Guest Blogger: Jacob Via: Review of The Golden Compass

As the holiday season comes into full swing, statistics are showing that The Golden Compass is sure to be the biggest film of the season, if not the year. It's sad really when I realize how easily this movie has slipped through the cracks within the believing community. Why on earth did we rant and rave over the Da Vinci Code but allow The Golden Compass to sneak into the main stream media without a single fight?

The Golden Compass, as many of you know, is a movie about an evil dictator trying to rule the world, and a little girl destined to stop him. Let's let these quotes from Phillip Pullman, the author of this trilogy, to speak for himself.

"If there is a God and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put to death and rebelled against," Pullman told the Telegraph newspaper in 2002. "As you look back over the history of the Christian church, it's a record of terrible infamy and cruelty and persecution and tyranny. How they have the bloody nerve to go on 'Thought for the Day' and tell us all to be good when, given the slightest chance, they'd be hanging the rest of us and flogging the homosexuals and persecuting the witches."

Pullman calls C.S. Lewis' Narnia Books "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology."

As a matter of fact, Phillip Pullman, when asked why he wrote "His Dark Materials" (the trilogy of which The Golden Compass is the first), he answers "I'm trying to undermine the very basis of Christian belief.”

Some have said that the attacks against Christianity in the books are so subtle that you can’t even tell. Well let’s see if that is true:

- In the second book in the trilogy, "The Subtle Knife," one of the main characters, Will, is told he possesses "the one weapon in all the universes" -- a magical knife -- that can "defeat the tyrant." That tyrant, he is told, is "The Authority. God."

-- In "The Amber Spyglass," the third and final book of the series, Will is told -- by two fallen, homosexual angels, no less -- that "The Authority" has many names, "God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty." These were names God "gave himself" even though "he was never the creator." Instead, Will is told, the Authority simply was the first angel formed out of "Dust" and thereafter God proceeded to tell "those who came after him that he had created them."

-- In another scene in The Amber Spyglass, one of the homosexual angels tells Will that churches "tell their believers that they'll live in Heaven, but that's a lie." Instead, believers go to a "prison camp."

-- In one of the final chapters of The Amber Spyglass, an ex-nun named Mary tells Will and Lyra, "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." Mary also tells them that after she learned there was no God, she soon discovered that "physics was more interesting anyway."

One of Pullman's apparent themes is that science and reason trump faith. He says that “it's impossible to have a life of joy, of pleasure, and be a member of the church."

Obviously Pullman’s intentions are to be as direct and adament against Christianity as he can be. It was his sole purpose for writing the books.

So what do we do then believers? I hardly believe that a boycott is of any use, as history shows us. But do we just sit back and let this heresy entertain us? Of course not!

This should be a challenge to us. This is a “Golden” Opportunity (pun intended) for us as believers to spark discussions with non-believers. Use this as an open door for the Gospel.

Don’t be ignorant of the issues. If you want to see the movie, go see it. If you want to read the books, read them. But don’t just sit back and let everything that you live for be attacked and ridiculed. Does God need our help? NO! But our lives are designed to bring him most glory. So give glory to the Lord by taking advantage of this opportunity to share the Gospel and defend your faith.

I’m reading The Golden Compass now. I went and saw the Da Vinci Code. I want to be informed so I can carry a conversation and know that facts.

Do you remember when the Da Vinci Code came out? There were books, magazine, pamphlets, TV shows, radio shows, all debunking Dan Brown and The Code. Did it help? I don’t know. But why have we not seen the same thing with The Golden Compass. Because it’s a children’s fairy tale? That should be even more reason to be cautious.

That’s all I have to say. Please take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t just stand on the sidelines. That’s not where you belong.