A Story of God in Three Scriptures

In the beginning there is only God. Unknown, unseen, before space, before time, unlike anything, source of everything. Our story begins here, long before there is anyone to tell any story. With a big bang heard by no one, the universe begins.

Over billions of years stars form, light the heavens, and are pulled into galaxies like our Milky Way. Around our star, the sun, planets take shape. On earth, life begins. Plants grow in water and on dry ground. Animals swim in the seas and walk on land. And after more than three billion years of life on earth, the human story begins. Over many generations, living apart, people become different colors, eat different foods, speak different languages, and tell different stories about themselves, their world, the universe, and God.

Three thousand years ago one people, the Israelites, begin to tell a story of God creating the universe from nothing in seven days, and making the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in God's image, free to choose right and wrong, and to love. In this story the descendants of Adam and Eve have children and grandchildren, and these people fill the earth.

But God is unhappy, the story tells us, because people are being mean to each other. So God tells Noah, a just man, to build an ark for his family and two of every kind of animal. And God makes rain fall until a great flood kills all life on earth. Then God feels bad about causing such suffering and promises never to be so angry again. The rainbow, the story says, is a sign of God's promise.

After people once more fill the land, in this story, God tells an old man named Abraham that he will have as many descendants as the stars in the sky, if he lives a righteous life. His servant, Hagar, gives birth to Ishmael, who becomes the father of the Arab peoples. And Abraham's wife, Sarah, bears Isaac, who is the father of Jacob. After Jacob wrestles with God, he is blessed and named Israel, which is why all his descendants are called Israelites.

Of his twelve sons Jacob favors Joseph, but Joseph's brothers are jealous so they sell him into slavery and tell Jacob that Joseph is dead. As a slave in Egypt, after Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream about a coming famine, he is given power to store grain. When the famine drives his brothers to Egypt seeking food, Joseph is thankful to God for making him a slave so he could save his family. He forgives his brothers for being mean to him, and all his family move to Egypt.

After many generations, the story says, Joseph is forgotten and Jacob's descendants are enslaved. So, God calls Moses and his brother Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the people go. God helps the people escape, gives them the Ten Commandments, and promises a place to live in peace, if they are faithful. The people wander in the wilderness for forty years before fighting their way into the land of Canaan. And after many years a young warrior named David unites the twelve Israelite tribes, defeats their enemies, and makes the city of Jerusalem the capital of their new nation.

But the people of this story do what's wrong. David takes another man's wife, Bathsheba, and has her husband killed. After David's death their son, Solomon, kills his older brother to make himself king, and then enslaves his own people to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. And after Solomon dies, the Israelite tribes fight with each other and remain divided for the next two hundred years.

So, the story tells us, God calls a few brave men to tell the people to change their ways. These prophets say God wants the Israelites to be faithful, to forgive each other, and to set a good example for other nations. In the words of the prophet Micah, God only requires that the people do justice, love mercy, and live their faith humbly.

Yet, the people continue to live selfish lives. Then foreign armies invade. Soldiers burn their cities, kill many of the people, and take much of the land. After years of fighting, troops enter Jerusalem, destroy the temple built by Solomon, and take captives from their homes far away into exile. Now, the people remember the warnings of the prophets and wonder if God is punishing them.

Fifty years later new rulers come to power and allow the people to return home, and those who do rebuild the temple. Known now as Jews, whether living in Jerusalem or other cities around the Mediterranean Sea, the Jewish people suffer under harsh rulers for the next five hundred years.

In this hard time they tell a story of Job, a good man who suffers unjustly, but is finally saved by God. They tell of the brave and beautiful Esther, who tricks her king and saves her people, and of the courage and faith of Daniel, who is thrown into a den of lions. They also tell stories of the end of time, when God will judge the nations and save all those who have done what is right.

Stories about God told by the Jews are written down in books known as the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. And ever since Jews have read these stories as scripture, as the story of God.

Two thousand years ago a poor Jew named Jesus is inspired by this story of God. So, he teaches that God's rule is like planting seeds, which grow and bear beautiful flowers and good things to eat. And he proclaims that God's rule is like the love of a mother and a father, who forgive their children for the wrongs they have done.

Jesus is killed by the Roman governor of Jerusalem, because the Roman Emperor claims to rule as God. But stories about Jesus and his followers are added to stories about his ancestors and collected in the Bible story that Christians have read as scripture ever since.

The Bible tells of John, born to Elizabeth and to Zechariah, who prepares the way for Jesus by proclaiming God will forgive all those sorry for the wrong they have done. The Bible tells of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary and of the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. The Bible also tells stories of the disciples of Jesus, of the women who follow and care for him, including his mother, Mary, of his brother James, the leader of the first church in Jerusalem, and of Mary Magdalene, the close friend of Jesus, who watches him die and sees him after his death.

In the Bible story the death of Jesus reveals the power of God, for Jesus lives on in the life of the church to help Christians resist the temptations of Satan, an angel who has turned against God. Yet, church leaders unfairly blame Jews for the death of Jesus, and use violence to enforce their rule.

