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Danville Enlightener VOL. VIII, No. 44
The Golden CompassWords of caution are often disregarded because of misunderstanding the nature of such warnings. Such, I am afraid might be the case with this one. A film “The Golden Compass” is set to be released in theaters December 7. Due to the hype and the cinematic quality many children will go see the movie and many parents will promote it. I strongly advise parents not to be deceived into thinking this move is an innocent fantasy such as “The Chronicles of Narnia” or even “The Lord of the Rings,” because it isn’t. to tell a good story, it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien, authors of the above books, in order to undermine children’s faith in the Bible and in God. Philip Pullman, author and an outspoken atheist published a trilogy entitled “His Dark Materials,” a phrase taken from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” The titles of the books in Pullman’s trilogy are “Northern Lights,” “The Subtle Knife” and “The Amber Spyglass.” The Golden Compass is the film adaptation of the first book Northern Lights. The series focuses on a 12-year-old girl named Lyra who sets out on a quest in search of answers after her best friend is kidnapped. She travels to a parallel universe where everyone’s soul is physically manifested into an alter ego, or “daemon,” in animal form. In the story, a wicked governing body called “the Church,” is known to kidnap children for experimentation. With the help of a golden compass that reveals a coded answer to any question asked by the user, Lyra, by the trilogy’s end, gets to the bottom of the missing children and kills a character called “God.” Granted, as in most movies denigrating religion, the Catholic Church is usually meant, but this series goes beyond merely attacking an apostate body and attacks God, virtue, morality, and childhood innocence, while promoting atheism. In the movie, which has been marketed as a children’s fantasy film, many of the direct references to the Catholic Church have been relabeled. For instance, “the Church” is only referred to as “the Magisterium.” The movie’s producers have purposely watered down the anti-religion themes so the movie will play well in the United States. However, the movie is designed to draw people to the books that are strongly atheistic and are anything but watered down. The anti-religious themes get progressively stronger with each book in the trilogy; in the final installment, the characters succeed in killing a character called God — who turns out to be a phony, and not God after all. The series has soared to the top of bestseller lists in the U.K. and other countries but has not caught on in the United States – yet. Philip Pullman refers to someone as “The Authority,” although a number of passages make clear that this is the God of the Bible. The Authority is a liar and a mere angel, and as one discover’s in the third book, senile as well. He was locked in some sort of jewel and held prisoner by the patriarch Enoch, who is now called Metatron and who rules in the Authority’s name. When Lyra and her friend find the jewel and accidentally release the Authority, he falls apart and dies. Should children go see the movie? I strongly advise against it. This movie is not designed as innocent viewing such as the old Bewitched TV series. This movie, while it may seem somewhat innocent because of the watering down, will draw children to the books. How can a parent allow a child to see the movie and then deny the book? Any child would see through such parental hypocrisy. It
is
not
OK
for
children
--
impressionable
as
they
are
--
to
read
stories
in
which
the
plot
revolves
around
the
supreme
blasphemy,
namely,
that
God
is
a
liar
and
a
mortal.
It
is
not
appropriate
for
children
to
read
books
in
which
the
heroine
is
the
product
of
adultery
and
murder;
clergy
act
as
professional
hit
men,
torturers
and
authorize
occult
experimentation
on
young
children;
a
clergy
engages
in
occult
practices
and
promiscuous
behavior,
and
speaks
of
it
openly
with
a
12-year-old
couple;
and
the
angels
who
rebel
against
God
are
good,
while
those
who
fight
on
God’s
side
are
evil. “I loathe the ‘Narnia’ books,” Pullman has said in a press interview. “I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away.” He has called the Chronicles of Narnia “one of the most ugly and poisonous things” he’s ever read. Golden Compass came from the pen of a man who is not only an unbeliever but loathes the idea of God and anything religious. He and those who are likeminded have made a movie aimed at your children. Do you think they had more in mind than providing your children with an innocent jaunt to the matinee? Before answering remember what Jesus said: “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit,” (Matt 7:17-18). The Golden Compass is toxic and for all Christian parents, the movie cannot be anything but spiritual poison to their children -- for the movie is the fruit of the book. There are enough lures in the world designed to snag your children, therefore parents you must not purposely expose them to the lure of atheism.
-- jrb
AS
I
SEE
IT
Remember the old “Wish book”? I do; it was the catalogue, more often than not the Sears and Roebuck Catalogue. I could look through the book and wish for all the wonderful toys pictured there. Lincoln Logs, a Daisy Red Rider BB gun and hundreds of things I knew I couldn’t get but it sure was nice to be able to wish. A teacher in an upper middle-class California city gave her sixth-grade class a writing assignment. The class was assigned the task of |