One Christian apologist is telling parents to not act as though they are afraid of the anti-God trilogy from which the upcoming movie "The Golden Compass" is based.
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(Photo: New Line Cinema / Pool)In this image released by New Line Cinema, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue Richards appear in a scene from the film 'The Golden Compass.'
Instead, Anthony Horvath recommends that parents do their research and be prepared to defend against any anti-Christian notions present in the His Dark Materials book series by outspoken British atheist Phillip Pullman.
“We need to learn how to keep our guard up whenever we are being 'entertained' and teach our children to do the same,” said Horvath, who has taught religion to middle and high school students.
“Boycotting the series gives the impression that we need to be afraid of the ideas it contains,” he added.
To give Christian parents an overview of some of the challenges posed by the Pullman’s books, Horvath has published a short guide providing basic information about the series and highlighting some of its anti-Christian themes. The one-page guide was also created to be used as a bulletin insert for churches.
“Pullman's stories are vehicles to communicate what he thinks of the Christian church, Christian doctrines, and Christian morals. His hostility becomes explicit as the series progresses, with some of the more anti-Christian elements emerging in the later books.
“This is not a series we want to take laying down,” said Horvath.
The once-atheist apologist notes that while Christians have differing opinions over questionable messages in Harry Potter, such as the promotion of witchcraft, anti-Christian themes in Pullman’s series are indisputable.
“In the series, there is a quest to kill the Christian God – 'a liar and a mortal,’” explained Horvath.
He warns that the anti-Christian themes may not be as evident to younger Christians.
“Pullman's 'God' is nothing like God as Christians perceive Him,” said Horvath. “For this reason, one might think that the series poses no threat because any reasonably informed Christian would see the inaccuracies and the agenda behind the series in an instant.
However, the apologist asserted, “Young Christians will not be able to do that, which exposes the real issue: we need more reasonably informed young Christians.”
In recent weeks, Pullman’s series has provoked anger from Christian leaders who often describe the work as anti-God, anti-religion, or anti-Christian.
Groups such as the Catholic League have criticized the movie and charged the intentional removal of anti-religious themes as a ploy to encourage kids to read Pullman’s pro-atheism books.
Pullman publicly denied that his work promoted atheism during his appearance on Today show earlier this month.
However, the Catholic League has still not backed down from a PR campaign aimed at the exposing the pro-atheist themes of the book.
The group’s president, Bill Donahue, has also sent a letter the CEO of Scholastic Corporation, according to a news release Tuesday, asking the children’s book distributor for a pledge not to participate in any future movie production on the other two books in Pullman’s series.
“The Golden Compass” is set for a U.S. release on Dec. 7.
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I've been a fan of The Dark Materials trilogy since the series first came out- infact I even remember anxiously anticipating my early order of 'The Amber Spyglass' Special Edition during the days right before my last high school birthday.
I was also utterly committed to bringing one more soul to Christ during that same year.
It's difficult to carry a balanced opinion on the matter. As a Christian, we want to promote only biblically sound, or at the very least, neutral, material to our children. Anything outside of those categories fall into a gray and hazy zone labeled as "unChristian." And no doubt, all things "unChristian" are inappropriate and burnable material which should've never been conjured up in the first place. I however completely disagree with that view and with the current stance being promoted by the Christian churches on this matter/novel. To me, this story is beautiful imagination working at its' best in the form of sophisticated and brilliant contemporary literature. Pullman may not be a role-model for children nor may he have all of his morals straight but what man is perfect? Pullman is not trying to convert anyone but merely verbalizing his daydreams and thoughts, all his observations of education, religion, science in a hodge-podge of fantasy and childlike play.
If anyone actually takes his writing seriously or takes offense to his writer's-attempts at creativity... good luck in getting anywhere in this world.
While I find the strategy of 'read it and then troll the Internet for arguments against it' a bit worse than 'read it and see what you as an individual think about it,' it's certainly better than 'whine to the schools and libraries to ban it.' Society becomes intellectually stagnant when people are no longer willing to examine new ideas, whether to support or to attack them. What a boring world it would be without debate or discussion....
The bulletin insert and parent's guide in the article is located here: http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/132
I am really concerned about comments like this one:
"Parents should be afraid, very afraid, of what is going to be passed on through this movie, not only to children but to undiscerning parents as well."
