Category: Christian Social Witness

INTRODUCTION: Once upon a time...

I love a story that begins, Once upon a time, don’t you?

Your parents may have used different names for stories like this:

• Fairy Tales, Fables, Adventures, Fantasies, Science fiction. (I think Disney has a ‘LAND‘ for every one of them.)
• Romances… (You know, “.. AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.”)
• SuperHERO stories, cartoons, comics, games, and movies.

As a parent if I were to tell you our secret about any ‘Once upon a time‘ STORY, then I must confess that even though we call them CHILDREN’S STORIES, almost EVERY parent loves these stories too.

‘Once upon a time‘ STORIES are FICTION.

That is to say, they are NOT TRUE. And even some grown-ups forget that.

BUT.. these stories may tell an important truth to us.

ANY STORY may include an illustration of times in life beyond the bounds of time and place – a picture of some person at some time in some place that we cannot see, hear or touch.

These stories may have men or women, boys or girls..

sometimes even animals we might like to be like.. or must be careful not to be..

or worse yet, those people, creatures and things we must stay away from altogether.

HEROES or VILLAINS (good or bad) may have been like someone we know (or don’t want to know). They may be just like real people who lived ‘once upon a time’ who we have never met.

THIS ‘once upon a time’ story, although it is FICTION, also includes some NON-FICTION characters at times – men and women who teach us good things for these times from their REAL lives a time long ago.. or even a time after any of us can imagine.

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Parables, Allegories, Myths and more

As part of my introduction to The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter my intent is not to instruct you in literature, but rather to provoke additional thought about Scripture and my serial story which follows. - Roger Harned

a Parable

You have read or heard many parables, especially those told by JESUS, written down for our instruction in the Gospels of the Bible.

• DID JESUS REALLY SEE THESE THINGS HAPPEN?
  • NO, I think. (I cannot be certain.)
• DO THE PARABLES OF JESUS illustrate TRUTH?
  • YES, Jesus paints pictures in His Words of absolute inviolable truths.

I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will tell riddles of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not conceal them from their children,
But we will tell the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His power and His wondrous works that He has done. 

CLICK HERE FOR ALL of Psalm 78 – A contemplative, moral instructive song of Asaph.
Listen, my people, to my instruction;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

an Allegory

• a story, play, picture, etc. in which each character or event is a symbol representing an idea or a quality, such as truth, evil, death, etc.
  • – source: the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Some Bible Stories are allegories.

The Holy Bible also contains fictional truths told as allegories in addition to many oral (or verbal) histories — each told, then later recorded in writing, as accounts of TRUE history, i.e. non-fiction.

I believe that Moses' creation narrative may be an allegory -- a most accurate illustration of the truths of God and creation, good and evil; 
a screenshot outside of time (to update his picture) of THAT WHICH NO MAN can see of life (eternal or otherwise) and death.

Theologians have debated such truths of the Bible for millennia; but we must not dismiss God’s Truth by any misconception of man which debates the literal and symbolic of any of God’s Scripture. – RH

Your COMMENT is welcome about God, Creation, Moses, JESUS or the Bible.

Roger@TalkofJESUS.com

The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter

The story I introduce here today is neither parable or allegory, but quotes Biblical truth.

However, if you would like to sample a classic allegory from English literature, check out the best-loved Christian allegory of all time:

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Myths and Fables

• myth –

• a story from ancient times, especially one that was told to explain natural events or to describe the early history of a people; this type of story; SYNONYM legend
  • ancient Greek myths
  • a creation myth (= that explains how the world began)
  • the heroes of myth and legend
    • source: the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Permit me just one comment on this widely accepted definition of myth:  

Ancient Greek, Roman and eastern religion myths include gods (idols), legendary heroes (often gods or early icons of the faith), and a creation myth which includes one or more of the above. 

Many will attempt to dismiss ALL explanations of creation as false BECAUSE THESE ARE 'CREATION MYTHS;' however one explanation of creation must be TRUE (for the heavens and earth exist). 

The stories of the LORD GOD and creation describe life beyond the bounds of time and place;

therefore creatures that we are, man can neither prove nor refute the eternal and immeasurable beyond this brief mortal life.

Roger@TalkofJESUS.com

• fables
• a fictitious narrative or statement: such as
  • a legendary story of supernatural happenings
  • a narration intended to enforce a useful truth
    • especially : one in which animals speak and act like human beings
  • FALSEHOOD, LIE
  • source: Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary,

Fantasies

Many will know of or have read a famous Christian fantasy:

C.S. Lewis also tells a favorite of mine appropriate for teens and especially adults, a story about two devils: Screwtape and his bumbling apprentice, Wormwood.

C.S. Lewis delves into moral questions about good v. evil, temptation, repentance and grace. - source:

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our Story of Three Characters

It's up to you to solve the mystery of each to learn who they are.

The Gardener, the Shepherd and the Hunter

NEXT: ACT 1: The Gardener

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