You could write about other races created by God that we never found out about until first contact. Or a Christian scientist who makes a discovery proving God is real but people want to cover the truth up. There are many possibilities, even from the strictist Christian viewpoints. I dont share your religion however I could think of many ways you could stay true to it and still pursue your sci fi writing passion. Since none of us have ever really seen heaven you could write stories about your vision of it. Maybe earth is heaven and we just don't know it. We are provided with many opportunities to make us better people and that's quite a gift
Indeed. I'm going to be mulling over the Wanderer for a while, disappointed he didn't make one final appearance, perhaps Coyote style.
Yeah. I really like how he tied all three sections together. There was some deep symbolism tied up with his character.
And Wikipedia says that that book was his sole* novel. *sequel was finished by another author, with permission
There was a story I read a long time ago and I can not for the life of me remember what it was called or who wrote it. It might have literally just been some post on reddit. Does anyone know of a story where a christian had access to a time machine and wanted to talk to Jesus so he went back in time to all of the places and events in the bible and asked around about Jesus. He was surprised to find that no one had heard of him until he visits years later where he does find people who told the stories. He came to realize that his technology and tales of miracles were being misinterpreted by the people of the time and that the time traveler was Jesus. What is this story? I can't find it anywhere, but it's one of my favorite stories that I would consider "religious SF."
An angel appears turns a wheel which never stops turning. The wheel is used to power a fabulous device to travel to Pluto where a third tablet of commandments is discovered. Is this myth, fantasy, science fiction, Christian Science fiction, science fantasy, straight up science fiction because it only includes elements that are real... Seems like how it is labled could say a lot about the labler.
That sounds like an example of a Bootstrap Paradox. http://www.astronomytrek.com/the-bootstrap-paradox-explained/
Not Christian, but I read a story, probably in Analog, where after inventing time travel, they discovered that the trigger for the Big Bang was the accumulated mass of all the time machines that various civilizations throughout the history of the Universe had sent back to see what caused the Big Bang. Kind of reminds me of Sagan's apple pie recipe, for some reason.
Every time I see the title of this thread, I wonder for a second how much of a market there could be for stories written about the church Mary Baker Eddy founded.
I agree, sci fi it can be rather difficult when attempted within the Christian responsibility context. Issues of contradicting biblical prophecies by describing futures where such prophecies have failed will be problematic. For example, a devastated, radiation-contaminated Earth contradicts the prophecies of a new world or paradise Earth. Issues concerning the creation of inherently hostile creatures like the ones depicted in the films Independence Day, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus and others will crop up. Worse still, worry about being part of a Satanic propaganda campaign will prove very distracting. Questions, such as Are we weakening or strengthening faith in God’s promises? How does Jesus and his Ransom Sacrifice fit into the universe or alternate universe we are describing? Are multiple universes or diverging timeliness where all possible ramifications of human behaviors exist compatible with Christianity? Would not that demand a Christ who did not die on the cross? Will constantly crop up and limit our choices. In short, yes, a Christian who is striving to glorify God as described in the Bible will have his hands tied if he is to avoid contradicting scripture and being disrespectful. But that isn't limited to the sci fi genre, it also applies to any the type of fiction where the sinfulness of human behavior might emerge. It limits the personality choices in our protagonists. A hero who is an adulterer, a murderer, a thief, a habitual liar, a drunkard, boastful, worshiper of idols,a glutton will be unacceptable. So yes, writing as a Christian with the full weight of a true Christian's responsibility as a guideline, can indeed be extremely challenging and very well almost impossible without violating some biblical principle. Not easy at all.
King David comes to mind. Did you mean that glorifying these behaviors is unacceptable? Or the actual portrayal of them?
Their glorification as if they were admirable traits. King David is described as being severely punished for his mistake in reference to Bathsheba. Even his prayer on behalf of the unborn son was rejected.
If you read Bible, you'll find that it's full of protagonists with those flaws. There is also this concept called "mercy". The difference between "tolerance" and "mercy" is this: Tolerance = You ok what you know is bad, evil, harmful or destructive. (No need for character growth - except negative.) Mercy = You ok the person but not evil deeds. (Need for character growth.) And as you see it is impossible to have both tolerance and mercy at the same time. Just by understanding these two easy concepts and difference between them you might find out that things are not like you said.
I think that's just a way in which some writers who don't believe in the biblical account try to discredit it.