Things I have learned as a philosoph/religion major....

Things I have learned as a Philosophy/Religion major...
1) I could vote Democrat and still be a Christian.
2) The Greek perfect indicative is cause enough for lots and lots of excitement...
3) I will probably be on the brink of poverty my entire life, and am completely alright with it.
4) How to use the phrase "hermeneutical gymnastics" as an effective argument in almost any theological debate.
5) Protestants do not have a corner on the soteriological market (OR - Catholics are Christians too OR - Mother Theresa is in heaven).
6) Translating Greek and having fun are not mutually exclusive, and are actually often synonymous.
7) Seminary does not have to be the equivalent of "cemetery", thank you very much.
8) It is possible to respond in love to relatives, friends, and science professors when they ask, "What are you going to do with a major like THAT?" or, "Are you studying that just for self-interest?" ( a personal favorite of mine)
9) "Teleological suspension of the ethical."
10) Willow "Pillow" Creek is an easy target for criticism and we should recognize that they do lots of good things there....and I'm SURE they have a perfectly good reason for needing a waterfall in their atrium.
10) There is more theological truth packed into the "Chronicles of Narnia" than just about any commentary.
11) Once upon a time, the King James Bible was just as modern and contemporary as the NIV.
12) Hymns are pretty much drive-thru sermons and beat the heck out of...(fill in the blank)
13) Karl Barth, Ben Witherington III, John Wesley, and John Wimber are waaayyyy cooler than any sports star or pop celebrity.
14) Super-liberals can be just as narrowminded as fundamentalists, and it is generally best to avoid either extreme.
15) ...to be continued

Ah, words...gotta love 'em.

So, I have this hilarious little six-year old cousin, Kenny. The other day I was on Facebook, and little Kenny sidles up next to me and says in his oh-so-sweet kindergarten style, "Whatcha doin'?" Now, Kenny comes from a very tech-savvy Detroit-livin' family, so I decided to be straight up with him, and we had a little conversation:
Me: I'm using Facebook.
Kenny: What's Facebook?
Me: Well, it's kinda like...(here I paused, groping for words a little more understandable than "social networking", "interface", or "walls")....it's kinda like MySpace. Have you ever heard of MySpace?
Kenny: (with a slightly troubled look) What do you mean?
Me: Well, you know, MySpace...it's a website where you talk to your friends and leave messages and other stuff like that. Do your mom and dad have MySpace?
Kenny: OH!!! (looking incredibly relieved) I thought you were saying I was standing to close to you!!!
(as if I had said, "Have you ever heard of my space?")

=)

Poor kid. It's so bizarre how these familiar words and terms just rattle off our tongues without us ever thinking twice. It WOULD take the innocence and naivete of a six-year old to remind me that language is powerful.