Smashing the Compass

When I was logging into myspace today I noticed that myspace is promoting the new movie "The Golden Compass". I have to admit the movie looks really cool. When I first heard that they were making a movie I thought the idea sounded pretty sweet. I read the book several years ago and I thought it was really good. Almost as soon as I heard about it coming out though, I started getting emails from people about why I should not go support the film.

The author of the books is a self-proclaimed atheist who, according to his own words, "is trying to kill God in the minds of children." He is by his own account against the Chronicles of Narnia books and wrote the series to oppose them. In the final book in the series (there are three books total, the Golden Compass is book one) a boy and girl kill God so that they can do as they please. I have been seeing all this stuff from Facebook groups to conservative news, to you name it. The controversy seems to be growing and Christian groups are fiercely opposed. They claim that the watered down film is supposed to lure parents into buying the books for their kids which carry a message that is very anti-God and specifically anti-Christianity.

As most everyone who reads this knows, I am a firm believer in Christ. I guess by definition that means I am opposed to this guy's ideas because he has taken a stand against everything I believe. But does that shake my faith? Does knowing the true nature of his books cause me to wonder? The answer is simply, no. To be completely honest, I think I am going to go see the movie because I think it looks really good. I read the book and though it was graphic in several details, even with my level of comprehension, which I won't lie, is pretty high, I didn't get that that was the point of the book. There were some religious kinds of terms especially from Catholicism in the book, but I didn't get from this book that it was about "killing God". Granted, that is what it is about (the author said so himself) but I didn't get it and I don't think most kids will.

And if they are Christians like I am who read it and do get it, so what? Had I read the other books in the series and gotten to where the kids go and kill God, I probably would have started laughing. It's not like you can physically get to another world where God is and then kill Him. What kind of nonsense is that? This whole thing is something that I think a lot of Christian parents on the whole are doing nowadays. Every time there is something bad in the world, instead of showing their kids how to deal with it, they shelter them and just tell them it is bad. They may give reasoning why, but it is definitely skewed. I got the exact same email three times one day as I was sitting up in my dorm at school. The first copy came from my mom, followed closely by one from each of my sisters.

Now, it is all well and good to protect your kids, but what happens when you aren't there to tell them what is good and bad? How real is their faith if it was always decided by you? I guess that perhaps I wasn't as sheltered as my parents would have liked. I have some differing opinions from them on many things in life. But most generally, I do share a deep faith in Christ. That isn't because they always told me what was right and wrong; I have figured out so much of what I believe on my own. If you have never dealt with the opposition that is out there on your own, how are you supposed to combat it when you are on your own?

The fact of the matter is this one atheist and his popular books and movie are nothing new. About three weeks ago I was sitting in philosophy class learning about the concept of goodness. One of the people we read was none other than Friedrich Nietzsche. In the late 1800's he wrote a very famous story entitled "The Madman and the Death of God" about how we as human beings have killed God. Basically this was the backbone for his theory of good and evil. His morality was based on the idea that there is no God and it spawned a new branch of philosophy.

Atheists have been around for a very long time and are by definition opposed to the idea of God. The author of The Golden Compass and his books, movie are no doubt popular now. Nietzsche was very popular in his day too. There are still over 1 billion Christians on earth. There are more people that follow some sort of a religion than there are atheists and people with no religion by a vast majority. If parents are worried about what message is getting to their kids through these movies/books, talk to them. Censoring something has throughout history been notorious for making it even more sought after. Disarm the so-called ploys by talking about the movie. Ask the kids to tell you if there is anything wrong with them. I would have told my parents that they were so wrong, you can't get to God, much less kill him. And many other things in the movie could never happen either, duh. I mean, the compass knows if someone is lying or not. It does way more than tell where North is.

Yeah, I disagree with the ideas of this atheist and the point of his books. No, I will not boycott the film. By giving that much attention to it negatively, are we not giving it more power? In Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament of the Bible, it says there is nothing new under the sun. From philosophers like Nietzsche to modern atheists, their ideas are not new. Just be on your guard and remember what you believe. Hold firm in the truths you know and hold dear and it won't matter what some bitter atheist has to say. If there is no God, then why does he feel he needs to try and kill Him? Just something to chew on.