George MacDonald and his teachings are coming to the foreground again. It's time. God is now revealing in many the true gospel. God is not a courtroom judge, but a Father Who does not want to see any perish. He is redeeming EVERYThing.
I happened to be watching Clive S. Lewis last night on Amazon prime, which I joined just recently for an entire year-and then was upsold to the $2.99/month no-ads option. I have been avoiding being on Amazon for personal reasons. I won’t bore you with the details here, but I had committed to not being a customer of theirs for about four years. It has been about two years so far. I have other overriding personal reasons for this now. :)
Anyway… What a coincidence!
I was a little freaked out when he revealed that he had picked up the book fantasticall (so typo) and studied the occult, and I fell asleep shortly after that.
Hmmmm
Now I am for sure going to read those authors and his books myself.
You’re the best fantasy writer I’ve ever read. I have the boxed set of book series, Chronicles of Narnia, on my guest room nightstand. I have not read them yet.
You are abnormally insightful, and I know that you know I love you too.
Absolutely stellar piece. The "baptize the imagination first, belief comes later" sequenceis what makes MacDonald so crucial. Most Christian apologetics tries to argue people into faith, but MacDonald understood holiness has to be felt before it can be believed. That train station moment with Phantastes wasnt intellectual defeat for young Lewis, it was aesthetic surrender. Once imagiantion shifts, the rational mind eventually catches up whether it wants to or not.
I have an old copy of the Princess and the Goblin. I read it when I was a child more times than I can count. Read it again last week, because it’s been awhile and I was curious, as I’ve been reading CS Lewis again recently. I wanted to see if the story still captivated me as it did as a child. I found myself analyzing it more from my head, where as a child I was drawn to it like a moth to light - I need to think on that for a bit.
It has always, to my understanding been the orthodox Christian belief that God sends none of His human creatures to the hell He created for Satan and Satan's incorporeal minions. Rather, it is the sin of man that puts him there if the man is unwilling to acknowledge and accept God's provision for salvation, namely, the atoning sacriice of Christ who, as man died for all mankind and as God, provided the perfect sacrifice that was demanded by the absolutely perfect Godhead. It is this mystery that forms the basis of Christianity known as "the Gospel." To believe that God "sends" anyone to eternal damnation is a lie that Satan has promulgated in order to keep men from accepting God's Most Precious Gift. When coupled with the equally heetical belief that man can somehow attain union with the Godhead by virtue of his own efforts, you have the most potent weapon ever devised against true Christianity. There is nothing more pernicious than religious organizations who proclaim the need to make "sacrifices" or "do penance" or "take the sacraments". I'm looking at you, Roman Catholic Church. If the Satanic shoe fits, you must wear it. In point of fact, I believe the pope of that church does wear red satin slippers, the perfect metaphor.
I too loved George McDonald. I read Gertie and the Goblin as a child and it got me thinking. Now that I am an adult it’s time to pick him up again and this time read through with older and,hopefully,wiser eyes.
I read THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN and THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE over and over again as a child. They were comfort books. And also AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND. Just amazing books!
I've read lots of his stories that were edited by Michael Phillips. I love his stories. I read many of them to my kids when I homeschooled them. I felt that they were getting a lot of good theology while enjoying great stories.
It’s never made any sense that God loves us unconditionally, yet would be our judge, and then condemn someone to hell. It makes more sense that heaven and hell are within us and it’s our choice what we choose.
What if we reunite with our higher self when we go back to our spiritual home after this life and then we are our own judge?
Here's an outfit doing yeoman's work bringing out really beautiful reasonably priced editions of everything George MacDonald wrote. My favorite so far are the 3 volumes of Mr. MacDonald's "Unspoken Sermons." https://theroomtoroam.com/
George MacDonald and his teachings are coming to the foreground again. It's time. God is now revealing in many the true gospel. God is not a courtroom judge, but a Father Who does not want to see any perish. He is redeeming EVERYThing.
"For anyone born at the wrong frequency. Too high. Too strange. Forever sliding between the others without touching them."
How do you know me? Always the outsider. Always laughed at. Always made fun of.
I love you, too, EKO.
Oh wow! Thank you, EKO!
