Bible Stories

SUN., JAN. 13, 1985, 7:13 AM
FARM, STUDY

Soon you shall do an issue of Ruminations, a letter, certainly, but a good deal more, based on Teachings that have commented on Bible stories. Now that’s an interesting term, isn’t it? Stories. The first impression can be that this is something different from reality. Reality is facts, based on systematic observation and careful reporting. Stories are told or read and then repeated, emphasizing what the teller values. Well, I tell you that stories are more important than facts… and probably the most important way of expressing reality that humans have. And because the Bible is the most important record of reality for you and other Christians, the Bible stories must be taken seriously.

This is also a call, o son, to become more familiar with stories that are the narrative basis for your faith. You know that the Bible is, fundamentally, one long, complex story of My relationship (as Almighty God, both judging and merciful, as Jesus, the Begotten Son, and as the Holy Spirit, working in a great many ways) with a small group of humans in the earth. It tells of how I relate and interact and of how I respond to human behavior. The individual stories are not necessarily consistent. Yet this is a better representation of reality than a single, homogenous story which then limits Me, by leaving out aspects of Me that are important, but not necessarily loveable or “pretty”.

7:37 AM / 2:16 PM

Stories can be quite complete, with much detail or they can be somewhat to very sketchy, with opportunities to let the reader or the hearer assume details, which usually make the story more relevant. Stories range from long and complex to short and to the point. Short stories usually deal with a limited period of time, which makes it appropriate to wonder, “What happened next?” or “What happened the next day?” You have responded in this way to the story usually called The Prodigal Son. The day he returned his father was the epitome of forgiveness, thankfulness, and graciousness. How was he on the next day… or the next Monday? The brother who stayed home was jealous and angry. How was he the next week? Do such “sequels” also contain spiritual truth? You bet.

The story of Jonah is vivid, imaginative (even doubtful), and memorable. I dramatically altered Jonah’s attempt to go against My will, and so he reluctantly and then fervently did My bidding. But the story leaves him sitting under a dead vine, angry and frustrated. Does that say that I simply may leave a person, waiting and expecting? If Scripture is sufficient unto itself, then that’s a valid conclusion.

You have wondered what happened to Lazarus after I, as Jesus, revived him after four days of death? Did he live a life of active ministry, empowered by the miracle which returned him to life? Was his “second life” long and productive, or short and painful… or some other combination? Was there any purpose to his additional life beyond the miracle which showed the power of God over the forces of deterioration?

How theologically accurate are Bible stories? When I said to the thief on the cross, “This day you will be with Me in Paradise?” did that mean that consciousness continues, and there is an immediate awakening in a wonderful non-earth realm? Is that better epistemology than the notion that at My Second Coming the trumpets shall sound and those who have been dead for centuries shall rise? Is each an aspect of reality or is one wrong?