Thoughtful Motherhood - Golden Compass and Prayer for the Author, Phillip Pullman

Thoughtful Motherhood
Nov. 16, 2007 - Golden Compass and Prayer for the Author, Phillip Pullman
Posted in Christian Life

The following is a letter written by my friend, Camille. 

------------------------------------------------

 

Hello Friends,

 

If you have not already read some of the exerts from the Catholic League's "The Golden Compass Agenda: Unmasked", I encourage you to do so.  Especially the storyline and "quotes pulled from the second book "The Subtle Knife" and the third book "The Amber Spyglass" as well as quotes toward the end of the pamphlet of what the author says about himself.

 

For in reading these, you will find things like God being an old man who cannot die..."And if that is his condition, wouldn't it be the most merciful thing, the truest proof of our love for God, to seek him out and give him the gift of death?[1].

 

Listen oh Church, our God is El Chay (The Living God). 

 

Or how "The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty -- those were all names he gave himself.  He was never the creator.  He was an angel like ourselves the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself."[2]. 

 

How twisted.  Or how about when he crosses the line, talking about sexually mutilating children as done through the church!!!  Yes, it does explicitly say that...this comes from one of the main characters in the series "Lord Asriel", discussing the General Oblation Board severing children's daemons (demons):  "There was a precedent, Something like it had happened before.  Do you know what the word castration means?  It means removing the sexual organs of a boy so that he never develops the characteristics of a man.  A castrato keeps his high treble voice all his life, which is why the Church allowed it: so useful in Church music."[3] (emphasis mine)

 

 Can you imagine a ten, twelve or even 14 year old reading this???  I had to throw this one in, speaking of Lord Asriel again:  "There was a time when he thought of making it an issue of force [rebellion and overtaking the Church], but he turned away from that...it's my belief that he turned away from a rebellion against the Church not because the Church was too strong, but because it was too weak to be worth fighting...I think he's waging a higher war than that.  I think he's aiming a rebellion against the highest power of all.  He's gone a-searching for the dwelling place of the Authority Himself, and he's a-going to destroy Him."[4] (emphasis mine)

 

 Is this sounding at all familiar to anyone else???  And for the last quote about sexual mutilation of children (yes, in a "children's" book): "Let me tell you what is happening and who it is that we must fight.  For there is a war coming.  I don't know who will join Whit us, but I know whom we must fight.  It is the Magisterium, the Church.  For all its history...it's tried to suppress and control every natural impulse.  And when it can't control them, it cuts them out...I have traveled in the south lands.  There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too...not in the same way, but just as horribly.  They cut their sexual organs, yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan't feel.  That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.  So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other."[5]
Oh, there is a war coming Church, whose side will you be on???

 

We [the Church] relinquished with Harry Potter, although I don't have the faintest idea why, as magic (power that comes from satan) is expressly forbidden for God's people.  "Well, we only watched it. We don't believe in or practice magic or witchcraft or sorcery."   

 

Psalm 101:3 "I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me." 

Yet, how has Harry Potter "clung" to your mind?   I could go on ALL day with scripture after scripture.  Yet, many Christians gave in and watched and read and devoured.  Look what God's Word says about this, Revelation 18:4 "I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities" (emphasis mine)

 

 

We are reaping the consequences of our "playing the harlot" with the world.   Oh, I pray the Lord open your eyes if you are desensitized to any of the above.  They are talking in this series about a war coming.  A WAR coming!  Yes, beloved in Christ, it IS coming.  Will Christ find you as the radiant Bride at His coming?  Or playing around with the harlot of this world?

 

Now, if you have made it this far through all my words, I'm sure you are one seeking to be like the Bride.  God revealed something to me today.  We are not wrestling with flesh and blood (Phillip Pullman) as Paul says in Ephesians, but the demonic influence behind Pullman.  What if, now hang with me here, what if, yes, we boycott those who sell tickets to this or sell childen's toys for this, but what if we with EVEN MORE fervor, PRAY for Pullman's salvation????  What a testimony to the WORLD if he was saved.  What if the 1,000's of people who are forwarding this on, hearing it spoken of in the Church, taking a verbal stand against it, what if all those people united in prayer for salvation of one man????  I believe he would be saved.  Because the Lord does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9).  And if just one person prayed for his salvation, the chances are it would not happen, because this man is strong in his anti-christian beliefs. 

But if 1000's prayed???  We know that the more people are praying the more powerfully the prayer is answered.  Matt. 1819 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."   How much more if 10, 100 or 1000 pray agreeing about what we are asking for?  Who will pray with me, every day for Pullman's salvation until Dec. 7th?   Will you commit with me?  For I believe not only that it will change the course of things with this movie, but with the author himself.

Remember beloved, the war is coming, even the unsaved know it.  Will we be ready?

In Christ's Love,

Camille

 

Footnotes:  1.  Philip Pullman, "The Amber Spyglass", p. 293-294.

                  2.  Ibid., p. 28.

                  3.  Philip Pullman, "The Golden Compass", p. 328.

                  4.  Philip Pullman, "The Subtle Knife", pp. 40-41.

                  5.  Ibid., pp. 44-45.

 

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Comments
Nov. 16, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Victorious
Great post - will be linking to it on my blog.
Blessings ~ Diane
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Nov. 18, 2007 - ugh...
Posted by The In-Law
I'm at a little concerned about how this is being presented. Not at Pullman, but at the author of the letter.

