Faith, Worship, and Life: Anyone Know Where They Keep Some Extra Towels Lying Around?

"One will never question our authority again." This is a line from the recently released movie, "The Golden Compass," which I actually saw last Friday. Peter T. Cattaway has written an excellent synopsis of the movie and the trilogy from which it came in this month's "Christianity Today" magazine. Please check it out. http://www.ctlibrary.com/51955

In my opinion this movie, like "V for Vendetta," released in 2005, follows a trend that seems to hearken back to the glory days of the French Revolution. The authority is all-encompassing and absolutely evil. It is to be questioned, disbelieved, and overthrown. The catch is when both movies are speaking of authority, they are not speaking of any individual in authority per se, but of authority in general. If we just overthrow authority, we can lead ourselves. We have no need of anyone to tell us what to do.

The

problem in both movies, like the revolutionaries in France soon found, once the authority is overthrown ... then what? In "V for Vendetta" the "hero" is V, a man seriously maimed in body and soul by the government. For the rest of his life he will plan the day when he will take the ultimate revenge on the government by overthrowing it. He has faith that the population will rise up and create a more perfect society, free of the overshadow of the authority.

In "The Golden Compass" Lira is a little girl who doesn't like to be told what to do by anyone. She comes into her own when she realizes the megalith battle for civilization has fallen into her pocket via the last golden compass in existence. The others have been confiscated by the Magisterium (the overshadowing authority). The golden compasses are "truth meters," allowing anyone who knows how to read them to find any answer to any question. However, the Magisterium wishes to be the only answer-man on the block, monopolizing "the truth." Lira's responsibility is to take the golden compass she possesses to her uncle (who is really her father), so that he can make contact with another world like their own. In the mean-time she leads an effort to free all the children who have been captured by the Magisterium for a special surgery, which will free them forever from the burden of wanting to question any "truth" given by the Magisterium ... or any part of their authority. "One will never question our authority again."

As in "V for Vendetta," once the authority is overthrown who will be responsible for care and feeding of the masses? Keep in mind the masses are filled will people who will never be told what to do. Also keep in mind the ones responsible for caring for the masses are in essence defacto leaders ... and they will be filled with individuals who will resist being told what to do (which will in essence include being told what to do with their authority).

Anyone know where they keep some extra towels lying around ... for a little blood ooze? Secular humanism ignores ... all the way to the guillotine ... human sin nature.