackled the whole "animals in heaven" thing.

Today, thanks in part to our church's "Journey to the Cross" program (which I really appreciate every year; thanks, Melissa!) I got a couple more problems.

On the way home, we were talking again about why Jesus had to die. In discussing the concept of sin, and the fact that every person except Jesus is/was a sinner, Miles pauses for a second. Then he says, "What about Juliet? She can't even TALK yet!"

Ummm...how to explain sin nature to a five year old?

Fortunately, I had a comeback, albeit a little facetious in nature! After a moment, I said, "But Juliet sins too, right? Doesn't she hit you sometimes? And she bit you this morning!" HA! I know this is evading the question, but it got the point across that even babies can be sinners, even if I happen to know that a baby's hitting/biting probably doesn't qualify as sinful behavior. Judge me, ye who have a better explanation!

A few minutes later, Miles pipes up again. "The bad king (meaning Nebuchadnezzar) wanted to make people worship him, but DANIEL only worshipped God. But WE have two gods: the God who created everything and the God who is Jesus. Which one did Daniel worship?"

Trinity explanations for five-year-olds? Is there a website?

I kept having thoughts of how to explain...and then kept remembering that each of my bad analogies was related to some important but deadly heresy I must have studied 15 years ago. I resorted to the non-explanation of "Well, they're both God, and they're both the same God. Jesus was the same God who created everything." I didn't bring up the Spirit at all.

Then Miles asks, "What about Nazareth?" This takes me a while to decipher, but I eventually figure out he means LAZARUS (hey, YOU say those two words next to each other - pretty confusing!) "Is Lazarus God too? He rose from the dead."

Hey, this one is way easier. "Remember, Lazarus didn't raise himself from the dead. Jesus is the only man who can do that, because he is the only one who is God."

At this point, I guess Miles was satisfied. Then Eleanor joins in the fray, adding "Yeah, when I'm grown up I'm going to die on the cross with Jesus!"

Ummm...OK, I'm not sure where this came from. I guess if we tell her she will go to heaven to be with Jesus, it might be logical that she also needs to die like/with him? Anyway, I assured her that she would die, like everybody, but probably not on a cross.

I'm ready for Scott to be home.