Would it be bad to make up a mythology for a fantasy story? I have thought hard about it, and realize that I could try and make the story cleaner (no pre-marital sex, no details of sex, no extreme violence, no profanity), but because it is a different universe, it will have a set of gods and goddesses similar to that of Greek mythology. I have been outlining this story for several years, but have not written it yet. Should I write it or just dump the ideas?<\/p>\n\t
The problem with Greek mythology is that it saw gods as nothing more than superhumans. They had all the flaws of humans and their sins, but it was justified because they were supposedly deity. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things<\/em>” (Romans 1:20-23). Ultimately Greek mythology promoted and glorified immorality and, worse, attributed such to the divine.<\/p>\n I don’t know how key these characters are to your story but have you considered the writings of C. S. Lews, J. R. Tolkein, or Stephan Lawhead? Each created fantasy worlds without stooping to a concept of gods who weren’t divine in the true sense of the word. More, they managed to create worlds in which Christian principles and ideas, even those about God, were promoted.<\/p>\n The question to ask yourself is whether someone reading your story would be inspired to seek out righteousness or understand Christianity better, or would it give doubts that perhaps the idolatry of old was actually right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Would it be bad to make up a mythology for a fantasy story? I have thought hard about it, and realize that I could try and make the story cleaner (no pre-marital sex, no details of sex, no extreme violence, no profanity), but because it is a different universe, it will have a set…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1232,759],"class_list":["post-24788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-books","tag-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40171,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-read-about-mythology-if-you-dont-believe-in-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":0},"title":"Can you read about mythology if you don’t believe in it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Is reading Greek mythology allowed? For example, the Percy Jackson series? I think there are some verses of the Bible that talk about mythology (I Timothy 1:3-4;4:1-8; and II Timothy 4:2) But can you read about mythology if you don't believe in it? I'm confused. Thanks! Answer: The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-christianity-a-myth\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":1},"title":"Is Christianity a myth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Mr. Jeffrey, I'm taking a philosophy class, and we are studying how the Greeks used mythology in the past to make sense of their world. I asked the professor to explain what a myth is and he said \"a story you don't believe.\" I knew I could've picked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67226,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/theism\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":2},"title":"Theism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores Theism is alive and well. Aside from those religions that venerate men (Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam, to name a few), some worship supernatural deities (Greek mythology, Hinduism, and many other Eastern religions). There are gods of our own making (money, sex, relationships) which we hope will save\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-christian-to-be-interested-in-cultural-myths\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong for a Christian to be interested in cultural myths?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm interested in Greek, Norse, and Egyptian Mythology. Is it wrong for me, as a Christian, to be into those mythologies? Answer: \"As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-book-of-jasher\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":4},"title":"What is the Book of Jasher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask you about II Samuel 1:18. This verse speaks of 'The Book of Jasher'. What is this book? I have noticed other parts in the Old Testament that also refer to other books. Are the writers referring to other writings of the Bible? Or other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-mythology-false-gods-and-their-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":24788,"position":5},"title":"Notes on Mythology, False Gods and Their Worship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"General References Judges 2:12 1 Kings 9:9 2 Chronicles 7:22 Ammonite Gods Molech Leviticus 18:21 2 Kings 23:10 Jeremiah 32:35 Amos 5:26 Zephaniah 1:5 Acts 7:43 Assyrian Gods General References 2 Chronicles 32:21 Land Based Gods 2 Kings 17:26-27 2 Kings 18:33 Isaiah 36:18 Babylonian Gods General References Isaiah 21:9\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}