Sunday 8 September 2013

Cherubim, seraphim and velociraptors

Coming home from shopping yesterday, I sat on the bus behind a grandmother with a small child. The child had been bought a toy dinosaur, which was the subject of conversation.

Child: The dinosaurs all died...
Grandmother: Yes, that's right, they all died thousands of years ago. [Which betrayed a certain lack of awareness of geological time, but let it pass].
Child: They all died and went (gesturing to the ceiling of the bus - which was a single-decker, by the way) up there.
Grandmother: Yes, they all died and went to heaven.

This gave me an insight into the nature of heaven that makes me wonder whether I want to go there any more. It will be bad enough if it is filled with rosy-cheeked, bare-bottomed cherubim floating winsomely about getting in the way, but what is it going to be like with velociraptors galumphing around as well? And does it not demonstrate a shocking lack of accuracy on the part of the Old Masters who painted the next world, that not one single tyrannosaurus rex is depicted seated in glory around the heavenly throne?