Stories

Today Stuart McAllister, one of RZIM's speakers, was on at apologetics. He spoke more wonderfully than usual of Ravi Zecharias. I used to wonder if the littler evangelists knew what it was about the great evangelists that made them excellent speakers. Now I know that they know :)

One of the things he mentioned about Dr. Ravi was that he uses stories perfectly. It's true--he always has a story and it ties in perfectly to what he's saying, and he can explain his whole point with that one story. It's really amazing--it makes him easy to understand, and you can see how the point applies to real life just because he told the story.

Stories are amazing things. Dr. McAllister talked about movies, and what great conversation they are, and about WHY they are such great conversation starters. It is because the story is usually one of hope. He used Finding Nemo as an example. It's not just a story about fish. The son gets taken away, and the dad goes off and braves the ocean to find his son, and all kinds of things happen, and OH WE'RE GONNA DIE, and then..........they're reunited and live happily ever after. WHY do we love stories like that? WHY do stories work as such openers, hooks, and attention grabbers? Dr. McAllister says, "The stories we love only work because there's a primal story from which they draw their power".

"If we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get in."

~C.S. Lewis

We need to see THROUGH beauty to what beauty points to.