1) The author of the letter has likely not read the books, just the quotations given by whatever article she linked to. You can't pass effective judgment on something you have not read.

2) I have not read the books, but have a good friend who has and wrote about them here are some of his thoughts (I won't give mine, since I have not read the book):

"As I read it, it was overtly obvious that the book was not Christian, because the main institutions are arms of the church that act only in a secular and political manner while using spiritual trappings to maintain the appearance of a religious organization. Not a very complimentary commentary on the church.

As with Harry Potter and many other paganly-penned works (and I do NOT mean that expression to be derogatory in any way), the book is not proposing a Christ-centered life, and therefore should be read with a scrutinizing eye and heart by those who consider a Christ-centered life to be an act of worship to God. The author is an Atheist and has publicly stated (according to articles that I have read) that the purpose of his books is specifically attack (his word was kill) the legitimacy of the notion of God in the minds of children.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the book, was glad I read it, and think that any Christian who has even a halfway sound relationship with the Lord would be just fine reading it. Not a threat to them. The story has many redeeming qualities. It portrays the value of courage, bravery, friendship, loyalty, integrity, compassion, gentleness, and family, and shows the damaging effects of the discontinuation of those virtues. The good characters are actually rather good (though Lyra has the common modern hero complex of being above the rules, and we're supposed to support her rebelliousness <cough.. harrypotter.. cough>), and the bad characters are certainly bad. Their main vices are the use and abuse of others for the sake of their own schemes. I think that that's a very important lesson for children to learn: that others suffer when we act selfishly for the love of power (or shellfishly for the love of seafood for that matter.)

It is, however, a book that mocks the Catholic Church and it does not promote the notion that faith in a higher power will save or redeem or bring courage. Its a very "you are your only hope.. you have the wisdom.. you have the power to change the world" kind of book. It does not teach faith in God, but rather in worthy allies and your own courage. In fact religion is a dry and dusty thing that is redeemed only by the fact that it is a facade for science, so any truth or value that religion has in this world comes from the fact that science is saving the day in spite of the religious foolishness that insists on calling scientific things by philosophical/spiritual names."

3) On the issue of castratos, it used to be true. The catholic church used to do that. Should we take out references to it in history books as well?

PLEASE, READ THE CONTEXT OF SCRIPTURE!!! One of my pet peeves is when people take Matthew 18:19-20 out of context. That verse is talking about a situation where a believer has sinned - it is the 'process of reproach' - where you do it in private, then with one or two others, and finally in front of the whole church. Thus, this verse has no applicability to the situation described by the letter.

I am not discouraging praying for Pullman here, I think that is a wonderful thing to do. (I do take issue with the fact that the author seems to imply that the prayer of 1 person is somehow less valid or influential than the prayers of 1000, but that is not at issue).

Just my take, and I am staying away from Harry Potter, since that is not what is at issue.

/B-I-L
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Nov. 19, 2007 - Marketing and Intent
Posted by The In-Law's In-Law
Write the book, read the book, sleep with the book. That is not my concern. My concern is with the actual intent of the author that is being hidden by the movie studio. This movie will be marketed to children, just like that "wonderful story" of Harry Potter. Parents will show up in droves and marvel at the dynamic special effects. They will buy the DVD to play over and over again in their minivans. Then they will buy the books and shout praises from the mountain tops that their "little Johnny" is reading so many wonderful books. All the while, killing any desire that might exists in the hearts of their children to know their creator.

I understand that parents are responsible for the decisions they make for thier children, but from what I know about this movie there appears to be a concerted effort to hide the intent of these stories.

I will pray not only for the author, but also for every eye and ear that might be drawn away from Christ because of the lies that are told in these stories.

I will close with this statement that a friend of mie shared with me:

"What our parents abhored, we tolerate, our children will fully embrace."

DB
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Nov. 20, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by The In-Law
I am not advocating that parents let their children read the book or see the movie, I just think people should make informed decisions about it.

This is definitely a conversation for another time and place, but I don't think you want to make the "intent of the author" argument. And, although your friends quote is nice, it is not, empirically, the case.
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Nov. 20, 2007 - Informed Decisions
Posted by The In-Law's In-Law
Bingo, money, boo-yah and all the other clichι phrases associated with making an excellent point. I think it is absurd that Christians (particularly in America) sit around and wait for Pat Robertson and James Dobson to tell them how to believe on issues. I am not advocating that people don’t see the movie or read the book. I agree that everyone should make informed decisions. However, so much of this world is corporate controlled (not a bash against for profit companies), that it is very difficult to gather all the information. We have been so programmed to trust the 6:30 PM news on the big 3, that we become lazy. So it becomes more difficult to make that informed decision. Before you fire off your response, know this. Just like a parent does research to know where the “best schools” are, that same parent should spend more time in the worlds that they usher their children off to. I believe that if they did, three very important things would take place. One, the family would once again become important. Two, we wouldn’t be having this discussion about a book with (in my opinion) evil intent. Third and most important, Hannah Montana wouldn’t be able to sell out a birthday party. (Threw that one in there for free)

I look forward to future discussions, thanks for keeping my on my feet Counselor.

PS… The statement from my friend, while not “empirically the case”, it certainly is an idea worth investigating.

DB
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