My wife picks up a lot of heavy theology from children at the daycare where she is the director.  After water-day last week she was instructed again by Julia and Hayden, two five-year-olds sitting on a towel on the edge of the sidewalk.  At daycare, theology and play go hand in hand.

Julia: I killed a worm yesterday.

Maybe it was a bug on the sidewalk that reminded her of her deed.  Suddenly she felt the all-to-human need to confess.  She felt that need to see how it sounded when telling someone else.  Some things you just need to tell a friend while sitting on a hot sidewalk in your bathing suit.

Killing a worm is a memorial experience for a five year old.  Worms are fascinating creatures; death is equally fascinating and about as difficult to get your hands around.

Julia: I killed a worm yesterday.
Hayden: You know that was one of God’s creatures.

Hayden, with his blond hair and blue eyes, immediately senses the theological implications of this story.  He has not been day-dreaming at daycare.  He has listened well as his teachers explained that all animals, fish and, yes, even worms are God’s creatures.  It’s a profound insight and a foundational principle of Biblical theology; one that Hayden was glad to share with his novitiate.

Julia: I killed a worm yesterday.
Hayden: You know that was one of God’s creatures.
Julia: Well, I killed it.

Honesty prevails in the innocent.  She doesn’t know where this conversation is headed yet, so with a touch of pride she bluntly re-affirms her act.  Such tiny people have very little power, and the chance to exercise the power of life and death over anything, even something so small as a worm, felt… well, so adult.

Julia: I killed a worm yesterday.
Hayden: You know that was one of God’s creatures.
Julia: Well, I killed it.
Hayden: You know that God’s mad at you now.

Theology has a way of sometimes turning nasty like that.  How quickly the Bible moves from pleasant creation to unpleasant judgment!  Hayden knows that adults get mad and so does God.  If Mom gets mad when you eat her geraniums, then surely God gets mad when you kill one of his creatures.

Julia: I killed a worm yesterday.
Hayden: You know that was one of God’s creatures.
Julia: Well, I killed it.
Hayden: You know that God’s mad at you now.
Julia: Well, really David did it.

Even a five-year-old knows the wrath of God is a thing to be avoided if at all possible.  Now that the full implication of her deed is made known, it’s time for a new tactic.  If God is going to be mad at somebody, it might as well be David.

Children don’t know a word is bad until they say it and suffer the consequences.  They are still exploring right and wrong.  But they do know they don’t want Mom or God to be mad at them.

Some people say the Bible isn’t true.  They question events like that apple-eating scene between Adam and Eve.  But Julia and Hayden prove the universal message of Eden.  If not Adam and Eve, then Julia and Hayden, or you and me.