Telling Stories

Christian Storytelling of course began way back with the Master.  He told stories to help illustrate points and principles.  The great thing about a story, versus creating a law, is that so much more can be read into it. 

For example, if you created a rule that said, "if you blow it, you can come back to God," that would be one thing.  But to tell a story about a son, who went to his father, asking for his inheritance, then he left and blew it on good times and prostitutes*, then he hit rick bottom and thought even to be a slave in my father's house...  There's so much more richness and things to glean than the written rule above.

*prostitutes-- surely Jesus never used this word or concept since the Christian Nazi's would never have allowed this short film into the film festival.  (See this blog.)

Stories have the power to keep giving, even after the main message is discerned.   They touch on the mental and emotional-- multiple senses of sight and sound (not even going to go to smellavision).

But stories, as I've mentioned before, are only stories-- they're tools.  They don't have the power of salvation or discipleship.  Stories are a hammer in your tool box, but you still have to swing it.  Even when the arm gets tired.

So for all you storytellers out there in film, don't take your movie too seriously-- remember it's a tool and not the mcguffin that the Kingdom of God is depending on for the salvation of the world.