A Mormon, Noah's Ark and the "age of reason"

I was talking to a Mormon young man I happen to know the other day and I asked him about Noah's Ark. I was telling him I thought it was weird that God would get so angry at all of humanity that he would drown them all -- a very painful and horrifying death, especially for little kids.

He pointed out that while everyone was wicked in those days, the little kids who drowned didn't go to hell; a child has to reach the age of reason before they would able to tell right from wrong -- and that age was eight.

After reflecting on it a bit I was able to come back the next day and tell him a related joke I dreamed up:

Imagine there was a young kid -- a seven year-old -- back in the time of Noah right before the big flood. His birthday was coming up and he was, as you'd expect, super excited. Finally the big day arrives, his eighth birthday, and he looks out the window and sees that it's starting to rain (very hard).  The kids says, "Ah, crap! Just my luck! Raining on my birthday." Meanwhile, watching the whole thing up in heaven God chuckles and says, "Kid, you have no idea just how unlucky you really are. I was planning on doing this flood thing last week -- but I got busy."

I AM like God.

I've realized that I really am made in God's image -- in a lot of ways. For example, there are a number of really rotten things/circumstances in my life that I frankly could eliminate if I wanted to, but I usually let 'em fester, just for kicks. (Plus, it allows me to really enjoy that end-of the-day cocktail.)