Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Word Gets Around In This House....


Like a surreal game of "Telephone"!

Tonight I was studying Greek and Latin roots with my oldest child, the 11yo, who has a test on them tomorrow in school.

We were studying the word "circumcise" which is comprised of two roots: "circum" meaning "around" and "cise" meaning "cut".

I was trying to explain what circumcision actually means and my daughter was absolutely horrified.

Her response was "WHAT?! What do you mean they cut off part of the baby's penis?! Who would do something like that?!"

I launched into a history of the religious and social reasons why some people circumcise.

In the midst of this conversation my 9yo son walks in the room. He is not circumcised and he asked "Then don't I need to be circumcised if it is God's Covenant?"

So, I went on to explain how Jesus changed the rules and because of Him, circumcision doesn't matter any more - the New Testament tells us that it is only "circumcision of the heart" that matters - that we believe in and love God and our neighbor.

To which my son replies: "So... was Jesus circumcised?" and I said "Yes, but because He died to save us all, men don't have to be circumcised any more."

Which seemed to satisfy everyone. My son left the room and my oldest daughter and I went back to studying Latin and Greek roots.

3 minutes later my 5 year old runs frantically in the room, all upset and yells "Mom! Is it really true that Jesus had His penis cut off?!!"

ROFL.

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