Humans are story tellers. We have been telling stories and passing down our stories from generation to generation. Some people learn how to empathise, how to understand someone different from them, and how to perceive the world, all through stories. However, others have a more negative perspective on stories and story telling. "It is only fiction," they say, "it's not true.". This is similar to people who say, "It's just a joke. It doesn't mean anything. Calm down."
Fiction, whether it is a story or a joke, can give insight into our world. Fiction is often more truthful than non fiction. Just look at politicians! What you say, whether it is "just a story" or "only a joke" holds more water than we realize.
There are two things we must know about stories before we delve into the chapters of this book.
There is one universal story that holds and connects us together.
In the book, 21 lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Harai (2018) shares three stories that have been used to express and explain the story of the Human Race. These three stories were, Facism, Communism, and Liberalism. Not every country lives in a liberalist, democratic state, but for most parts of the world, liberalism is the popular story amongst the three. And yet, Liberalism is no longer enough. It is not a good and satisfying story, explaining what is currently happening in the world with the advancement of technology and the automation of jobs. We need a new story.
Human rights and freedom are both important. However, the solution to the inequalities of the world, poverty, violence and hatred, is not more freedom. We need to dig a little deeper and look up.
There is another story. A fourth story that, like Liberalism, has endured the test of time, and still stands today. It is the story of the fall, salvation and reconciliation of Man. It is the most important story of all! But it is more than just a story, which leads me into my next point, a story is more than myth and legend.
A 'story' connotes with words like, fairytales, fiction, fables, 'not-real'. Instead, we will use the term, Pūrakau.
Pūrakau is a te reo māori term that means stories that should not be catergorised under 'fiction' or 'myths' because of the philosophical thought, cultural codes and worldviews embedded in these 'stories' (Lee, 2009). In the māori culture, these pūrakau contains the culture and worldviews that is fundamental to their identity. We can apply this to the pūrakau in the Bible and the overall, overarching Pūrakau of the fall, salvation and reconciliation of Man. The Pūrakau in the bible contains the culture code, worldview and philosophical thought fundamental to our identity as followers of Jesus, children of God, and believers.
That's all for the introduction. Let's get into it starting with the first book of the bible, Genesis.
References:
Lee, J. (2009). Decolonising māori narratives: pūrakau as method. Kaupapa Rangahau: A Reader, 91.
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Becoming a Christian
SpiritualHumans are story tellers. We have been telling stories and passing down our stories from generation to generation. Some people learn how to empathise, how to understand someone different from them, and how to perceive the world, all through stories...
