David Schell wrote this positively brilliant post that I just had to reblog — here’s an excerpt:
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The Western Narrative

As it turns out, I wasn’t alone in feeling like the lone righteous person, or small group of people, standing strong and brave against a powerful evil. That narrative is basically the Western Meta-narrative. Consider:

  • Ulysses in The Odyssey.
  • Martin Luther’s “Here I stand and can do no other.”
  • Galileo refusing to recant.
  • The American War for Independence where a scrappy group of colonists fight off the most powerful empire on earth.
  • Star Wars Episode IV, with Luke Skywalker and a scrappy band of rebels fighting off an evil empire.
  • Braveheart.

Look at Jesus Christ himself, the stone that the builders rejected. I Timothy 3:12says all who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution, and look at Elijah. Finally, look at the biggest archetype of ’em all: a little shepherd boy standing strong with just a sling and five smooth stones against a giant clad in armor with a heavy sword: David and Goliath.

These stories are our stories. They allow us to transform our wounded sense of exclusion and isolation into a sort of vindication and righteousness, into something we can draw strength and hope from. They’re a Psalm: God how many are my foes, but I trust that you will conquer them. The persecuted few may even be defeated, as in the story of the Alamo, but if they are, they will be vindicated even after their death.

But what happens when everybody wants to claim David and Goliath for themselves?

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Read more over at http://davidmschell.com/im-david-youre-goliath/

 

 

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