I remember back in those good old days when there was no television, no computer, and my house had no radio (just a rediffusion), we children would gather around the older folks and hears stories - stories of our grandparents, stories of the Japanese in Singapore, stories of our neighborhoods.
About 40% of the Old Testament of the Bible is in story form or narratives. Perhaps, these stories are passed on centuries through centuries orally like my parents to us. Then came a time when God inspired learned men, like Moses, to write it all down for future generations (like us).
Also, other civilizations like the Egyptians and Sumerians had their stories. And the stories are also quite similar, although not exactly similar. Every civilization had their creation stories. They also had the flood story like the one in the Bible about Noah and the Ark. So to set the record straight, the Bible also recorded these stories to counter error and falsehood. Hence Bible stories are also about truth.
When you want somebody to know you, you reveal yourselves by telling your stories. Maybe you tell it orally, or you write a memoir. You can also create a blog. Well, God wants us to know Him. So HE tells us HIS stories.
Let’s look at the two most familiar stories – Creation and the Flood.
About 40% of the Old Testament of the Bible is in story form or narratives. Perhaps, these stories are passed on centuries through centuries orally like my parents to us. Then came a time when God inspired learned men, like Moses, to write it all down for future generations (like us).
Also, other civilizations like the Egyptians and Sumerians had their stories. And the stories are also quite similar, although not exactly similar. Every civilization had their creation stories. They also had the flood story like the one in the Bible about Noah and the Ark. So to set the record straight, the Bible also recorded these stories to counter error and falsehood. Hence Bible stories are also about truth.
When you want somebody to know you, you reveal yourselves by telling your stories. Maybe you tell it orally, or you write a memoir. You can also create a blog. Well, God wants us to know Him. So HE tells us HIS stories.
Let’s look at the two most familiar stories – Creation and the Flood.
Creation Story
The first story in the Bible is Creation of heavens and earth.
To fully appreciate this story, we also have to know something about the early civilization concept of creation. There are many, but I will just talk about the most famous one – Mesopotamia’s creation found in the writing called Enuma Elish
The Enuma Elish is a Babylonian or Mesopotamian myth of creation recounting the struggle between cosmic order and chaos written in the 12th Century BC (Genesis is written in 15th Century BC). The story is all about gods and they are at war with one another.
The various gods represent aspects of the physical world. Apsu is the god of fresh water and thus male fertility. Tiamat, wife of Apsu, is the goddess of the sea and thus chaos and threat.
Tiamat gives birth to Anshar and Kishar, gods who represented the boundary between the earth and sky (the horizon). To Anshar and Kishar is born Anu, god of sky, who in turn bears Ea. These "sons of the gods" make so much commotion and are so ill-behaved that Apsu decides to destroy them.
To make the long story short, Tiamat was finally killed and her corpse was divided to create the earth and the other half to create the sky. Kingu (the new husband of Tiamat after the death of Aspu) was also killed and his blood was used to make mankind.
The various gods represent aspects of the physical world. Apsu is the god of fresh water and thus male fertility. Tiamat, wife of Apsu, is the goddess of the sea and thus chaos and threat.
Tiamat gives birth to Anshar and Kishar, gods who represented the boundary between the earth and sky (the horizon). To Anshar and Kishar is born Anu, god of sky, who in turn bears Ea. These "sons of the gods" make so much commotion and are so ill-behaved that Apsu decides to destroy them.
To make the long story short, Tiamat was finally killed and her corpse was divided to create the earth and the other half to create the sky. Kingu (the new husband of Tiamat after the death of Aspu) was also killed and his blood was used to make mankind.
After reading all these ancient civilization creation stories, the Genesis account of God’s creation sound more realistic than all other myth!
Flood Story
We all know about Noah and the ark.
But do you know that there are about 270 worldwide flood stories and historic records found in many parts of the world?
The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes to us from Ancient Sumeria, and was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cunieform script. It is about the adventures of the historical King of Uruk (somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BCE). The story is quite similar to Genesis 6 – 9 so much so that people asked: Is the Biblical Flood Account a Modified Copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh? I leave you to read on this.The Chinese too have their universal flood account. One ancient Chinese classic called “Hihking” tells of the story of Fuhi, whom the Chinese consider to be the father of their civilization. This history records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters escaped a great flood. He and his family were the only people left alive on earth. After the great flood they repopulated the world.
So to know truth and to know GOD, we need to know Bible Stories. More importantly, they are God’s stories. These stories become ours as HE “writes” us into it once we joined HIM into HIS family.
To be continued …
