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something else that may be worth mentioning is that there is a very big difference between descriptive and prescriptive.

I think a lot of the history in the Old Testament is a good example. Many, many stories in the Bible are descriptive – what happened, not prescriptive – what is good. And we can confuse the two very easily. For instance, the Bible speaks out against immoral sexual deviancy, yet it has many stories where those types of acts occur. (Examples could include daughters getting father drunk and impregnating themselves, spilling semen on the floor so the widow of brother doesn’t get pregnant, rape, etc.) But these are all descriptive stories, of what actually happened in the history of Israel and God’s chosen people.

It is certainly not prescriptive, in fact God speaks in many places about how he abhors such acts. However, the Bible also says about itself that all of scripture is edifying. 2 Timothy 3:16-17…

@storysmith

you also make a good point in pointing out that even the Bible gives credence to the evil of witchcraft (example – Saul goes to a witch and summons the dead soul of the prophet), which I believe is through the power of devils. And I can’t help but think that in Revelations, it says that at the end of times, the false prophet and the anti-christ will perform many miracles and fool many, many people, – some Bible versions say “all the people of earth” – and that perhaps one miracle included in that might be some form of resurrection (wounded by sword and yet lives). But that is purely speculation.

I guess my point is, if a world is built and written in a purely descriptive way, can the prescriptive morals and themes of the story itself not bring about edification?

I once wrote a story of redemption, but in it my protagonist’s love-interest gets raped by the antagonist. There were some Christians who told me I needed to rethink my story because what was happening was too evil. The point of the story was to delve into the problem of pain and why God allows pain and evil to exist in this world. It’s a deep theological question that is perhaps the most, if not then one of the top two reasons why people claim they don’t or don’t want to believe in God. It’s a very important question of whose answer can be very edifying…as long as the descriptive and prescriptive are taken in their correct turn…

Please don’t take offense. I’m not trying to be argumentative or confrontational… just wanted to bring this up as a discussion point of interest… I really do understand both points of view and don’t see anything theologically wrong with either side (solely based upon conviction…).

As far as the two ideas… @storysmith, will this be something that is delved into in your book? or is it just something for you to know? Because that may be a question you don’t need to answer… you could leave it a mystery as to how they came about or how it all works – – some experiment somewhere went wrong, and they came about…. etc. Tolkien said the elves were tortured and mutilated into orcs, but never said how that actually came to be or how their minds became twisted…. if that makes sense? elves tortured into orcs is about akin to saying humans experimented on turned into those things. you may not need to go further than that.