Introduction: What is the Story of the Bible?

Transcript:

If someone asked you to describe the Bible, what words would you use? Is it a collection of moral teachings? An old religious text that’s a little confusing? A list of do’s and do nots? A self-help book?

What about a story? Most people know that the Bible has a few different stories in it, some parables and character lessons, but did you know that the Bible has one large, overarching narrative?

It’s a good thing. I love stories. In fact, I could probably get through about 10 different story books in the time it takes me to get through a single self help book.

Not only that, but I have always found I learn more from stories than I do from self-help books. It’s one thing to tell me some good principles to live my life by, but when I see someone living the right way in a story, that sticks.

In this course, we’ll be diving into the structure and methodology of good story telling. We’ll learn story principles from Pixar, Anton Chekhov, and others.

We will then apply those story principles to the Bible, giving us the tools we need to identify and remember the overarching narrative told in this book.

How does everything tie together? Is the Bible still relevant today? How do you handle some of the weird stuff in the Bible or the things that seem like contradictions?

Most people have a favorite tv show or movie franchise. Imagine a friend encourages you to watch a series that they really love. You decide to give it a try, and you watch episode 16 of season 3. Will you enjoy that show? Maybe, but you’re probably going to be confused. You’ll miss the references to earlier in the show, and you will have no idea what the context is.

So often, we treat the Bible the same way. We open the Bible to random parts and get confused because we don’t know how it fits (or even if it fits).

Now, maybe you’ve attempted to read the whole thing. You get through Genesis and maybe Exodus, but then the rules and laws of Leviticus really slow you down.

The Bible is a big book, and it can even be intimidating at times. But knowing the overarching narrative can really help you understand and interpret what is happening whenever you open the Bible.

And so, that is the purpose of this course. It contains 20 different videos and a few activities that are designed to help you recognize and remember the narrative framework of the entire Bible.

This will give your future Bible readings and studies better context, and this course will equip you to be a better leader in your church, small group, family, and community.

It doesn’t matter if you’re simply investigating Christianity, new to the faith, or a seasoned believer. If you want to learn and understand the story of the Bible, then this course is for you. You can do the course on your own, or you can go through it together with your small group.

With that, it’s time to get started. In the next video, we’ll take a look at the Pixar story structure and see how it fits with the Biblical narrative.