Morgan Dialoguing The Bible

FEELING How the Bible Came To Be
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9817494-8-8
Verlag: Sowjourn Publishers
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 100 Seiten

Designed for both the serious student and for the simply curious, this book will help the reader to gain a thorough understanding of how the Bible evolved from a collection of oral works and written works into the highly recognizable book of today. Dialoguing the Bible contains both fictional dialogues and historical facts that will allow the reader to not only grasp how the Bible developed, but also why. Don't just learn about the history of the Bible, FEEL it!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Morgan, Kevin

Leseproben

Oral Tradition
The Setting: Around 800 BCE, Aviel, a young boy in a story-telling clan rebels against his family’s profession. After storming off from a storytelling session being led by his father, Aviel encounters an elderly man from the village who shares some unknown and exciting information about Aviel’s father. ************************************************ Unable to sit silently while his father rambled on about some old guy named Abraham, Aviel abruptly rose to his feet and stormed away from the circle of people gathered to hear the stories of their ancient past. “Abraham this and Abraham that”, he muttered under his breath. “I get so tired of hearing about some old guy who probably had too much to drink when supposedly God promised him some land.” Stopping by a very tall tree whose limbs and branches provided shade to a portion of a nearby churning stream, he whispered under his breath, “Give it a rest people. This guy Abraham is old news!” For the past few weeks, young Aviel had been feeling restless which made it difficult for him to sit still like a stone and endure his father’s nightly retelling of his family’s glory days. Each night he lay awake dreaming of a time when he could sneak away to any other location that he desperately hoped was more exciting than his current backwoods home. He constantly promised himself that he would steal away from this dreary place someday soon and go make some history of his own. On this particular night, he did the unthinkable and interrupted his father just as he was getting to the part of the family story about Abraham and Hagar. For what seemed liked the millionth time, young Aviel heard the opening lines to the story of how Abraham ended up having a kid with some women who wasn’t his wife. Leading up to his abrupt departure, Aviel was slowly churning in his anger at his father and the others in the circle who just sat there night after night listening to the same old stories. Was he the only one who saw these nightly rituals as a waste of time? Was his father always this talkative and domineering? From his standpoint, Aviel could never envision his father as being a young boy who had to answer to someone else in authority. He was not only dad, but he was the third generation story teller who had already shared his intention of passing on that title to an increasingly reluctant Aviel. As he was storming away, Aviel could hear his father’s reprimand. “Boy, when I was your age, children actually enjoyed hearing these stories. Now shut up and listen, because this is important stuff you need to know.” Obviously, Aviel didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Was it really necessary to hear these ancient stories over and over again? What use was there to dwell on the past when it was the future that he looked forward to? Seemingly out of nowhere, old man Ezer joined him standing beside the tree. Old man Ezer was one of the few senior people that Aviel really liked. Although he was fond of the old guy, Aviel was in no mood to hear what the old man had to say. He warned the elder man, “With all due respect, sir, I don’t want to hear how I’m wrong and my father is right. Not tonight.” Aviel turned partially sideways hoping Ezer overlooked his bad manners and just left him alone. To his dismay, Aviel noticed that Old Man Ezer stood his ground and appeared in no hurry to grant the youngster his solitude. “Come on, young fella, I just want to talk with you for a little while.” Then as if to put the obviously agitated Aviel at ease, he added, “We can talk about anything that doesn’t have to do with your father or his stories about Abraham.” Fearing he might regret his decision, but also not wanting to be any more disrespectful of one of the few elders he actually liked, Aviel turned to face Ezer and waited to hear what he had to say. After a few seconds of inner contemplation, Ezer asked the stubbornly upset Aviel, “How long do you think this tree has been here?” Aviel, somewhat confused as to why this old man was asking a question out of the blue about a tree, just stared at him with a bewildered look on his face. Once Ezer realized that Aviel was not going to respond to