I have a confession to make. Over the years I have watched the Christian community boycott all sorts of movies, everything from Harry Potter to the Divici Code, and it has consistently stirred up one emotion in me: embarrassment. Don't get me wrong, I believe we should be well educated and be able to speak to problematic areas of movies, but to boycott? So when a church member called me to warn me about the GOLDEN COMPASS, even though this person is both theologically sound and has a good head on his shoulder, I couldn't help but to have an immediate reaction of: not you too?! Then as I listened, I realized, this is different.
In short, the GOLDEN COMPASS is based on a trilogy of books written by a guy by the name of Philip Pullman, a self proclaimed atheist who wrote his books in reaction to THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. It made him angry that these allegorical books pointed people to God, so he created a children's series, according to Pullman, that would point them away from God.
I do not suggest that any parent of children under 10 years of age take their child to this movie. I would suggest that you consider taking your teenagers, but be prepared to discuss the movie with them afterwards.
Now let me in on another pet peeve of mine. People who take a strong stance that have not read the book or seen the movie. Well the movie is not out yet, so that cant be helped. The books on the other hand is a fair argument. Therefore I asked for two contributors to my blog.
The first write up is by Becky Copeland, a regular attender at Cornerstone Community Church. She had read all three of the books with her son, who was in middle school at the time. This is what she has to say about Philip Pullman’s writings:BECKY COPELAND'S ARTICLE
The second write up is about Philip Pullman himself. Dave Maxham, a regular attender at Cornerstone Community Church did an excellent review, including resources, about Pullman. DAVE MAXHAM'S ARTICLE
In addtion to the two contributors, i also offer you some good articles on the movie. The first one done by CHristianity Today Magazine. CLICK HERE
The second one is from a site called SNOOPS