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  • Brian Stansell replied to the topic Dystopian Plot Ideas in the forum Plotting 4 years, 3 months ago

    @noah-cochran

    Hi Noah,

    Unfortunately, we are presently living in a real dystopian plot covering your first two bullet points.

    But as to ideas, there is one that is not mentioned.
    It is as old as the Garden of Eden and it is Satan’s lie repackaged.
    “You can have God-like knowledge/power, but you must be willing to give up something for it.”

    St. Paul, writing in his letter to Timothy speaks of the following:
    Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. [1 Timothy 4:1-2 CSB]

    Deception is always working in the heart of those seeking personal power.

    The one thing the doctrine of demons is consistent in is its attempt to get humanity to seek power or authority independent of humility before and trust in God.  This pursuit through human means leads to the dystopian effect and result.

    What would the villain do to get a society to give up something they should give their life to protect for what they perceive will make them have an immediate gain.

    The same model played out between Jacob and Esau:
    Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. [Genesis 25:34 CSB]

    Satan himself attempted this luring deception with Jesus in the wilderness:
    for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.” [Luke 4:2-4 CSB]

    So here is an idea.  What if a billionaire offered you the opportunity to participate in an experiment where you must give up a part of your humanity to be made into a genetically modified organism that would give you superhuman traits by making you genetically part of something “other”?  Spiderman was a man genetically altered by a mutant spider bite. The Hulk was genetically altered by exposure to large amounts of gamma radiation.  Others were altered from their human state to be regarded as “heroes”.  We live in an age of Crisper technology and nano-tech that is able to self-assemble and self-repair.  What if you are told that the process would forever alter your genetic make-up.  That the change would make you a genetically modified organism, and that you would join a revolution of the next level of human evolution into a hybrid race, ready to defend and protect the world.  Would your hero do it?
    What if his/her family was threatened by something the hero is told they would need “superhuman” powers to defeat?  What is your humanity worth?
    Did God design your inadequacy?  Are you “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14), or do you need the power of this “One Ring” to meet the challenge?

    It is a twist to refuse such an offer, but it is Christlike to do so.  Paul hints at it in the following passage:
    And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. [2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV]

    The ancient world has strange heroes too:
    There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown. [Genesis 6:4 KJV]

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