Bible Study Comparing Biblical Characters to Modern Society

[areyouready]

Please forgive me if I have posted under the wrong Forum.
I am a dance instructor and have decided to have a Christmas recital. I dont want to do the whole santa, gifts and elfs story. I want to do something that will impact people and make them stop and think. I want the show to be based around testimonies.

A biblical character will come out on stage and tell about who he or she was the problems or situations they had and how Jesus changed their life. Then a modern day person in the same situation will come out and do the same.

Example Matthew the tax collector was hated by all, he became rich by collecting money and giving it to the Romans. But Jesus chose him to be a deciple. The way that a tax collector was thought of back then makes me think of how we would treat a drug dealer today. Then we would perform a dance to a song telling a story of how even though we are sinners God still loves us and wants us to live for him.

Can you please help me find other examples of Biblical Characters and put them in a modern day person.

 

[Guest]

Moses and a Murderer
Mary and an unwed teenage mom
Martha and an overworked executive

 

[stovebolts]

Hi Areyouready and welcome to 123!

What an excellent idea! I only wish that I were half as creative as my wife because she could whip up a skit in no time!

There are a couple of characters and stories that come to mind. One is the story of Jacob when he deceives Isaac for Esau’s blessing as recorded in Genesis 27 when God had planned to give Jacob the blessing all along. As a result, Jacob ends up fleeing for his life, spends a night in the wilderness and discovers that God is also in “that†place. (Genesis 28:16)

Hmm, so how would this relate to a modern day person? We often hear stories of those that were not raised in the church on how they were saved from a life of drugs, abuse or other atrocities, but we rarely hear about those that were raised in the church, yet struggle with their belief like Jacob did. Again, I’m not that creative, but what if you did something like two brothers raised in the church, and the younger deceives his father and his brother to get what he (and his mother) want when all along, it was the youngest anyway only to find out that God was also outside of what he considered, “Holy territory� Say perhaps that the younger flees to the streets of NY and is touched by something a transient says to him and realizes that God is also not only in the streets of NY, but is active in the streets of NY.

Jacob goes on to wrestle with an Angel of the Lord when he knows that he will be confronting his past, and in the battle, his hip in injured. Perhaps in a modern day take, the young man experiences the same struggles with God (Genesis 32:28) and through the experience, walks away limping, yet grounded in God’s promise as he reflects on how God had blessed him when he himself was deceived by the world (Laban giving his older daughter in marriage, or the many times Jacob’s wages were changed; Genesis 29 - 31)

Another idea might be the story of Joseph when he was sold into slavery by his brothers and then falsely accused and thrown into prison only to later become second in command of Egypt… Sometimes brothers can be harsh, and to compound the matter, life can be harsh. But through it all, scriptrure summarized it wonderfully, “ And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called acording to his purpose.â€Â

Does either idea help?