The Golden Compass

I recently finished the book "The Golden Compass" which was, to me, a delightful children's book about a little girl on a hairy adventure who makes several allies and enemies on the way.  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.

Like I said, its dangerous for pagan children to read because the cynicism and venom of an adult are being poured into the minds of children, but I do not consider it at all dangerous for Christian children with a scrap of discernment... at least book 1. On a counter-note, I have read somewhere, BUT HAVE NOT YET PERSONALLY SEEN that present in books 2 and/or 3 are the subjects of male castration and female circumcision.  I myself have only read book 1 so I can neither confirm or deny this. I'm trying to get my hands on books 2 and 3 ASAP so as to make an informed opinion and share it with those whom it might help.

Well, there you go.  In case any of you had heard about Disney's vast conspiracy to undermine the church, that's my two cents on the matter.  I have heard people accuse Disney of dumming down the story so that unsuspecting parents will let their children read the books and thereby spread pro-Atheist materials like the plague through our homes, but I think that may be a bit extremist.  My suspicion is that Disney has learned their lesson: Christians boycott things that are highly offensive.  They are trying to make the story more universally palatable because their bottom line is sales, not proselytizing.  I'm sure the author would be pleased if the aforementioned scenario did occur, but its easily avoidable.  Parents who know about this should read the book with their children and talk to them about the ways in which the characters benefit from the virtues they do posses and the grace that they are missing out on my not loving and having faith in God.  Seems pretty simple to me.  Anti-venom is the easiest thing in the world to make, and it protects them from future venoms of a similar ilk.

Skepsou!  That's what Big John's plaque says.  I keep it on my wall.. even here in Japan.  It means something to the effect of: Be skeptical, question everything, use a critical mind.

May the God of all peace guard your hearts and your minds in Christ,
Joshua

Editor's Comment: Beefy vs. Humany

It was brought to our attention that should the stew referred to in the previous post consist of human, it could not accurately be described as "beefy".  The writer would like to clarify that said stew was intended to be based on a beef stock with human ingredients added after bringing said beef and flavoring vegetable agents to a boil so as to infuse said human flesh with extra flavor.

Thank you to the scrutinous reader for bringing this request for clarification to my attention.

Editor in Chief of "Josh's Time in Japan"--
Joshua P. Suich

A Diatribe Upon that Infamous Man, Harry Russo

Harry, harry, harry.
What ever will we do with you?

Dice you, steam you,
Fricase you,
Or simmer all your tender flesh
In frothy beefy stew?

Harry Harry O Russo,
How shall I now defeat you?
With sticks
With stones
To break your bones,
Or a 45 another owns
And wipe the prints straightforth?

Oh Harry, would I banish you
If your name was Larry?
Would strife still stand betwixt our hands
If your mother named you Garry?
I think not so, my mortal foe,
Our challenge lies beyond our names.
Your very visage carries woe
And all good things defames.

When babies sense your horrid stench
They wail quite inconsolably
And even demons quail and wrench
And shudder uncontrollably.

Your very gaze could freeze in flint
Medusa and her hair
Why sabo rounds would fail against
Your life consuming stare

You make me sick
You make me mad
I hope you stick your head in sand
Wile scorpions go up your nose
And give you an anaphilactic dose
Of poison much like that you've used
To make the guileless heart to burst
You vicious bloody butcher

(If you made movies they'd be worse
Than those with Ashton Kutcher)

You're fat
You smell
Your cat would tell you
"Shove off, man
I know your plan!"
Though you did trace
Before her face
Ten tuna cans
With sardine glands
Held out by double-timing hands.

A beast could see
Your malady
Doth spread just like a blight
As your footsteps fall
You scatter gall
While stalking in the night.

You bloated corpse of undead lust.
Your heart is stuffed with furnace dust;
The ashes of 10 men's remains.
You only sing a dirge refrain
Delighting in the wake of dead
And dying as you plow ahead;
A reaper of the innocent
A sower of injustice.
To all that's good you're insolent
More haughty than Augustus.

A Caesar of Unceasing sins
A Czar of bloody origins.
You surely never will compare
With he in whose great name you share
That man of wit and sagicity
Whose words brought such felicity
... wait a minute,
Your last name is Russo.

