tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4372115549925120852.post-40014360172464416002008-07-16T02:58:00.000-07:002008-07-16T03:11:23.111-07:00More metaphysical speculation from Lily today. As I was walking her to school this morning:<br /><br /><strong>LILY</strong>: Daddy?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: Yes, my love?<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: Does God have a surname?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: Well, no.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: Why not?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: He just doesn't.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: But what were his Mummy and Daddy called?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: God doesn't have a Mummy and Daddy.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: [<em>boggled</em>] Doesn't he?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: No.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: So where does he come from then?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: He doesn't come from anywhere.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: But Jesus has a Mummy and Daddy.<br /><strong>ME</strong>: That's right.<br /><strong>LILY</strong>: What were <em>their</em> surnames?<br /><strong>ME</strong>: [<em>Looking up to see the school in the very far distance</em>] Ah, here we are at the school.<br /><br />Usually these discussions are punctuated with my cautious iterations of 'that's what some people believe anyway', which is my athiestical version of <em>insha'allah</em>; but there didn't seem to be a place in which I could insert it in this conversation. Perhaps I should have answered her question with: 'yes he <em>does </em>have a surname and it's <em>Henderson</em>.' That might have satisfied her. Or if not, ('God Henderson? <em>Really</em>?') I could have said, 'yes ... his surname <em>is</em> God' which would inevitably have lead to 'so what's his <em>first</em> name?' and I'd have been forced, like a chessplayer struggling to match the moves of a grandmaster, into some shift like 'Desmond. His full name is Desmond Charles God.' Probably best not to go there.Adam Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09514816247989239714noreply@blogger.com