BIBLE STORY THERAPY

Someone has said that "the shortest distance between a human being and the truth is a story". This saying was probably inspired by the teaching methods of the Master of the parable. The list which follows is intended to help you fill your mind with Bible stories, instead of narratives from novels or TV shows. More important, if you can concentrate on remembering these stories, they will help to crowd out memories and thoughts that produce anxiety, sadness or resentment. If you have difficulty concentrating ask Jesus to unite your difficulty with His redemptive suffering. Entries are grouped according to books and arranged in the order in which the incidents occur in each book. This is done to aid memory. However, the best way to use the list is probably to just look it over more or less at random and try to remember the stories. Reflection will come later of its own accord.

You can find all these stories in the New American Bible.

Each entry in the list is a summary of a biblical incident that has a strong narrative flavor. The list is not complete. If you wish new entries to be added, please send me a message at john@godtouches.org. Please model your suggestions on the entries already in the list. Thank you.

    Genesis

  1. six days of creation and Sabbath
  2. Adam, Eve, the serpent, and prophesy of a Redeemer
  3. Cain and Abel
  4. Lamech and his wives
  5. Noah and the Flood
  6. the sign of the rainbow
  7. The tower of Babel
  8. Abraham sets out for a land he does not know
  9. Abraham and Hagar
  10. Visit of the three angels
  11. Abrham interceding for Sodom
  12. Rescue of Lot and destruction of Sodom
  13. Lot and his daughters
  14. Birth of Isaac; Hagar driven out
  15. Isaac almost sacrificed
  16. Steward finds Rebekah for Isaac
  17. Esau sells birthright
  18. Jacob obtains blessing by deceit
  19. Dream of the ladder reaching to heaven; God repeats his promise of the land on which Jacob is lying
  20. Jacob meets Rachel; leaves Laban
  21. Jacob wrestles with an angel
  22. Levi and Simon raze Shechem
  23. Judah and Tamar
  24. Joseph's dreams; sold to Egypt
  25. Joseph's Accusation and imprisonment
  26. Pharaoh's dreams; Joseph's elevation
  27. Reconciliation with his brothers

    28. Exodus

  28. Oppression of hebrews, midwives
  29. Pharaoh's daughter and moses
  30. Moses kills Egyptian; flees to ÃMidian; the daughters of Jethro
  31. The burning bush
  32. Asking permission to go into the desert to make sacrifices; denial of straw to make bricks; foremen beaten; God promises deliverance
  33. First nine plagues
  34. Institution of the Passover
  35. Crossing of the Red Sea
  36. The manna, quail and following plague
  37. Giving of the law and making of the golden calf
  38. Moses' vision of the compassionate and merciful God; protected from full glory; faace shining
  39. God gives plan for tabernacle; maing of parts; setting up by Moses

    40. Leviticus

  40. Ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests; two older sons die for offering illegitimate fire

    41. Numbers

  41. First approach to the Mromised Land: spies; lack of faith; defeat; punishment of wandering for forty years in the desert
  42. rebellion of Aaron and Miriam against Moses
  43. Rebellion of Korah
  44. Moses and Aaron fail to give glory to God in bringing water out of the rock
  45. Balaam
  46. Idolatry, fornication and punishment

    47. Deuteronomy

    Joshua

  47. Crossing of the Jordan
  48. Taking of Jericho
  49. Taking of Ai
  50. Deception of the Gibeonites
  51. Defense of Gibeon; sun standing still
  52. Erection of a memorial altar by the reubenites and Gadites

    53. Judges

  53. Jael and Sisera
  54. Gideon and the victory over Midian
  55. Usurpation of Abimelech; parable of the trees; Abimelech killed by a woman
  56. Jephtha and his daughter
  57. Announcement of the birth of Samson
  58. The lion and samson's Philistine wife
  59. Capture and death of Samson
  60. ordaining of false priests and the raid of the Danites
  61. Crime of the Benjaminites; tribe almost exterminated

    62. Ruth

  62. Ruth and Naomi
  63. Ruth and Boaz

    64. 1 Samuel

  64. Prayer of Hannah and birth of Samuel
  65. First vision of Samuel
  66. Capture of the Ark and its return
  67. Anointing of Saul as king
  68. Battle sparked by Jonathan
  69. Defeat of the Amelekites and Saul's disobedience
  70. Annointing of David as king
  71. David and Goliath
  72. David and the priest Abimelech in nob; saul's killing of the priests
  73. Saul's attempts to kill David
  74. David, Nabal and Abigail
  75. David and Saul in the Cave
  76. David enters Saul's camp by night
  77. Amelekite raid on Ziklag
  78. Saul consults a medium
  79. Saul and his sons die in battle

