I’m sure everyone by now has probably heard of the upcoming movie “The Golden Compass” even if they’re not familiar with the buzz about the movie coming from the Christian camps. I wrote about it here and since then my brother has shared some of his thoughts about the buzz and the movie as well.
His thoughts don’t completely change my mind about the need to be wary of movies like this and not go blindly into the world thinking everything is just entertainment and there’s no chance of ulterior motives.
The problem though, as stated clearly by my brother, is when Christians immediately react to something like this and start drawing lines in the sand and yelling blasphemy from the rooftops. What if instead, we educated ourselves first about the book and were then able to respond to and take advantage of conversations that could be started about spiritual matters as a result of this movie?
I wonder what would happen if instead of viewing Pullman’s fiction as an assault on the foundations of Christendom (God forbid) we paused to see the opportunity that is unfolding before us. What if people at work begin to talk about spiritual things without us bringing it up? What if moms in your play-date group are debating good vs. evil and the very existence of God over chicken nuggets at McDonald’s? What if instead of declaring war with Random House, God is asking us to be ready to be His voice of truth in a culture that has its curiosity about God tweaked through a “children’s fairy tale?â€
Thanksgiving this week should be interesting at my parent’s house. Especially if anyone sees him pull-out this book and start reading it while others are talking or watching football. He won’t be alone in his defense of his viewpoint either though, I’ll back him up and hopefully we can all better understand what we’re dealing with and how better to respond in the future.
