Monday, June 30, 2008

Where Did We Come From?

My daughter (she's 5) today asked me if I believed in God, and when I said I didn't know she said that there must be a God, otherwise where did we come from? I said that I came from my Mom, just as she did. "But where did the first person come from?" That's a pretty good question. I explained that some people do think God did make us just as we are. But others think it's a little bit different..

I told her that she's a little bit different from her Mom, and her Mom is a little different from Grandma. And Grandma is a little different from Great Grandma, and so on. If you went back, back, back to the long ago grandma she might look a little bit like an animal. And if you went further back than that, it might look a little like a fish. And if you went way back it might look sort of like a tiny little life that was so small we couldn't even see. She thought that was very interesting, and I asked her if she'd like to see a video that showed this, and she said yes. So I showed her this video below. She watched it all very intently, as did I. I had been looking for a video that showed the entire process of change for humans from the very beginning, and this did it. Have a look.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carl Sagan's "Cosmos." I rented this whole series from the library about a year ago and made my wife watch a lot of it with me (this was before I had told anyone about my own lack of god-belief). Its a bit dated in spots, and the production seems super hokey to the modern eye, but overall this series is powerful.

If you haven't experienced it, I highly recommend that you get your hands on the whole thing and watch it with your family. I'm sure it would prompt much fruitful discussion from all angles.

Anonymous said...

Oh... and I applaud your handling of a possibly tough question with your daughter. (Forgot to include that in the prior comment)

Anonymous said...

You actually believe that stuff?

Anonymous said...

So...she didn't ask where the molecules came from?

Jon said...

Not yet. I'll need to find another youtube clip I guess.

zoolander said...

>>My daughter (she's 5) today asked me if I believed in God, and when I said I didn't know...

You don't know if you believe in God?

God either exists or does not exist.