    80. 2 Samuel

  80. David and the report of the Amelekite of killing Saul
  81. Saul's son, Abner and Joab
  82. Bringing the Ark to the city of David; Michal
  83. David, Bathsheba, Uriah and Nathan's Parable
  84. Amnon and Tamar; death of Amnon
  85. Absalom's rebellion
  86. Rebellion of Sheba, son of Bichri
  87. The Gibeonites, Saul's descendants and their burial
  88. David's census, the plague and Araunah's threshing floor
  89. David and the water from Bethlehem

    90. 1 Kings

  90. Abishag, Adonijah and the anointing of Solomon as king
  91. God promises Solomon wisdom and the two claimants to the same child
  92. Building and dedication of Solomon's temple
  93. solomon and the Queen of Sheba
  94. The prophet Ahijah and Jeroboam
  95. Rehoboam's stupidity; Jeroboam becomes king of Israel; the golden calves
  96. Elijah and the widow of Zarephath; raising of her son
  97. Elijah and the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel
  98. Elijah flees from Jezebel; under the broom tree; Mount Horeb; the still small voice
  99. Elijah appoints Elisha as his successor
  100. Naboth and his vineyard
  101. Ahab and Ben-Hadad
  102. Ahab deceived by false prophets; killed by random arrow in battle

    103. 2 Kings

  103. elisha persists in staying with Elijah; sees him taken up to heaven; succeeds him
  104. Kings go up against Moab; water provided; child sacrificed; Israelites quit
  105. Elisha and the Shunamite woman; promised a son; boy dies; revived by Elisha with much prayer
  106. The cure of Naaman the Syrian of leprosy; Elisha's servant
  107. Arameans (Syrians) besiege Samaria; women eating sons in famine; Arameans abandon camp; famine relieved as foretold by Elisha
  108. Jehu annointed king of Isreal; kills kings of Israel and Judah; has Jezebel thrown from window; dogs eat her
  109. Jehu kills Ahab's family; kills worshippers of Baal
  110. Athaliah kills sons of king of judah; Joash hidden by priests; becomes king; Athaliah put to death
  111. Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem; taunts God; angel destroys army
  112. King Hezekiah becomes ill; recovery predicted; sign of shadow moving backward

    113. 1 Chronicles

    2 Chronicles

  113. Stoning of the prophet Zechariah in the temple by order of Joash, king of Judah
  114. King Amaziah conquers Edom, but brings back idols to worship
  115. King Uzziah tries to offer incense in the temple and is punishd with leprosy

    116. Ezra

    Nehemiah

    Tobit

    Judith

    Esther

    1 Maccabees

    2 Maccabees

    Job

    Psalms

    Proverbs

    Ecclesiastes

    Song of Songs

    Wisdom

    Sirach

    Isaiah

  116. Allegory of the vineyard bearing bad fruit
  117. Vision of God and the cherubim in the Temple

    118. Jeremiah

  118. Jeremiah and the rechabites
  119. Writing of the scroll, burning, rewriting
  120. Attemts to kill Jeremiah in prison
  121. Killing of the Babylonian puppet king and people going to Egypt

    122. Lamentations

    Baruch

    Ezekiel

  122. Allegory of the abandoned female infant
  123. Allegory of the two eagles and the vine
  124. Allegory of the two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah
  125. Vision of the dry bones

    126. Daniel

  126. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great statue; only Daniel can tell and interpret the dream
  127. The fiery furnace
  128. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the enormous tree; Daniel's interpretation; fulfillment
  129. The writing on the wall
  130. Daniel in the Lions' den
  131. Daniel's vision of the Ancient One; the Son of Man coming on the clouds;
  132. Susanna and the elders
  133. Bel and the dragon