his question, he offered his own reply. “My guess is that this tree goes back five or six generations of our family at the very least.” After still more silence from Aviel, the old man kept up his part of the conversation. “So, I guess by that crazy look on your face, I would be wasting my breath trying to ask you what you think is the height of this tree?” Once again, the old man answered his own question which seemed to be fine with Aviel who was thinking to himself, “Hey, if the old guy wants to have a one-sided conversation with me as a silent observer, that’s okay with me.” As this went on for a few minutes, young Aviel was struck by the statement that Ezer offered when he said that the roots of the tree were as long as the height of the tree. “How could he possibly know that?” wondered Aviel. “Did he dig up a few tall trees with the few crude tools we have or is he trying to tell me one of his legendary funny jokes?” As if reading the young man’s mind, Ezer stated, “When you get to be as old as I am, you learn and know a few things!” After a brief chuckle he added, “Son, let me make my point and leave so you can continue moping here at this tree by yourself.” With a slight twinkle in his eyes and with a trace of a smile forming on his face, he confessed, “Okay, I AM here to talk about your dad, but just hear me out and I will be gone.” Leaning against the tree, Ezer pressed his point, “The roots of the tree are necessary for a tree to live and the longer its roots, the better that tree’s survival rate.” After clearing his throat to make sure he had the young man’s attention, Ezer stated as a matter of fact, “The roots underground are symbolic of our past while the parts of the tree above ground represent our current way of life and our destiny. Your father, through his stories, is helping to define us as a people and thereby ensuring our current and future existence.” Ezer put his arm around Aviel and spoke in a calming paternalistic tone, “Son, your father was just as against becoming a storyteller when he was your age as you are now. But, over time, he slowly realized that reliving our past is just as important to our existence as planting and harvesting food grown in our gardens. Pausing to catch his breath, he continued, “You say you are tired of hearing about Abraham, but your father used to complain about Samson whom he thought was a man that was weak when it came to women. I think that the older he got, the more he recognized that it was not the historical facts that are important, but the values behind those stories that demand our attention.” Aviel, who was surprised to learn that his strict father used to rebel against tradition and authority, looked at Ezer and shook his head. “You got all that from this old tree?” Putting his arm around the old man, he joked, “I guess it is true when they say that you are truly a wise man!” After sharing a chuckle with his mentor and friend, Aviel asked, “You mean to tell me that my dad, that talkative guy over there boring those people, used to dislike storytelling when he was my age?” Ezer responded, “Dislike is not the right word, detest is a much better fit for what he thought of that tradition.” Avriel, who was now in a mini state of shock confessed, “If he was initially dead set against becoming a storyteller only to become a legendary narrator of our history so that people from surrounding villages come to hear what he has to say, then maybe I need to reconsider my attitude.” Without saying a word, old man Ezer beamed at Avriel with a bemused smile on his face. After sharing with Ezer a quiet but heartfelt moment when words were not necessary to express his new found perspective of his father, Aviel confessed, “I see things a little differently now. Being a story teller like my dad is not such a bad thing after all. Let’s go back to the family circle to hear the rest of dad’s stories for tonight. Maybe he’s past the part about our dear beloved Abraham.” In reply, Ezer stated, “There will come a day when people in the future will doubt that Abraham actually existed. But, what they won’t question is what he stood for and what he represents. Abraham was not a perfect man and he made his share of mistakes, but what is most significant about his life is how he responded to God’s call.” Momentarily stopping his slow but determined stride, he declared, “Now that is a story to be told for the ages!” The Oral Tradition Notes
Patriarchal stories (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) were originally oral histories which are typical of pastoral nomads. Nomads usually consisted of unsophisticated, close families whose members did not know how to read and social units which were likely to communicate orally.1 The works now known as the five books of Moses (Pentateuch) were transmitted orally for centuries before being compiled and written down around the time of kings David and Solomon - around 1,000 BC.2 The types of...