About five hundred years after the church begins a descendant of Ishmael in Arabia is wondering why Christians are so mean to Jews and other Christians, and is worrying about his own people, who are quarrelling over their many gods. Alone, praying in a mountain cave, pondering the stories of God told by Jews and Christians, an astounding answer comes to him. There is only one God!

Muhammad, peace be upon him, believes the angel Gabriel has revealed this to him. He returns home to the city of Mecca and proclaims there will be peace, if everyone worships the one God. But his teachings threaten the money made from selling goods to those who come to Mecca to worship their gods, so his people try to kill him. He escapes to the city of Medina, and ten years later returns to Mecca with thousands of believers. Then he removes all the images of the gods from the city, and unites the peoples of Arabia in the worship of the one God.

After his death, his messages are written down in a new story of God called the Qur'an. The Qur'an blesses all God's messengers to the Jews and Christians. Adam, Noah, Abraham and his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, Joseph, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, and Job are all praised for serving the one God. And the Qur'an says that John and his father, Zechariah, and Mary and her son, Jesus, have spoken the truth about God to their people.

In the Qur'an God is called Allah, which is not a name but the Arabic word meaning "the one and only God." And those who read the Qur'an as scripture are known as Muslims, which means they have given themselves to God.

Like the Jewish and Christian stories, the Qur'an teaches each person is free to turn to God. As in the Bible, the Qur'an warns that Satan may lead us astray. Like the stories of God told by Jews and Christians, the story of God told by Muslims offers forgiveness to all who are truly sorry for any wrong they have done.

But many of those who read these stories of God ignore their call to do justice and love mercy. The stories all say the end of time will bring God's judgment, but Jews, Christians and Muslims disagree about who will be saved. And the anger and violence of Jews, Christians and Muslims lead many to believe that God is an angry and a violent God.

What matters, however, is how we live our lives now. These stories all tell us that God will forgive everyone who is sorry for hurting others, because God is like a mother or father waiting with open arms to welcome home a lost child.

At the end of our story, God will be alone again. The sun and stars will burn out, and the universe will be no more. But God will remember every one of us, and the love we have shared. And in this unending love, we, too, may live forever.

At a very young age children hear talk about God and begin to ask questions. If you are active in your church or synagogue or mosque, you have many stories about God to share with the children you love. But you probably don't have a story that includes stories told by Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. You may not even know there is such a story!

If you are not religious, you may think it best to avoid talking about God with the children you love. But ignoring the questions of children is likely to increase their curiosity, which is probably not what you want. Perhaps it would be better to read them a story of God that is more inclusive than most stories of God and also only claims to be a story.

Why read this story to the children you love? To help them feel safe in talking with you about the fears they have, when they hear others talking about God, and death, and evil, and suffering.

Children are likely to hear talk about Jews or Christians or Muslims that is scary to them. They may also hear curses using the name of God, or become aware that some people pray to God about hurting and even killing others. Many of us are also frightened by such talk, so we should not be surprised if the children we love sense our fear.

Might hearing the Jewish, Christian and Muslim stories of God, as a story of one God, make the world less scary for the children we love?

Too often Jews, Christians and Muslims use their scriptures to justify anger and even violence. Yet, despite many differences, these stories share a faith. Christians affirm the God of the New Testament is the God of Jewish scripture, and Muslims proclaims Allah is the God revealed in the scriptures read by Jews and Christians. Jesus lives the Jewish story of God in a way that inspires a Christian story, and the Muslim story of God retells stories from the Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Many Jews would say the story of God in their scripture does not continue in the Bible of the Christians and the Qur’an of the Muslims, but is known only in the history of the Jewish people. And many Christians would say the story of God in the Bible does not continue in the Qur’an of the Muslims, but is found only in the history of the church. Yet Jews, Christians and Muslims believe scripture and history reveal only one God.

Might telling a story of one God in three scriptures prepare our children to help Jews, Christians and Muslims live together in peace?

Some suggest that putting aside all talk of God and embracing a scientific view of the universe is the only way to end religious conflict. But as fascinating as the story of science is, children may be scared by its unhappy ending. Knowing the sun will burn out and all life will end has led many scientists to believe there is no purpose to the universe. We certainly want the children we love to learn the scientific facts about our world, but we also want them to find meaning in their lives. Might we all be encouraged by a story of God that affirms a loving and just life is worth living?

Of course, stories of God are human, and no story proves that God exists or is just and loving. But the stories of God told by Jews, Christians and Muslims have endured and continue to inspire. We would be foolish to ignore the fact that billions of people find hope in reading these stories of God.

There are many other stories of God, too, that are well worth telling, but this story comes only from three scriptures. To assist the reader in talking with children about this story, notes are appended on the Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures and the characters and places mentioned in the story.

Notes for A Story of God in Three Scriptures

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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study † Copyright © 2000 by Robert Traer