    134. Hosea

    Joel

    Amos

    Obadiah

    Jonah

  134. The whole book as one story

    135. Micah

    Nahum

    Habakkuk

    Zephaniah

    Haggai

    Zechariah

    Malachi

    Matthew

  135. Joshph's role as protector
  136. Visit of the Magi
  137. Herod's slaughter of the babies and Jesus'escape to Egypt
  138. Coming and Preaching of John the Baptist
  139. Jesus' baptism and the testimony of the Father
  140. Temptations in the Desert
  141. Disciples picking grain on the Sabbath
  142. Parable of the sower
  143. Parable of the weeds in the wheat
  144. Feeding of the five thousand and Peter's loss of confidence while walking on the water
  145. Peter's afiirmation of Jesus and rebuke for smallmindedness
  146. Imprisonment and death of the Baptist
  147. Parable of the laborers in the vineyard
  148. Transfiguration
  149. Healing of an epileptic boy
  150. Healing of a deaf man by signs
  151. The mother of James and John requests the principal places in the kingdom for her sons
  152. Parable of the ungrateful servant
  153. Cursing of the fig tree
  154. Parable of the talents
  155. Parable of the wicked vinedressers
  156. Parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids
  157. Parable of the judgement of the kind and unkind
  158. Paying taxes to the Emperor
  159. The last susper; institution of the Eucharist
  160. prayers and arrest in the garden
  161. Judas betrays Jesus; commits suicide
  162. peter's use of the sword and denials of Jesus
  163. Trial before the high priest
  164. Trial before Pilate; washing of hands
  165. Crucifixion
  166. Events at the resurrection

    167. Mark

  167. Curing of the man with the withered hand on the Sabath
    168. Â
  168. Curing of Simon's mother-in-law, others, disciples find Jesus alone in prayer
  169. The blind man Bartimaeus

    170. Luke

  170. Announcement and Birth of John the Baptist
  171. Annunciation of Jesus' Incarnation
    172. Ã
  172. Birth of Jesus; visit of the shepherds
  173. Presentation in the temple, Simeon and Anna
  174. Jesus Stays behind in the temple
  175. Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth; refers to the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian
  176. Peter and the miraculous catch of fish
  177. Call of Levi (Matthew); Jesus eating with "sinners" in his house
  178. The Geraseen posessed by many demons, which enter a herd of pigs; man told to srread the word
  179. Raising of the son of the widow of Nain
  180. Healing of the woman with a hemorrhage and raising of the daughter of Jairus
  181. Parable of the lost son
  182. Parable of the unproductive fruit tree
  183. Parable of the rich and poor man
  184. Forgiving of the sinful woman
  185. The pharisee and the parable of the good Samaritan
  186. Healing of the woman who was bent over on the Sabbath
  187. Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector
  188. Parable of the dishonest steward
  189. The rich young man; danger and futility of wealth
  190. Zacchaeus climbs tree to see Jesus; feast in his house; gives to the poor
  191. The widow and her two mites
  192. Crucifixion and the repentant criminal
  193. The disciples on the road to Emaus

    194. John

  194. Jesus comes to the baptist, the first two followers and their recruits
  195. The Wedding at Cana
    196. Â
  196. Healing of the son of the royal official at a distance
  197. The meeting with nicodemus
  198. The cleansing of the temple
  199. Cure of a cripple at the pool on the Sabbath
  200. The Samaritan Woman
  201. Feeding of the five thousand, storm and discourse
  202. Going up to the feast secretly
  203. Saving of the adulteress
  204. Cure of the blind man: the Pharisees' reaction
  205. Raising of Lazarus
  206. Washing of feet
  207. Arrest in the garden
  208. Trial before the high priest
  209. Trial before Pilate
  210. crucifixion
  211. The disciples at the empty tomb: Mary Magdalene
  212. Thomas and his acknowledgement
  213. Apparition on the shore

    214. Acts

  214. Ascension
  215. Descent of the Holy Spirit
  216. Peter's cure of a cripple
  217. Ananias and Saphira
  218. Appointment of Deacons
  219. Peter's escape from prison
  220. Martyrdom of Stephen
  221. Paul on the road to Damascus
  222. Peter raises Tabitha
  223. Peter's vision and Cornelius
    224. Â
  224. Paul and Barnabas preach to the Gentiles
  225. Council of Jerusalem
  226. Paul and Barnabas in Lycaonia
  227. Paul in Athens
  228. Paul parts from the Ephesians; sails for Jerusalem
  229. Paul's arrest in the temple
  230. Appearances before the king
  231. Voyage to Malta

    232. 2 Corinthianss

  232. Paul taken up to Paradise in a vision; thorn in the flesh

    233. Hebrews

  233. Summaries of stories of faith in the Old Testament (Chapter 11)

    234. Revelation

    uncertain

  234. Paul rebukes Peter for not eating with Gentiles
  235. Paul's account of his conversion in one of his letters

Send e-mail to Webminister, john@godtouches.org.
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