{"id":33378,"date":"2022-09-10T20:46:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T01:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/unlocking-the-power-of-story\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T20:46:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T01:46:34","slug":"unlocking-the-power-of-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/unlocking-the-power-of-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking The Power Of Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The role-playing adventure game <\/em>The Aetherlight<em> taps into a power as old as the Bible to teach players eternal truths<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cJesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.\u201d (Matthew 13:34)<\/p>\n<p>During His ministry, Jesus never spoke to the crowds without telling a story. These parables are so powerful because they\u2019re easy to remember\u2014and come packed with a truth that lingers in your mind and finds its way into your heart.<\/p>\n<p>Following the example of our Lord, a small New Zealand-based gaming studio has created an ambitious retelling of the Bible that\u2019s an allegory where players can actually enter into the world of the story.<\/p>\n<p>Scarlet City Studios was established to advance the historic mission of a postal Sunday school ministry. The company\u2019s online adventure game <em>The Aetherlight: Chronicles of the Resistance<\/em> reimagines the grand tale of the Bible as a steampunk, allegorical story that&#8217;s both entertaining and educational.<\/p>\n<p> WHY STORY? <\/p>\n<p>Our brains are wired to be more receptive to stories than to cold facts. It&#8217;s how God created us.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2006 study, researchers found that when we listen to a plain presentation with bullet points, certain parts in the brain get activated. We decode words into meaning&#8211;and then the mental process stops. But when we hear a story, more parts of our brain are activated&#8211;including the parts that would&#8217;ve been activated if we&#8217;d actually experienced the events of the story in person.<\/p>\n<p>This is why God so often reaches out to us through storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We forget that the Bible is essentially a book of God-inspired stories,&#8221; notes pastor Rick Warren. &#8220;That\u2019s how God has chosen to communicate His Word to human beings.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;God chose not to hand us a list of truths about Himself, or an instruction manual, but an epic story in which He reveals Himself,&#8221; says Marijke Hoek of the Evangelical Alliance. &#8220;The Church has at times been scared of story, treating the narratives just as a source from which to distill doctrines, which somehow are seen as a purer, safer truth. Yet storytelling is an important part of formation of the Christian community and integral to the dynamic of teaching.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> CHRISTIAN STORIES FOR A NEW GENERATION <\/p>\n<p>The heroes of <em>The Aetherlight<\/em> are modeled after the real-life heroes of the Bible. The interactive game pulls players into the narrative, teaching the truths of the Bible in a vivid way.<\/p>\n<p>With such strong biblical themes, the game has attracted partnerships with the American Bible Society, World Vision and Tyndale House Publishers. There\u2019s even a companion Bible.<\/p>\n<p>Tim Cleary, a former youth pastor who now serves as <em>The Aetherlight<\/em>\u2019s \u201cWorld Builder,\u201d says that telling the story as a game creates a ministry experience uniquely suited to today\u2019s children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis digital generation wants to actively participate rather than simply consume content,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve built that into the game. But ultimately, we have a set story to tell\u2014and it\u2019s the most important retelling of the story you\u2019re ever going to hear!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Find out how you can help your kids save Aethasia at TheAetherlight.com<\/p>\n<div style='clear:both'><\/div>\n<div class='the_champ_sharing_container the_champ_horizontal_sharing' data-super-socializer-href=\"https:\/\/www.preaching.com\/articles\/unlocking-the-power-of-story\/\">\n<div class='the_champ_sharing_title' style=\"font-weight:bold\">Share This On:<\/div>\n<div class=\"the_champ_sharing_ul\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style='clear:both'><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The role-playing adventure game The Aetherlight taps into a power as old as the Bible to teach players eternal truths \u201cJesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.\u201d (Matthew 13:34) During His ministry, Jesus never spoke to the crowds without telling a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/unlocking-the-power-of-story\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Unlocking The Power Of Story&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}