Christian-themed Stories to Entertain and Teach Biblical Concepts
Modern parables? What are they?
of or pertaining to present and recent time; not ancient or remote: modern city life.
A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.
Simply put, the stories in this section of my website are fictional stories, based in a modern day setting, that have a moral lesson inter-woven into the plot.
The tricky part to writing a good story with a moral lesson is to do it in such a way that doesn’t sound like you’re preaching. Take a look:
Little Jimmy looked around the room. He didn’t see anyone around, so he stuck his hand in the cookie jar and pulled out a delicious gooey chocolate chip cookie his grammy had just baked.”Jimmy!” exclaimed grampy as he turned the corner into the kitchen. “I’ve caught you with your hand in the cookie jar this time. Well mister, you know God says that is STEALING and that you shouldn’t steal.””I know grampa,” said Jimmy with his head held low. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, that’s okay you little rascal…eat it up now, and run along. Heh heh heh.”
You see? There’s no escaping that “modern parable” lesson, is there? A little too preachy for my liking. Now take a look at another version of the same story:
Jimmy had been thinking of grammy’s delicious, gooey, chocolate chip cookies all morning.It was almost lunch, and he was hungry.He tiptoed to the kitchen counter, scanning the room for his grand parents on the way .
I’ll just take one, he thought. He opened the cookie jar and stuck his hand in and brought out not one, but three cookies.
Mmmmmmm. He inhaled the chocolatey cookie chunks. These are so yummy.
Grandpa strolled into the kitchen just as he swallowed the last morsel.
“Look at the mess grammy made!” He pointed to the counter around the cookie jar, “Boy oh boy, you just can’t find good help these days, can you?”
Jimmy felt a pang of guilt rush through his belly that grew bigger by the second.
“Do you suppose grammy would mind if we had a cookie before lunch?”
Jimmy couldn’t stand his guilt any longer. “Grandma didn’t make that mess grandpa. I did. I just ate some cookies!” He burst into tears.
Grandpa smiled and turned his head to look at Jimmy. “I know,” he said wiping the tears from Jimmy’s eyes.
Jimmy looked up at his grampy with a puzzled look on his face. He wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened, but he sure knew he felt better telling his grampy about the cookies.
Maybe grandpa was showing me one of those modern parables, he thought as he took his grampy’s hand and followed him out the door.
See the difference? This was quick and a little over the top (I didn’t develop the characters). However, I got my point across using feelings and emotions rather than pointing it out blankly. This is the type of writing you can expect to find on my website.
Very shortly, I will include a downloadable version of my modern parables for you to read online, or print of and read in bed…or both.
Come back soon!
Looking to read sermons online? Check out The Internet ministry of Chris Benfield, Pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Mount Airy, NC.