Sorry, I was thinking of ANOTHER Harry.
Harry Winkler.  Yeah, that's the guy.

Oops, well never mind, just forget all that stuff.

--
Josh <{><

My weekend

This weekend I went up to Fukushima (the prefecture to the north of Ibaraki) to have an overnight dinner party with my friends Jeff, April, and our other 12 closest aquaintences.  Steve and I made tacos (whose properties of deliciousness and ability to induce opiate levels of euphoria rise in proportion to the length of time since one last consumed them compounded by the degree of alienness of one's environment during said period of separation).  People liked them because they missed American food.  (See, Dwight, I CAN talk like a normal person.  I just have to try twice.)

 

Someone brought Austrian rum.. which was interesting.  I didn't know Austrians made rum.

 

And speaking of potent potables, I found a 70 year old man on the side of the road the next morning as I was walking to get OJ who was most likely suffering their ill effects.  I took a diferent way back from the conbenie (convenience store), and on the return route I looked up to see a man sprawled out on his fanny waving his hands out to me, gesturing and mumbling in Japanese for me to help him up.  Needless to say, I ran over, dropped the OJ and helped him up.  After doing so, I realized that he was capable of standing on his own, but that was the upper limit of his acrobatic potential.  I also realized that I was physically supporting an ex-Yakuza dude.  He was missing two of the three bones of his right index finger and all or most of his left pinkie.  Usually they only take pinkies, so he must have really done something seriously だめ　(da-me, wrong) to get the index finger hacked on.

 

After helping him up and steadying him, he started waving in the direction of 'up the mountain' and I caught the word for 'home' in there.  Since his max speed was some fraction of 1 mph, and I didn't want him to have to walk, I sat him down on the nearest ad hoc bench and told him to 'hang on a minute because I was going to get my car' in Japanese.  Thank goodness I knew that much.  At the house, I grabbed Hideko, one of the young ladies whom I tutor in English, and asked her to help me figure out how to get this guy home.  He was coherent enough to point in the appropriate directions and have a basic conversation with Hideko.  I had to ask him 4 times in Japanese if he was ok, before he understood me, and I have that phrase down packed.  I thought he was still drunk from the night before, since he had clearly been stumbling around in the bushes judging by the bits of plant covering his jacket and pants, but Hideko figured it was just natural mental deterioration.  As it turns out, he lived just two doors down from my friends Jeff and April, and we were able to get him home safe and at least sound enough to walk in the front door under his own power.

 

By about midday we had all roused ourselves to a sufficient level of wakefulness to hit Cafe Bond, which is kind of a tradition after Jeff and April parties.  I had my standard BLET sando (bacon, lettuice, egg, and tomato sandwich), this time with two cups of coffee, and enjoyed the last couple of hours of company by discussing the antics of the previous night.  (I was the twister champion.)

 

I drove Steve, Blake, and Joanna home and Blake and Joanna and I had ice cream in Mito (Joanna's stop) before Blake and I headed to his place and watched the latest episode of Heroes and finshed season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.

 

And that was my weekend.  Wish you guys could have been here.

 --
Josh <{><

What have I accomplished...

In the process of discovering and choosing (a very fluid reality right now) what I will do after Japan, I have decided to apply for positions within the United Nations that would allow me to do international humanitarian work.  One of the things you have to do is set up a Personal History Profile, which is essentially an on-site resume.  One of the things they asked me to fill out under the Employment section was a list of my 'achievements' at my current job.  I was raised (and genetically predetermined) to be modest about my own successes and praising of others, so I felt almost uncomfortable at first of speaking of my own successes or enumerating my achievements.  When I did punch through that akwardness, though, this is what came out.  I think its honest and true, and if you are reading this blog, then chances are you will care enough to read it.

 

"During my first six months in Daigo-machi, I have established healthy and friendly relationships with my coworkers and superiors.  One of my primary duties, according to the publications of the national committee which sets policy for the Japanese public educational system, is to provide as rich an international experience as possible for the students who will, statistically speaking, not have a chance to experience life outside their country (or even city in my case).
  I strive every day to make contact even with the students whose English skills are exceptionally undeveloped, and use my own broken Japanese, when appropriate, to show them that it is good to attempt to speak another language before they have achieved perfection.  Through demonstrating my own respect for Japanese customs and values and sharing the traditions and methods of my own country, I believe I have been able to broaden the horizons of my students, coworkers, and community.  That is, in fact, one of the self-beneficial reasons why I took this position: to discover and be changed by a fundamentally different way of approaching life and industry.  I believe I have achieved that to a great degree for myself, and have helped many of my students begin to do the same."

