The Anomaly: Why does the Bible record people doing horrific or bizarre things—like King Saul using a witch to conduct a seance—without explicitly condemning the action in the exact same paragraph?
Skeptics often use these narratives to attack the morality of the Bible, and fringe groups use them to justify unsafe spiritual practices. Both errors stem from a failure to distinguish between two foundational types of biblical text.
Interpreting Scripture: Descriptive vs Prescriptive Texts
A descriptive text simply records what occurred historically. It describes an event without endorsing the behavior. King Saul visiting the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) is descriptive. It is a historical record, not a manual for believers to conduct seances. A prescriptive text, however, contains direct instructions or normative commands for the believer—such as James 4:7 ("Resist the devil, and he will flee from you").
The Cosmic Payoff: When we read about strange supernatural phenomena in the Bible, our first question must always be: Is the author describing an ancient reality, or prescribing a practice for the Church? We build our theology on the prescriptive, while using the descriptive to inform our worldview.
