Have you ever built a campfire? Have you sat around a fire pit? If you did, and you were with other people, you probably told stories. What is it about gathering around a fire that makes us want to tell them? I don’t understand it myself, but there is something about that flame that invites that kind of conversation.
Would you consider yourself an avid reader? How many books do you read in a year’s time? What about audiobooks or ebooks? If you live in the US you probably know that our nation is a nation that likes to read. A THGM book readers survey taken in 2022 showed that 39 percent of us say we read more than 20 books a year. Only 5 percent of the people surveyed said they don’t ready any books.
We love to read because we love stories. Listen to this plot and see whether you think it would make a good story to tell:
A handsome king has superhuman strength but he is so entitled that he threatens his own kingdom. Then a visitor comes and challenges him to a fight. The king ends their battle chastened and the two people become friends and go on a lot of adventures across the kingdom.
This is the tale of Gilgamesh. It is the oldest known story we have written down. It was engraved on tablets in Babylon 4000 years ago. People are still reading this tale today.
Why do we like stories so much? I’ve got a few theories.
Stories bring people together. Little kids love story time, don’t they? It might be because they all get to participate in some way. Everyone is imagining the same story as it is told. And you can’t help but put yourself in the story in some way. For a brief period you are actually there, observing what is going on. It’s like magic, and it’s shared with everyone listening.
Stories help us see from a different perspective. They can shift our belief and understanding. People are more likely to change the way they think about something when they “experience” life through a character in a story. If you are experiencing a specific problem in your life you might think about it in a particular way. But this could change if you read about other people dealing with the same issue. This is because stories allow us to see things through different eyes. We can better understand how people arrive at certain conclusions.
Stories make you feel something. They make us sad. They make us happy. They might even make us mad. But stories will usually make you feel something. Take for example the classic 6 word story sometimes attributed to Ernest Hemingway. I doubt you could read that for the first time and tell me you don’t feel anything.
For sale. Baby’s shoes. Never worn.
A story doesn’t have to be true for any of the above points to matter. Stories don’t have to be literal for you to relate to it and to possibly change because of it.
Now look at the bible. How many stories are in there? Yes, there are a lot. In fact, six of the top ten most read books of the bible are filled with stories. Why is this so? It is probably due to the same reasons already listed. They bring people together. They help us see things differently. And they make us feel something. Jesus told a lot of stories. Here is a famous one from Luke’s gospel:
Luke 10: 25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Did this story Jesus is telling actually happen? We don’t believe so. It was a parable of Jesus, which is just another way of saying it was a story he told to teach a lesson. But whether it is literal or not there is a lot of truth in it. The best stories are those we can relate to. We can relate to the story of Adam and Eve, can’t we? Put yourself in Adam or Eve’s shoes (I know, they didn’t have any shoes in the story but you get what I mean). What would you have done?
We take the story of the Good Samaritan and we can relate to it too. Which character would you have been? What are the really important things in life? The story gives us a hint at what that should be.
Stories connect us. They stick to us. Stories allow us to see things from a different perspective. The bible invites us to do just that. “Put yourself here”, the bible says. Learn
Grow
Remember
Connect
God Bless