Is our faith so flimsy that merely being exposed to challenges is enough to demolish them? Are Christians so weak-minded that they will leap to any and every new idea, even if it is counter to their Christian faith? I advocated that Christian parents be informed about the contents of the Pullman series, and that very well may mean that they should read them. That doesn't mean that they should buy them or see the movie. There are such things as libraries.
However, let me grant for a moment that it is really true that we ought to be afraid because of all of the undiscerning parents and children out there. What does that say about God's ability to preserve his people with the Truth? What does that say about the current faith of these undiscerning people? If they are unable to evaluate truth claims that rival Christianity they probably don't even have a good grasp of Christianity. Perhaps our Church is bloated with such ignorant folks and it would actually be a good idea to see them depart.
That is not my view, but it sure seems like the road we're going down when we start talking that way. What is my view is that there is a culture within Christianity that willfully remains uninformed and believes that it is a virtue to remain that way. I doubt such an approach could have ever effectively launched the church or carried out evangelism through the centuries, but it certainly isn't going to cut it these days.
And surely those with that attitude are not practicing what they preach. To truly avoid the contamination of the world they should probably find themselves a nice cozy cave. They certainly shouldn't be on the Internet!
1 Corinthians 5:9.... "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world."
Katherine T. Phan, shouldn't you be warning parents about this occultic movie? Parents should be afraid, very afraid, of what is going to be passed on through this movie, not only to children but to undiscerning parents as well.
Golden Compass: Will Your Kid Discover His Personal Daemon?
by Linda Harvey
"Guess what? I have my own demon!"
That's what some children may soon be telling – or not telling – their parents, encouraged by the movie The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman, which opens Dec. 7. Chances are your child's friends will be rushing to see it, but parents: beware.
In this movie, every human has a personal "daemon" (pronounced, yes, "dee-mon"), and on the film's official website, you can "Meet Your Daemon," which happens after one answers a questionnaire. The site explains that these daemons take the form of an animal and represent a person's soul living outside one's body.
And that's just for starters. As the pagan worldview continues, much of action in the film centers around a golden compass, which is a tool of divination. Only the girl heroine, Lyra, knows how to interpret its mysterious signs and symbols. A colorful representation of this device is featured on the film's website to further intrigue our youngsters, and plans are in the works for a toy replica. Soon, adoring fans can be seers right in their own bedrooms.
This lavish production has Oscar written all over it. Based on the novel by Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass is an epic of global power struggles with hostility toward Christianity at the center. Pullman has been quoted in interviews as saying he is an atheist, but that label is highly misleading. There is spirituality here, and it's as blatantly occult as it gets.
Continued here:
http://missionamerica.com/witchcraft.php?articlenum=21
The blindness is astounding! The demonic realm is having a field day. I pray God opens your eyes and that a real fear of God comes upon you and you tremble at His word.
Paul obviously learned the ancient Greek mythologies and traditions when he met the intellectuals at Athens. He specifically spoke about one of their poets (philosophers/religious traditionalists/theologian of sorts) and what that poet wrote. This should settle the 'appearance of evil' argument. There is a difference between appearance and no difference and being among but not of. Better for me to be like Paul and Jesus and be able to answer questions and challenges from a position of knowledge and power than to answer questions from ignorance.
Grace and Peace,
Jim
Hello! I must point out the Counterfeit money analogy is wrong. People working in banks are indeed shown examples of counterfeit money.
http://www.lincolnberean.org/equipping/articles/tidings/2006/june/the-myth-of-the-counterfeit-money-analogy
Perhaps a better analogy would be to talk about wolf trackers in Hungary. They learn to recognise the manure of wolves, but not the manure of, for example, gypsies. So when a hunter is out looking for wolf, they only know the manure that they are meant to follow to lead them to the wolf. If they see unfamiliar manure, they will not follow in that direction. They know it will lead to something other than wolf.
So following the wolf manure is a better analogy for keeping faith!
Chk's right! It's much better to have your head in the sand than to actually meet a challenge and deal with it!
It is reported that the Golden Compass promotes atheism to children, and I beleive these reports. I am not afraid of atheism, but I am offended by a movie that insults and denies my faith. I do not have to see the film, and I do not have to patornize a theater that shows it. I can also encourage my friends, family and church members to the same. I am not going to pay to have my faith insulted.
Has anyone here read these books yet? Anyone? I know I haven't... I have just read an article on the book series which was read to the reviewers child and found area's of discomfort, but the writer also said it gave them a chance to talk about straw man arguments and to also discuss how the authors view of religion is different from their own.
I would like to know how many of us who are commenting have actually read the books?
