Stories of Christianity

The Stories of the Old Testament and Themes of the New

The Bible

The Bible it divided into two main parts:

• The Old Testament (pre-Jesus)
• This is pretty much the same as the Jewish Torah and shares many of the same stories as the Qu’ran.
• The New Testament (Jesus to the End of the World)
• This includes the Gospels and talks about the end of days (in Revelations)

The Old Testament

Some of the stories include:

• Genesis: The Creation
• Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve
• Cain and Abel: Brothers and Murder
• Abraham and Isaac: A Father’s Sacrifice
• Noah and the Flood: Consequences of our Behavior
• David and Goliath: Stand Tall in the Face of Obstacles

Genesis

“The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.’” -Genesis 7.1-7.4, NIV-

Garden of Eden

• Paradise on Earth, a vision (or version) of Heaven on Earth
• Story of Adam and Eve (Apple and the Snake)
• Expulsion from the Garden into the Wastelands

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Cain and Abel

• Children of Adam and Eve
• Cain grew jealous of his brother and killed Abel
• Then he lied to God about it- but God knew because he was omniscient
• He is exiled and offspring cursed
• Mark of Cain is a visible mark God put upon Cain as part of the curse to make sure that no one kills him before his natural death
• Story works as a deterrent to future murderers

Abraham and Isaac

• “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
• Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to him.
• Abraham loves his innocent son very much, but brings him to the cliff to sacrifice him (by stabbing then burning). Then story splits:
• God stops Abraham just before he is to kill Isaac
• God lets Abraham kill Isaac, then brings him back to life
• This is the test of faith

Noah and the Flood

The people on Earth had not been following the laws that God had set forth and therefore he was to start over.

Noah was told to build an ark (big boat) and gather two of every animal (male and female) and bring his family and the animals into the ark.

God then sent a rain that lasted 40 days and 40 nights that swept the Earth clean and “rebooted” civilization.

David and Goliath

David was a shepherd boy that was skilled with a slingshot (see the picture on the left).

One day he had to face a giant, Goliath, and this tiny little boy hit him square between the eyes and won!

David would eventually become King David, one of the most important Hebrew Kings.

The New Testament

Themes of the New Testament:

• Missions/Evangelism
• Persecution
• Martyrdom
• End of Days

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