What is the "Christian Narrative"

The word, "narrative", has become one of my favorites. In my own particular definition the word refers to a billboard that can be understood by drivers in cars passing by at 80 MPH. The perfect advertising narrative is a picture of an ice cream cone beside the message, "Exit 263".

It's entertaining to watch Democratic Party candidates develop his/her a narrative. For Biden the narrative is roughly, "you know me."  For Sanders it is "take from the rich." For Warren it is a little less clear and increasingly uncertain moving down the field of candidates. Pamela Harris told a New Yorker writer weeks ago she knows she needs a narrative but cannot come up with one. She is fading. I, myself, can't figure out why she is running.

There are lots of billboards advertising Christianity. I can't remember any of them except, "Christ died for our sins." In my view, that is the most popular narrative for selling Christianity. It implies a sentence that would follow, "You don't have to die."

A good narrative summarizes more complicated things in a way that rings true to the listener/reader. Coming up with one is not easy. National leaders before the War of Independence struggled to come up with a narrative as to why people should start killing the British when they were so close to us culturally. President Bush rallied support to invade Iraq with the narrative,"weapons of mass destruction," which we learned later did not exist.

Anti abortion forces use the narrative, "Abortion kills a baby."  Like "weapons of mass destruction" it is not true. An alternative narrative, "Abortion saves women," is more accurate.

I think the Christian narrative, "Christ died for our sins" is not working as well today as it once did. It is not so clear these days what is a sin.