They’re Not Characters in a Story
“What was your story about today?” (a father to his child on the way home from worship)
“The character we are going to talk about today in our Bible story is ________.” (a Bible class teacher to her students)
“Turn in your Bible to the story found in ________.” (a preacher of God’s word)
These statements and many others like them have been on my mind a lot lately. I keep hearing the accounts found in the Bible referred to as stories, and the people within those accounts referred to as characters in a story. We even talk about buying a Bible storybook for our children or grandchildren – right along with the fictional storybooks we may also buy for them.
Please forgive me if you think I’m being picky. I really don’t mean to be, but because we live in such an entertainment-saturated world, I want to make a point in this short little post.
The accounts found in my Bible are not stories, and the people who lived through those accounts are not characters in a book.
When I open the pages of my Bible I read about real flesh and blood people who lived hundreds of years ago and encountered some events in their lives which I’m not sure I could have handled. Noah and his family come to my mind, along with Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Esther, Ruth, Daniel, Paul, Jesus and this list could go on and on.
They lived through events in their lives which we only read about. If we aren’t careful, we will begin to think of them as fictional characters and not as real flesh and blood people. We may begin to think about the happenings in their lives as fiction and not true accounts of real events. We won’t identify with the reality of what they encountered or suffered through as they maintained their belief in the one true God. We won’t recognize the mistakes many of them made (which serve as examples for us) if our view is that they are characters in a story.
Many are caught up in a world of fictional people and events via books, magazines, comics, TV, movies, video games, etc. Satan delights when people spend countless hours in this type of entertainment because they are filling their minds with many things that move their thinking away from reality.
Be careful how you refer to what or whom you are reading or teaching about from your Bible. They aren’t characters in a story. They are the people and the accounts which the men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote about so that we could know our way to God.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