There are many forms of a "wolf." Predators don't initially go after the strong. The strong are able to defend themselves. "Wolves" go after the week which inturn ensnare the strong. History from the Bible teaches this, the elders in Old Testament were suppose to guide young. But they were fools and let the young astray. The children went thru the fire. The Bible says the next generation did not "know" God. Why? Because the elders did not teach them, therefore they sinned in the eyes of God. His anger burned against them.
We should be ready to defend the Gospel at all times...in season and out.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for Doctrine, for Reproof, for Correction, for Instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Doctrine---Knowledge of God....His basic requirement. Reproof....Correcting our understanding by gaining wisdom. Correction...verifying our wisdom with God's word. Instruction... teaching this wisdom to others.
Someone has to be keeping an eye on things and telling you they are 'evil' in order for you to avoid them. Presumably, that would be other Christians. But shouldn't they be avoiding evil? See the problem?
To answer this problem> God came to visit Adam and Eve after eating the apple. God saw the condition during the time of Moses. God came to see the people building the tower of Babel. God sent to angels to inquire of Sodom and Gomorrah. Once God saw what He needed. He takes action. Noah, Elijah, Moses, David and etc were sent to answer the problem.
What I don't understand is why Christians feel the need to see these things. Why is it that some of us want and or expect the culture to cater to us and talk as if we shouldn't ever have to sacrifice and deny oursleves?
Instead of crying about it, why don't we simply stop going to the movies altogether and raise our kids so that they understand and are prepared to make that deterination for heaven? Or as some are doing making their own movies.
There are two organizations that all concerned Christians should know about and all Christians who love the Lord and the well being of his people should mightily support at this time, because both deal directly with this issue. One is American Vision which can be visited at americanvision.org for daily news and other articles. American Vision has published some great books to silence these atheists loud mouths and ignorant arguments. More importantly and inspiring is the organinzing a movement for debates across the country to show the strength of holy Christianity and its benefit to all, in the face of ill willed atheistic soulessness and amorality. The other is Vision Forum. Another pure family oriented organiztion with many excellent material and which also has started a Christian Film Festival and Film makers school for Christians. They should be visited at visionforum.com.
God's peace and blessing to you all, those that call upon the name of the Lord and those who will.
Defending a movie that denies the true God is a classic example of how weak our theology is in America. God demands holiness and sactification. The fact that this movie is fantasy based does not excuse it of creating any God other than the true God. Sure, there are no scenes of sex and drug use, but what sin is greater than the sin of denying Jesus Christ? You're excited about this movie because this movie is your God. You're offended that servants of Christ stand against the movie, but not at all offended that the movie stands against Christ. From the beginning, satan has been willing to help us "feel good" in exchange for denying God of what He wants from us. This movie is yet another example of satan making people feel good, all the while weakening their spiritual foundation as they disobey the discerning voice of God. Your emotional reliance should be on Christ, not on books and movies that mock our heavenly father.
The story above is nice. It's not about being afraid. What it is about is corrupting my kids minds and wasting my money on garbage. If I see one of these movies then I support it. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Man, I wish people would wake up to the awesomeness of CHRIST.
heh nope, tags don't work. Here it is again: http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/132
Hi, I don't know if they'll be putting the link to the one page guide in the article, but you can find it here: http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/132 ... do tags work? <a href=" http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/132">www.sntjohnny.com</a>
To respond to some of the comments... 1. Please note that I urged for parents to become informed first and foremost. They are going to be in the best position to decide if the child should read it. 2. The problem about being exposed to evil was handled well by Prophet, but there is another issue: just how exactly can you know to avoid the 'evil' if no one is able to point out that it is, in fact, evil. Someone has to be keeping an eye on things and telling you they are 'evil' in order for you to avoid them. Presumably, that would be other Christians. But shouldn't they be avoiding evil? See the problem? 3. If you tell people to avoid the series because you're afraid your kids are going to fall away when reading them, the message the kids get is that Christianity can't compete. Far from protecting them from danger, it makes them suspicious and more doubtful about the reality of their religion, and thus, more exposed to threats from without. 4. Avoiding the series (and the Harry Potter series, too) because we're afraid our children will be led astray is essentially admitting that we are doing a terrible job at transmitting the facts of the faith. In point of fact, I think that argument could be made. Anyway, the point is that rather than avoiding the competition, we ought to be training ourselves and our children so that we can overcome the competition. I'll take further discussion at my site. Thanks to the ChristianPost for highlighting my project!