I say that because someone I know erroneously mentioned that "The Golden Compass" was written by the 'same guy' who wrote "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
C.S. Lewis wrote the entire Narnia series.
Philip Pullman, who wrote the book upon which the "The Golden Compass" is based, was no fan of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia".
According to Focus on the Family:
Pullman represents the polar opposite of Lewis. Pullman has repeatedly—and with apparent glee—lashed out at both Lewis and the faith he represents. "I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with a deep and bitter passion," he told one interviewer, "with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling-away."
You can read that entire article here.
Here is brief synposis of the "The Golden Compass" from Wikipedia:
The Golden Compass is a fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in the US), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials.The story concerns Lyra, an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe in which a dogmatic dictatorship, the Magisterium, threatens to dominate. When Lyra's friend is kidnapped, she travels to the far North in an attempt to rescue him.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Compass_(film)
So, should you take the young-uns (or yourself) to see this movie?
Focus on the Family had this to say in their review of "The Golden Compass":
This epic journey to a world in which a theocratic agency [the Magisterium]kidnaps and tortures children is grim and joyless. The violence may be generally bloodless, but the tale's tone is anything but inviting. No matter what the ads may say, it fundamentally lacks the wonder and the splendor of C.S. Lewis' and J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy creations—not to mention their grasp of spiritual truth.
Read Focus on the Family's complete review of "The Golden Compass".
Christianity Today offers this insight:
And so we come to the film's treatment of religion. Serafina [the witch who serves as the films narrator] says the coming war—which, in the second and third books, is revealed to be a war against the Judeo-Christian God—will bring an end to "destiny" and establish a new era of "free will." What that means exactly is not spelled out, not in this movie, but we can get a sense of it from the fact that nearly all of this film's villains work for the church-like Magisterium, which spends much of its time "telling people what to do."
Read Christianity Today's complete review of "The Golden Compass".
Movieguide (Dr. Ted Baehr's organization) wrote:
THE GOLDEN COMPASS is not a great story like THE LORD OF THE RINGS or THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, after which it is purposely patterned. Many of the themes of atheist Philip Pullman’s book are merely reactionary devices to the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA that try to express his hate for parents in general, his hate for Christianity and its leaders and people, and his hate for authority. The book is also designed to motivate the reader through fear and self-gratification.
Read his full review here.
Some other troubling concepts arise in this film.
From Focus on the Family:
Every human being in Lyra's [the films protangonist] world has a dæmon, an external animal representation of their souls. Dæmons shift form while a child is growing up, settling on one particular animal in adolescence. Even though dæmons are a part of each person, they have a functionally independent identity and personality, appearing to be something along the lines of what our world refers to as familiar spirits.
Dr. Ted Baehr adds this:
...in the interest of self-satisfaction, it motivates children to seek to be joined with occult, demonic powers and principalities to get their own way. The official website has an area where children can meet their own daemon. It says: “To discover your very own Daemon, look into your heart, and answer the following twenty questions openly and honestly. Your true character and the form of your Daemon will be reveled…”
Not cool.
On the secular front, most reviews have been less than stellar. So far the film has only garnered a 44% positve rating from Rottentomatoes.
The attacks on Christianity from Pullman in his writings are hard core, but we serve a very big and very real God.
This is but one sign that the fires of adversity are being stoked against the American church.
But we are about to enter our finest hour.
This adversity will only help to burn the idolatry, laziness, nihilism and complaceny that has has gripped us through false prosperity (materialism and greed).
So if men like Pullman want to turn up the heat...BRING IT!
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