Tolkein, Paul VI, and the Devil

In 1941, Tolkien wrote a masterful letter to his son Michael, dealing with marriage and the realities of human sexuality. The letter reflects Tolkien's Christian worldview and his deep love for his sons, and at the same time, also acknowledges the powerful dangers inherent in unbridled sexuality. From the letter:

This is a fallen world…. the dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall. The world has been 'going to the bad' all down the ages. The various social forms shift, and each new mode has its special dangers: but the 'hard spirit of concupiscence' has walked down every street, and sat leering in every house, since Adam fell….The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones.

 Tolkien advised his young son that the sexual fantasies of the 20th century were demonic lies, intended to ensnare us. Sex was a trap, Tolkien warned, because human beings are capable of almost infinite rationalization in terms of sexual motives. Imagine that.

Tolkien's rumination is reminiscent of Pope Paul VI's premonition in 1972 concerning how it is that Satan is good at catching people through not only base motives, but even romantic love:

….So we know that this dark disturbing being exists and that he is still at work with his treacherous cunning; he is the hidden enemy who sows errors and misfortunes in human history. It is worth recalling the revealing Gospel parable of the good seed and the cockle, for it synthesizes and explains the lack of logic that seems to preside over our contradictory experiences: "An enemy has done this." He is "a murderer from the beginning . . . and the father of lies,"[Jn 8:44] as Christ defines him. He undermines man's moral equilibrium with his sophistry. He is the malign, clever seducer who knows how to make his way into us through the senses, the imagination and the libido, through utopian logic, or through disordered social contacts in the give and take of our activities, so that he can bring about in us deviations that are all the more harmful because they seem to conform to our physical or mental makeup, or to our profound, instinctive aspirations….

Of late a Duke University student (pictured above) who makes pornographic films to pay her tuition has said her experience in the industry has left her feeling “empowered” and uplifted: “My experience in porn has been nothing but supportive, exciting, thrilling, and empowering….For me, shooting pornography brings me unimaginable joy….It is my artistic outlet: my love, my happiness, my home,” said the 18-year-old freshman, who recently graduated from a Catholic prep school.

Shooting a pornographic scene is “freeing, it is empowering, it is wonderful, it is how the world should be.”

Interestingly, former pornstar Shelley Lubben of the Pink Cross Foundation has now posted a graphic video showing a male pornographic actor repeatedly choking, slapping, shaking, and verbally abusing Weeks.

Weeks, who has become an internet phenomenon, appearing on The View and Piers Morgan Live, defended her participation in the scene: “Everything I did was consensual,” she said, describing herself as “a bisexual woman with many sexual quirks.”

Later she told The Huffington Post, "I completely stand by every performer's right to perform in a rough sex scene….We live in America…Freedom of speech!"

Later Weeks said she “regretted” being in the scene. Although she said she was merely “role-playing” and “was comfortable” during the brutal scene, she learned that “some” of the other women on the website may not have been acting during the filming of their abuse and degradation.

A Women's Studies major, Weeks says she hopes one day to become a lawyer promoting “civil rights” and “women's rights.”

Prior to Duke she attended Gonzaga Preparatory School, a Jesuit-run institution that allowed a performance of The Vagina Monologues while she, an honors student, was on campus.

Weeks, who said she has been watching porn since she was 12, has described porn as the most effective way to graduate from her chosen school debt-free: “With my skillset,” she said, she didn't feel she had other “viable options.”

“There's really no way for women to win in this patriarchal society,” she said.

While still defending her porn career, which has heated up since her public relations campaign, a recent interview with a New York TV station seems to indicate that she regrets her choice. Let us pray for her. If we bring her back, it will cancel  a MULTITUDE OF SINS….