Stories to Confront Evil
Illustration
Stories
For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (v. 12)
The preacher at our church told a story in the sermon one Sunday that I have been thinking about ever since. I do not remember much else that was said but I remember the story. It’s been working on me. I can’t get it out of my head.
The story is an anecdote from Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
“I was riding a subway on Sunday morning in New York. People were sitting quietly, reading papers, or resting with eyes closed. It was a peaceful scene. Then a man and his children entered the subway car. The man sat next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to his children, who were yelling, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. I couldn’t believe he could be so insensitive. Eventually, with what I felt was unusual patience, I turned and said, “Sir, your children are disturbing people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?” The man lifted his gaze as if he saw the situation for the first time. “Oh, you’re right,” he said softly, “I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Covey wrote, “Suddenly, I saw things differently. And because I saw differently, I felt differently. I behaved differently.” He adds, “Everything changed in an instant.”
That is what a good story can do. It takes us into a world that changes us. You cannot enter the worlds Jesus creates in the parables of the Prodigal Son and The Good Samaritan and come out unchanged. The right story told at the right time can be transforming. Stories, like other forms of art, can turn our whole world upside down and inside out. Stories work in our unconscious minds slowly over time, gradually mixing with our own ideas and memories, healing our spirits as we absorb their truths. They help us to know things about ourselves, our relationships with others, the nature of the universe and our Creator that we could not discover in any other way.
Three movies were released the summer 2023 that have had a transforming effect on millions of people around the world. One fan leaving the summer blockbuster, Oppenheimer, was quoted in “USA Today” as saying, “It had me feeling empty for the next six hours.” Another, calling the movie and its message about nuclear warfare a warning, said, “The movie lingers as one that will stick in your head for days, weeks maybe.”
In her blog, “A Long Quiet Walk,” Aleassa Jarvis compares the transforming power of the two other summer blockbusters, Barbie and Sound of Freedom. She says, “I laughed and cried through Barbie, and I cried and cried through Sound of Freedom:
“…Both movies share a common underlying theme: the ramifications of living in a world in which we dehumanize and objectify our fellow human beings. Barbie used humor and over-the-top satire to illustrate how harmful and demeaning it is for one gender to rule over another.
“Sound of Freedom used blunt, heart-breaking imagery to illustrate the horrific abuse that can happen when one person decides that another person is theirs to use…When the hero of the story resolutely declares, ‘God’s children are not for sale,’ we all felt that, too, in the innermost parts of our God-designed souls. Humans weren’t created to be owned, used or dominated by other humans. We were made to be free.”
Jarvis adds, “Pornography, sex trafficking, (in Sound of Freedom) and what we know today as patriarchy (as depicted in Barbie) all share the same core belief—the belief that one person is entitled to exercise power over another person through control and domination. That another human is less human than oneself. That another person is consumable.”
One young man wrote on Twitter, “Barbie had me crying walking out of the theater thinking about the purpose of life.” Good stories make us feel deeply and think deeply.
I will be remembering, and pondering, Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Sound of Freedom for a long, long time. I can’t get them out of my head. And maybe that’s a good thing. I left all three movies deeply affected in ways I cannot yet put into words.
The preacher at our church told a story in the sermon one Sunday that I have been thinking about ever since. I do not remember much else that was said but I remember the story. It’s been working on me. I can’t get it out of my head.
The story is an anecdote from Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
“I was riding a subway on Sunday morning in New York. People were sitting quietly, reading papers, or resting with eyes closed. It was a peaceful scene. Then a man and his children entered the subway car. The man sat next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to his children, who were yelling, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. I couldn’t believe he could be so insensitive. Eventually, with what I felt was unusual patience, I turned and said, “Sir, your children are disturbing people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?” The man lifted his gaze as if he saw the situation for the first time. “Oh, you’re right,” he said softly, “I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Covey wrote, “Suddenly, I saw things differently. And because I saw differently, I felt differently. I behaved differently.” He adds, “Everything changed in an instant.”
That is what a good story can do. It takes us into a world that changes us. You cannot enter the worlds Jesus creates in the parables of the Prodigal Son and The Good Samaritan and come out unchanged. The right story told at the right time can be transforming. Stories, like other forms of art, can turn our whole world upside down and inside out. Stories work in our unconscious minds slowly over time, gradually mixing with our own ideas and memories, healing our spirits as we absorb their truths. They help us to know things about ourselves, our relationships with others, the nature of the universe and our Creator that we could not discover in any other way.
Three movies were released the summer 2023 that have had a transforming effect on millions of people around the world. One fan leaving the summer blockbuster, Oppenheimer, was quoted in “USA Today” as saying, “It had me feeling empty for the next six hours.” Another, calling the movie and its message about nuclear warfare a warning, said, “The movie lingers as one that will stick in your head for days, weeks maybe.”
In her blog, “A Long Quiet Walk,” Aleassa Jarvis compares the transforming power of the two other summer blockbusters, Barbie and Sound of Freedom. She says, “I laughed and cried through Barbie, and I cried and cried through Sound of Freedom:
“…Both movies share a common underlying theme: the ramifications of living in a world in which we dehumanize and objectify our fellow human beings. Barbie used humor and over-the-top satire to illustrate how harmful and demeaning it is for one gender to rule over another.
“Sound of Freedom used blunt, heart-breaking imagery to illustrate the horrific abuse that can happen when one person decides that another person is theirs to use…When the hero of the story resolutely declares, ‘God’s children are not for sale,’ we all felt that, too, in the innermost parts of our God-designed souls. Humans weren’t created to be owned, used or dominated by other humans. We were made to be free.”
Jarvis adds, “Pornography, sex trafficking, (in Sound of Freedom) and what we know today as patriarchy (as depicted in Barbie) all share the same core belief—the belief that one person is entitled to exercise power over another person through control and domination. That another human is less human than oneself. That another person is consumable.”
One young man wrote on Twitter, “Barbie had me crying walking out of the theater thinking about the purpose of life.” Good stories make us feel deeply and think deeply.
I will be remembering, and pondering, Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Sound of Freedom for a long, long time. I can’t get them out of my head. And maybe that’s a good thing. I left all three movies deeply affected in ways I cannot yet put into words.