I happened to be watching Clive S. Lewis last night on Amazon prime, which I joined just recently for an entire year-and then was upsold to the $2.99/month no-ads option. I have been avoiding being on Amazon for personal reasons. I won’t bore you with the details here, but I had committed to not being a customer of theirs for about four years. It has been about two years so far. I have other overriding personal reasons for this now. :)
Anyway… What a coincidence!
I was a little freaked out when he revealed that he had picked up the book fantasticall (so typo) and studied the occult, and I fell asleep shortly after that.
Hmmmm
Now I am for sure going to read those authors and his books myself.
You’re the best fantasy writer I’ve ever read. I have the boxed set of book series, Chronicles of Narnia, on my guest room nightstand. I have not read them yet.
You are abnormally insightful, and I know that you know I love you too.
Thank you for noticing me.
Your stories always hit my heart. <3
You are the best fantasy writer I have ever read, because I am not attracted to that genre at all. :)
AI is different, suddenly.
I am having to train it again this week. Every. Single. Word. To its end.
Absolutely stellar piece. The "baptize the imagination first, belief comes later" sequenceis what makes MacDonald so crucial. Most Christian apologetics tries to argue people into faith, but MacDonald understood holiness has to be felt before it can be believed. That train station moment with Phantastes wasnt intellectual defeat for young Lewis, it was aesthetic surrender. Once imagiantion shifts, the rational mind eventually catches up whether it wants to or not.
I just finished listening to your MAGI book. It was captivating and so very interesting!!
I have an old copy of the Princess and the Goblin. I read it when I was a child more times than I can count. Read it again last week, because it’s been awhile and I was curious, as I’ve been reading CS Lewis again recently. I wanted to see if the story still captivated me as it did as a child. I found myself analyzing it more from my head, where as a child I was drawn to it like a moth to light - I need to think on that for a bit.
It has always, to my understanding been the orthodox Christian belief that God sends none of His human creatures to the hell He created for Satan and Satan's incorporeal minions. Rather, it is the sin of man that puts him there if the man is unwilling to acknowledge and accept God's provision for salvation, namely, the atoning sacriice of Christ who, as man died for all mankind and as God, provided the perfect sacrifice that was demanded by the absolutely perfect Godhead. It is this mystery that forms the basis of Christianity known as "the Gospel." To believe that God "sends" anyone to eternal damnation is a lie that Satan has promulgated in order to keep men from accepting God's Most Precious Gift. When coupled with the equally heetical belief that man can somehow attain union with the Godhead by virtue of his own efforts, you have the most potent weapon ever devised against true Christianity. There is nothing more pernicious than religious organizations who proclaim the need to make "sacrifices" or "do penance" or "take the sacraments". I'm looking at you, Roman Catholic Church. If the Satanic shoe fits, you must wear it. In point of fact, I believe the pope of that church does wear red satin slippers, the perfect metaphor.
I too loved George McDonald. I read Gertie and the Goblin as a child and it got me thinking. Now that I am an adult it’s time to pick him up again and this time read through with older and,hopefully,wiser eyes.
I read THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN and THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE over and over again as a child. They were comfort books. And also AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND. Just amazing books!
CS Lewis was a student of Gurdjieff
I adore George MacDonald. It was Lilith that got me, and his fairy tales are wonderful.
I've read lots of his stories that were edited by Michael Phillips. I love his stories. I read many of them to my kids when I homeschooled them. I felt that they were getting a lot of good theology while enjoying great stories.
It’s never made any sense that God loves us unconditionally, yet would be our judge, and then condemn someone to hell. It makes more sense that heaven and hell are within us and it’s our choice what we choose.
What if we reunite with our higher self when we go back to our spiritual home after this life and then we are our own judge?
If anyone is looking for free audio books by Mr. MacDonald, you can find his work on librivox.org
https://librivox.org/author/631
Thank you for the great articles.
God bless
Another influence on CS Lewis was David Lindsay's "A Voyage to Arcturus" 1920
Particularly evident in "Perelandra" 2nd volume of The Space Trilogy
Lindsay himself called George MacDonald his greatest influence
Here's an outfit doing yeoman's work bringing out really beautiful reasonably priced editions of everything George MacDonald wrote. My favorite so far are the 3 volumes of Mr. MacDonald's "Unspoken Sermons." https://theroomtoroam.com/