Storytelling to establish truth

1
Storytelling to establish truth

• The monkey and the turtle

2
Once upon a time there wasa remote village on
the island of Mindanao
3
This beautiful quiet village was struck by a
fierce typhoon that destroyed the village
uprooting one of its banana palms
4

• In this village there lived a monkey and the
  turtle who were the best of friends.

5

• The monkey and the turtle found the banana palm
  and decided to share it.

6
The turtle was more polite

• than the monkey and he asked the monkey to
  choose which part of the banana palm he would like

• The Turtle.

7
The monkey choose the top half because it bore
ripe bananas he could eat.
8
The monkey thought he got the best deal.The
turtle got the bottom half.

• In time the monkey ate all the fruit and
  planted his piece of the palm in the ground but
  it did not grow. It bore no fruit.

9
The turtle planted his part and in time he had a
beautiful palm laden with

• bananas, but he could not climb the palm to get
  the bananas.

10
The turtle asked the monkey to climb the palm and
get the bananas for him. Alas, the

• monkey climbed the palm but stayed up there and
  ate all the
• bananas.

11
The turtle was angry and devised a plan to get
the monkey for his greediness.
12

• What do you think the turtle did?

13
Revenge!!!!

• The turtle picked thorns and put them around the
  bottom of the banana palm so when the monkey came
  down he fell into all the thorns.

14
Ouch, a sore bottom!!!!

• It took the monkey all day to get the thorns
  out of his bottom. Thats why monkeys have red
  bottoms. He was angry and wanted to find the
  turtle and teach him a
• lesson.

15
An angry monkey!!!!!

• The turtle hid among the coconut husks left
  behind by the copra sellers. Thats why a turtle
  shell looks like a pile of coconut husks.

16
Now the wise old snail saw the whole commotion
17
He helped the monkey and the turtle calm down !
18

• The snail helped them understand how thru their
  greed, anger and unforgiveness they had broken
  Pakikisama (friendship).
• The snail encouraged them to see their
  foolishness, forgive each other and be
• reconciled.

19

• From then on the monkey and the turtle always
  shared their bananas.

20
What truths can we teach from this story?

• The influence of evil in our lives makes us
  selfish. The monkey was greedy and the turtle
  sought revenge and did not want to forgive the
  monkey.
• The Bible calls this problem of
• selfishness sin.

21
What can our listeners learn from this story?

• It is better to choose to be kind and caring
  towards one another than selfish.
• If we are kind and value pakikisama
• (friendship) we will have many friends and be
  a blessing to people, building a strong community.

22
Our choices are determined by our values. If we
love greediness, unforgiveness and anger we will
have very few close friends. We can change our
values by changing our choices.
23
Is there any problem in this idea?

• Yes, we find it hard to forgive, and to be kind
  to people who have hurt us.
• Is there any answer to the problem of our
  selfishness?
• Yes there is. It is called the good news. We
  can be reconciled with our
• enemies. How do we do that?

24
What is the answer?

• The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ, Gods
  only son came to earth and died on a cross to
  break the power of sin (wrong choices) over our
  lives. He will freely give us this power if we
  ask him too.
• He asks us to confess our need of His power and
  to die to our own way of living and accept His
  way of
• forgiveness of our enemies
• just as He forgave His enemies.

25
We restore our pakikisama friendship with God

• By doing this we restore our pakikisama or
  friendship with God and our friends and enemies.
  This is Gods answer to our need of forgiveness
  of our sin and selfishness.

26
Who are your enemies?

• We can ask God now to forgive us for not
  forgiving those who have hurt us.
• He asks us to forgive those who have hurt us and
  then He will forgive us.
• Let us pray now and tell God we have forgiven our
  enemies and ask him to forgive us.
• Prayer.
• God is always faithful to keep His promises. He
  has forgiven you now and restored his
  pakikisama with you and your enemies.
• Go an tell your enemies, you have forgiven them.

27
Analysis of the story?

• What was the context of the story?
• - a village in Mindanao what did you
  imagine or visualise?
• What memories did the story bring to your mind?
• Was your imagination activated?
• Did the story interest you?
• Did the story soften your heart?

28

• What truths did you learn from this story?
• Do these truths relate to your everyday life
  experiences?
• Was the decision process meaningful to your
  culture?
• Did you see the difference between good and bad
  choices?
• How could the response mechanism be improved,
  e.g. made more
• appropriate to your culture?

29
Where does this story fit in a storyline?

• A good storyteller will have a well developed
  curriculum of truth.
• The storyteller will tell stories in a sequence
  that will develop the listeners understanding of
  the whole subject of the truths he/she wants to
  convey.

30
Biblical Truth this story teaches

• Works of the flesh
• Galatians 5 v 19-21
• Greed , envy, strife, enmity, dissension,
  disputes, factions, outbursts of anger.
• Through the disobedience of one man (Adam) sin
  entered the world. Romans 5 v 12.

• Fruit of the Spirit
• Galatians 5 v 22-26
• Love, peace kindness, gentleness, self-control.
• Those who belong to Christ have crucified the
  flesh and its passions and desires.

31
Biblical Truth contd

• Love and forgive your enemies. Matt 5 v 44.
• Jesus came to save sinners. I Tim 1 v 15.
• Christ conquered sin and death on the cross, so
  we could be free from sins power. 2 Corinthians 5
  v 21
• Christ reconciled us to God. 2 Cor 5 v 18
• Christs followers love one another, value our
  unity in Christ, and care for one another as the
  Body of Christ. Romans 12 v 5.
• We who are His disciples are to present our
  bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice. Rom 12 v
  1.

32
Topics for small group studies!

• This story could be told in a small group and the
  Biblical verses listed above could become the
  subject of group participation. Each person in
  the group is given a chance to share what is
  meaningful to them, from this story and which
  Bible verse spoke to them.