 

I hope you all get to travel.  'Your' world is exactly as big as your own horizons which are composed of your memories and the power of your imagination which is fueled and limited by those very memories.  There are other people out there, though; more than you can comprehend.  They laugh for different reasons, and suffer for far more severe ones if you come from a world as commonly blessed as mine.  They pray to different gods and celebrate different holidays.  Their methodologies and ideologies are founded on sometimes otherly and even diametrically opposed values.  And yet..

 

For all that, they laugh the same way (almost), they cry and console for the same reasons, they all want to find security and hope beyond this life, and they rejoice for the same reasons, even if the object is different.  I feel very blessed to be able to say these things from a personal experience and not just an academic understanding.

 

Again, I pray you get to travel.

 

May the road rise to meet you,

Joshua

Josh's Log:LSAT's and Perseverence

Right now I'm trying to get myself back on track with regards to my LSAT studies.  I ran out of steam, so to speak, for a while there because I lost sight of why I had chosen law in the first place.  Its kind of hard to keep my sights settled on it since I've gone through so many options and now it feels like I've made the decision so suddenly.  That's not actually the case, but it feels that way.  Right now, I just need to stay commited and stay the course (something I'm learning to do rather late in the game).  Its frustrating because its not easy.  I haven't been very good at dealing with that in the past, so I'm developing a new kind of coping mechanism to confront the frustration and meet it with a will to overcome rather than frustration.  Its hard.

 

This is a tight month financially, so I'm also trying to stay frugal with my finances.  All in all, its a stretching period.  Not exactly comfortable, but very very good if I will be obedient.  Thank goodness He is so patient.

 

I was rattled out of my 'groove' of equanimity recently, but I'm back into it now, which is nice.  One less distraction.

 

I bought that book called 'The Golden Compass' that's coming out in theatres soon (maybe it did in the USA already, I don't know.. it hasn't come out here yet).  Its the one with the little girl and the huge polar bear with golden armor in the previews.  It looked interesting, and I find that stories help get me through.  They give you something big and grand from which to draw a little hope and pleasure.. and most importantly, they remind you of what a big and good thing God is doing in the world.  I'm trying to worship God through allegories, since right now its hard to do it in my old familiar way.  There's no church here.. no one speaking in terms of Christ or grace or worship.  Its up to me to keep the vocabulary of my mind and the focus of my heart on Him and His goodness and glory.  For me, religion grows cold when there's no one with whom to share it.  I guess I hope that when I hear these stories, they will keep my heart aware of the greater Story I live in.  I must admit, I've lost my taste for it recently.  Life here in Japan has felt remarkably lacking in any kind of overt success or spiritual affirmation.  I don't see any obvious ways in which I have made a difference or succeeded in changing my community for the better.  Plenty of people like me, but that's not really meaningful in the way that I would like.. in the way that affirms my true value and not just my ego.  I guess its good to be without success for a season, if you wait upon the Lord to show you your value.  Of course, I haven't really been doing that, and I'm thinking about it far more now, when I'm telling you, than in the vast quantities of down-time I float through.

 

All in all, I'm alive, and that feels like a responsibility and a burden sometimes, because I feel like the major obligation in my life, right now, is to discover/choose/mystically attain some grand and glorious power and purpose for my life.  Why I feel so obligated to do so, I don't know.  Somehow I feel guilty and frustrated for not having a clear plan of success for my mortal life.  I think most young men my age feel the same way.  We all want to work our way back into Eden.. somehow we all feel the burden of shame and that drives us to toil our way back into God's good graces.  Its somewhat different for women, but deep down I'm sure it has the same root.  I'm also just really restless and analytical by nature, so that makes me wrestle with these things in my heart even more.

 

I came to Japan because I hoped it would reveal these things in my heart, and it has.  I wouldn't be any healthier just because I could ignore them.

 

Now for the slow boat to China called, "answers".