Once Upon a Curse: 8 Week Study
Once Upon a Curse STUDY
Everyone carries a story. And somewhere along our chapters of life, we will all experience disappointment, heartache and pain. It is common to cling to our individual experience to tell us about our purpose and meaning, yet sometimes that is not enough.
I struggled with my own personal story in the midst of COVID. My identity was being constantly exposed, challenged, and eventually lost. My own answers came up short. It became clear to me: at the end of the day, there was no ultimate fix to the terrible things that were happening all around me. There was no help within myself. It was a wake up call to many of us that we have not made anything any better since the beginning of time. And what do you do with that information??
The unpopular truth is that all humans have been plagued with these failings and questions since the beginning of creation. It is also true that every self-help, trust in government or society, and even a simple reliance on other people would be met with the same unsolved curse. However, God has not left His people alone to suffer. Instead, we have been given a story of both curse and promise. Genesis 3 offers an explanation of our fall into sin and God’s word of answer. This ancient story awakens us to a deeper truth that we are living right now.
And you need this truth. Desperately.
How quickly do you become exhausted from the stories that cannot admit these unanswerable twists of life? Are the false storylines really saving you from this broken world? Did the neat and tidy quips of wisdom provide an escape from your darkest fears and desires? No. An ignorantly joyful path doesn’t save us from ourselves, nor should it distract us from the enduring answer.
Let’s stop lying to ourselves. The failings of this world are too much to bear. But if we confront our pain, bad relationships, meaningless labor, and even our decline to death, we find our freedom. This story will challenge you to discover that you have already been wrapped up in the greater story of your Creator. Once upon a time until happily ever after, this is the story that ends your curse by the cross of Christ.
The following Bible Study of Genesis 3 is designed to accompany my NEW BOOK “Once Upon a Curse” which explores these very same questions. In the following eight weeks we will take a closer look at each portion of the curse given in God’s Word.
Own Your Curse: Week 1
Here in week one, we expose problems with the broken world outside and our dark desires on the inside. This is an introduction to the curses we meet in God’s creation story in Genesis 3: the same curses that we have all struggled with from the beginning.
Lies of Freedom: Week 2
Week two uncovers our lack of freedom and our constant striving towards it. We will specifically look at the curse proclaimed upon the serpent from the mouth of God from Genesis 3:14.
Children are Painful: Week 3
Today we expose the challenges with children, bad parents, our sinful will, and the lack of childbearing. This is an emotional deep-dive into the first half of the curse proclaimed to the woman from Genesis 3:15.
What is Love: Week 4
This week we will explore misunderstandings surrounding the action and emotion of love. Here, the curse proclaimed to woman in Genesis 3:16 hints at the relationship struggles that every single person experiences.
Unearned Thorns: Week 5
Depression and disappointment peaks when life doesn’t go as planned, especially when our meaning and purpose hangs in the balance. Today we will consider the ramifications of the curse proclaimed to the man in Genesis 3:16-17.
More Than You Can Handle: Week 6
Death and aloneness, temptation and suffering is not outside our everyday experience, as much as we want to hide and ignore it. This study comes face to face with the ultimate enemy, declared by God, in the curse to the man in Genesis 3:19.
Wisdom, Not What You Thought: Week 7
Disillusionment comes from a prideful understanding of wisdom. This is the consequence of a cursed world, and a separation from the tree of life in Genesis 3:22-24. However wisdom is restored in the one true Tree of Life.
The Only Thing That Matters: Week 8
This the LAST WEEK of our Bible Study focusing back on the promise in Genesis 3:15. The solution to all of the curses lies outside of ourselves: only in the safety of God’s promise: Christ.
Each week, this Bible Study accompanies a single chapter in the book “Once Upon a Curse.” If you would like to purchase your own copy to enhance this Bible Study, you will have the opportunity to experience a contemporary, short-story narrative alongside a comparable narrative from a Biblical figure. Together with this exclusive Study, you will be able to identify the underlaying truths of curse and promise that we all experience. Here, you will be challenged to carry your own story, while considering: In what way do you bear the same burden? How do you also live daily "once upon a curse”?
Grab a friend, support an author, and dive into the uncomfortable and freeing world of Genesis 3 with us!