There are real people in the Bible! They lived in, travelled to, fought and fell in love inreal places!
The Bible is not Star Trek ,Star Wars or even Galaxy Quest . Those are detailed, science-fictional stories about fictional people in fictional places. Granted, they are interesting stories about interesting though unreal people—if, like me, you like that sort of thing.
We can envision the fictional drama of their made-up lives, and most importantly, we can relate to those made-up folks. Sometimes we can see a little of ourselves in their characters. We can imagine their lives that led to the vignettes in the books and films. It’s like our minds filled in the gaps of time and space so we can see and hear what they saw and heard. We reason and feel what they thought and felt. We like those stories in part because we can envision the characters and places in our minds’ eye.
Behold the Bible!
If you love the dramatic, then this is it. Out of the physical nothingness but spirit fullness of deep eternity—suddenly life as we know it enters the scene! People live, breathe and do bad, foolish, destructive things (just like in the movies—and real life). But they do some good things, too, mostly because of the pervading, dynamic force and inspiration of God Himself.
The people in the Bible built societies like our modern nations, provinces and cities. They fought wars which destroyed those places and many of the humans in them. They rebuilt from the rubble—actually, because stone was cheap and handy, they usually rebuilt on top of the rubble. Over the few thousand years of human history, those destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again city locations became mounds or hills of rubble which archeologists in the Middle East call a “tel” because the Hebrew word for mound is tel.
Every one of those biblical cities is a genuine, geographical location. That’s the difference between science fiction and science fact—or between just plain fiction and fact. The Bible is fact.
Samson
There was a super strong man called Samson in the Bible. His real life and adventures could have easily been the fabled basis for Hercules. God used Samson’s intelligence and strength (which He gave him in the first place) to free the beleaguered Israelites from the oppressive Philistines—at least for a few decades. Read about this real man and the real places he lived, travelled to and fought over in the book of Judges from chapter 13 to 16 (Judges:13:1-25
, Judges:14:1-20
, Judges:15:1-20
, Judges:16:1-31
).
, Judges:14:1-20
, Judges:15:1-20
, Judges:16:1-31
).
It won’t take you long, but while you’re reading, imagine. See Samson, his parents, Delilah, the unfortunate lion, the foxes and the frustrated and angry Philistine leaders—all in your mind’s eye. Marvel at the “special effects” (the foxes again). Relate to Samson’s love for his parents and shake your head at his foolish relationships, especially the toxic one with Delilah. In the end, over your favorite cup of tea or coffee, think about what the true drama of Samson’s life. What can you learn from it?
And there’s more…
When you pick up the Bible, you’re holding in your hands the most important collection of true stories about true people and true places. In addition to Samson, there are prequels and sequels to keep you enlightened with true “entertainment” and great wisdom for your whole life or at least until the end of the world as we know it and then the beginning of an incredible “world tomorrow!” A time coming when Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Those are called future stories, or prophecies—don’t miss them!
No comments:
Post a Comment