Awkward Biblical love stories
Many of the stories about love and marriage we read in the Bible aren't what we'd want for our children: for example, Jacob tricked into marrying Leah when he really wanted to marry Rachel, Esther who wins a beauty competition to marry the king, and the story of how Abraham sent a servant to pick out a wife for his son Isaac.
So how can we talk about these stories with children and young people so they are helpful for our children as they learn about life-long love and romance?
Rachel considered this question in episode 17 of the podcast, and she suggests that you can do that by asking questions such as:
- Who is God in this story?
- What can we learn from the women’s responses to their situation?
- What are their life-stories after they get married?
In another episode Rachel answered a question from a listener whose 11 year old daughter found it difficult to relate to the women in the Bible, particularly in terms of their attitude towards marriage.
In her answer Rachel considered two things:
1. How can we identify with women in the Bible when their experiences were so different from ours; and
2. How can we learn about relationships when society’s structures were so different from ours?
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