The Importance of Story

What is the importance of story?

Do stories matter?

Obviously, as a writer, I have a mildly biased perspective on this question. However, because I do think stories are incredibly important for the sake of cultures and people and connection with God, I thought it might be fun to share why I think that. And it’s not just because I happen to write stories myself.

Why Do Stories Matter?

Why are stories (like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Hunger Games, Hamlet, and every other story ever written) important?

I think, as I mentioned above, there are a few reasons. But the one I’m going to focus most on today is this: Stories help humanity connect with God.

When I say “connect” with God, I partially mean “coming closer to understanding Him.” He’s a big God, and I think that means He’s impossible to ever fully understand. But I know that there are some things He has created to help us connect to Him better. The Bible and human beings are some of those things, but a lot of other things fall into the same category – nature, animals, and, I think, story, among others.

When I say “connect,” I also mean in an emotional way. While knowledge of God is important, knowing Him on a more personal level is also important. And that’s what emotional connection to God is.

But how do stories help us mentally and emotionally connect to God?

Glimpses of His Character

One of the clearest ways stories can help us connect to God is through glimpses of His character. Stories explore the fact of humanity, the faults of humanity, and the triumphs of humanity. Even in stories that aren’t written by Christians, stories written about people made in God’s image inherently have the opportunity to reflect God’s character.

When a character sacrifices themselves for another character (King Triton in The Little Mermaid), or shows intense kindness towards others in the face of abuse (Cinderella), those are glimpses of God’s character. Through those glimpses, people get a bit of that connection. A peek into His heart.

This is one of the reasons I think it’s so helpful for us to talk about the media we consume. Whether it’s a movie we just watched or a book we just read, we get the chance to explore those glimpses – and see glimpses that a friend or family caught that we didn’t – more clearly. Stories were never meant to be explored alone. They were meant to be explored as a community.

Book clubs, movie theatres, YouTube channels dedicated to digging into every aspect of a movie or book – those things are natural, and they’re one of the main ways that we as a community can really, truly, appreciate the stories we consume.

Reflections of Truth

If something is true, it is a reflection of God. Jesus said that he is “…the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, bold added).

When stories show the truth, they’re showing a reflection of who Christ is. In that reflection, people are able to find a connection to Christ. They can see his character, like I said above, and they can also learn new things about the way He created the world, and the way that it (and we) have fallen.

When a story explores the idea that human beings are inherently sinful (even if it doesn’t word it that way), or the idea that nature is beautiful and ought to be stewarded well (as we were commanded to in Genesis), or touches on the intensity of human emotion and the ways that it can be handled poorly and well, those are all different versions of exploring Truth.

The conclusion may be incorrect, especially if it’s handled by an author that isn’t a Christian. But in the face of lies, the Truth becomes ever clearer. And that’s why we need to talk about the media that we consume, like I mentioned above.

Obviously, these are very brief glimpses into just a couple of the ways that story can help people connect with God, but I hope it’s gotten my point across well enough. God, the Author of all Creation, has given people the gift of creating and consuming stories as a means of coming to understand him more and connect with him better. There are ways to do that well, and ways to do that poorly, but that doesn’t negate the inherent Importance of Story.

What are some other ways that stories help us connect with God? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!