Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Is It A Sin To Read The Golden Compass Books?


Margarite

Recommended Posts

[quote name='Selah' post='1626753' date='Aug 14 2008, 11:31 PM']That's why I stick with Madeleine L'engle! She incorperates the Church (or at least Christianity) into her books in a positive way :popcorn:[/quote]
SHe incorpates Christian universialism in her books. I would be very cautious of her as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote]SHe incorpates Christian universialism in her books. I would be very cautious of her as well.[/quote]

I am aware of this, but she is far from a Phillip Pullman.

Edited by Selah
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nihil Obstat

I would read the Golden Compass if you're strong in your faith. Let's you know what we're up against.
I actually did read them, a long time ago, but I shouldn't have. I got lucky, I figured out something was wrong with it. I was only... maybe 13, but somehow I noticed that it was bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nihil Obstat

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1627792' date='Aug 14 2008, 10:56 PM']I would read the Golden Compass if you're strong in your faith. Let's you know what we're up against.
I actually did read them, a long time ago, but I shouldn't have. I got lucky, I figured out something was wrong with it. I was only... maybe 13, but somehow I noticed that it was bad.[/quote]
That being said, they actually aren't very good books. They're not well written and the story is pretty lame.
I did like the idea of little animal-ish things following you around, but that was it. :) Rest of it was pretty dumb. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HisChildForever

I read the third book years ago - my parents got it for me for Christmas, and apparently knew little of the series, since they didn't buy me the first book, or the second...just the third. :P As I was reading it, of course I realized that there were references made to what happened in the previous books. From what I remember (this is "The Amber Spyglass"), the boy character received a knife (I imagine this is literally "The Subtle Knife") which he uses to cut through the air and enter into other dimensions. I recall the main part of the third book to be the boy and girl traveling to the dimension of the dead. The girl has a familiar, Pan I think the name was, who couldn't cross the River Styx with them. (I forget why.) I do remember that the afterlife was a mix of all types of people, good and evil, and it was very melancholy and bland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Farsight one' post='1626595' date='Aug 14 2008, 12:37 AM']Haha. Wow. It seems that I got a little over zealous. I don't know what I was thinking. You're right - I can't know that they're poorly written. :wacko:[/quote]
Maybe you were tired? :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

geetarplayer

Should the intentions of the author affect the reception of the work? Possibly. It depends on how effective the author was in achieving his goals. And if his intentions are to undermine Christian faith, I would be very wary of that book indeed.

-Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MakeYouThink

Yes, it is the unwritten 12th commandment, thou shall not read the Golden Compass Books or watch the Movie!

You need to recite about a thousand hail Mary's right now!

Sorry,

I had to do that.

Read the 10 commandments. I am pretty sure that you only have to live by them. All these little things makes being holy way to hard. Christ's yoke is suppose to give you rest. It shouldn't be worrisome, where you have to question if watching a movie or reading a book is going to make you go to hell!

Edited by MakeYouThink
Link to comment
Share on other sites

HisChildForever

[quote name='MakeYouThink' post='1628288' date='Aug 15 2008, 06:11 PM']Read the 10 commandments. I am pretty sure that you only have to live by them. All these little things makes being holy way to hard. Christ's yoke is suppose to give you rest. It shouldn't be worrisome, where you have to question if watching a movie or reading a book is going to make you go to hell![/quote]

Not trying to get way off topic here, but...
You should check out the Catechism - I am actually reading through the section on the Ten Commandments right now. Something which seems as straightforward as "You Shall Not Kill" is much deeper - for instance, abortion and euthanasia are a huge part of this Commandment.

You should give credit to the OP. We must look after the purity of our minds, hearts, and souls. Some people who are questioning their faith shouldn't read this book, since they might be influenced to believe that the Church is evil. Others, who are firm in their faith and know about the author (and his religious history, or lack thereof), should have no problem.

And the OP was asking if it was sinful, not if it would would send her to Hell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MakeYouThink

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1628298' date='Aug 15 2008, 05:21 PM']Not trying to get way off topic here, but...
You should check out the Catechism - I am actually reading through the section on the Ten Commandments right now. Something which seems as straightforward as "You Shall Not Kill" is much deeper - for instance, abortion and euthanasia are a huge part of this Commandment.

You should give credit to the OP. We must look after the purity of our minds, hearts, and souls. Some people who are questioning their faith shouldn't read this book, since they might be influenced to believe that the Church is evil. Others, who are firm in their faith and know about the author (and his religious history, or lack thereof), should have no problem.

And the OP was asking if it was sinful, not if it would would send her to Hell.[/quote]

All I would say then is that they pray about it, and trust they're instincts. Didn't God say we are fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are the works of his hands, that we knoweth right well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HisChildForever

[quote name='MakeYouThink' post='1628327' date='Aug 15 2008, 06:58 PM']All I would say then is that they pray about it, and trust they're instincts. Didn't God say we are fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are the works of his hands, that we knoweth right well?[/quote]

We were created with free will. Just because we know what is right doesn't mean we always do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MakeYouThink

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1628374' date='Aug 15 2008, 08:15 PM']We were created with free will. Just because we know what is right doesn't mean we always do it.[/quote]

That's why we need to remind ourselves where disobedience leads, nothing but pain and misery!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HisChildForever

[quote name='MakeYouThink' post='1628376' date='Aug 15 2008, 08:18 PM']That's why we need to remind ourselves where disobedience leads, nothing but pain and misery![/quote]

Which is exactly why the OP was questioning whether or not she should read the books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for he input. We saw the movie on DVD with little background of the controversy and saw nothing bad in it. All refrenced to the Magisterium we took as if to an evil empire or something. The movie really doesn't have religious references. I liked the story well enough to ge the books from the library.

My daughter's friend got upset at her because he thought they were very anticatholic and sinful to read. Mind telling you he has no problem with Harry Potter.

In our family, both my husband and I like to read both sides of a controversy. It comes from our days in college and the debate team, "Know your oponent's view throughly".

As far as the Davinci code, I saw the movie, it was somewhat entertaining but didn't read the book since I'm very much familiar with all the conspiracy theories it brings into the story as well as thier background and it just wasn't believable to me.

After the first book, I'll get ahead and read the others so we can discuss all this issues. Thanks again for the comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...