First of all, I know my family most likely already knows about this, but there are other readers here that may not know about this. The Golden Compass in my opinion is not worthy of our money. For reasons why, you may read this website, and you can see for yourself what I'm talking about: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
Snopes.com is not really anything but a rumor validator. When somebody rails on a movie and the email gets passed around (for example), eventually somebody submits it to snopes which then tries to separate the fact from the fiction. In this case the originator of the email was validated. The movie is based on an anti-religious book. It is meant to be the antithesis of "The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe". Instead of encourage faith in Christ with a fun children's story, the author of these books state "My books are about killing God."
I realize the author of the books will likely care very little whether or not you or I see the movie. He probably make nothing more than a few pennies off of what we spend at the theater. All the same, I have no interest in supporting him, or the movie industry in a production like this.
The movie (being a realist here) is likely safe enough. The books are the concern. And I wish to make a statement to Hollywood that I don't approve of anti-religious themes in their movies. They have more than enough of that already. And I'm tempted to go purchase "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" just to make my statement all the stronger.
Anyways, that's my thought on the subject. Thanks to Dani for sending me that email. The movie opened today, and I most likely would have seen it sooner or later.
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14 comments:
beej... have you read the books? I have. Only the last one is something to be concerned about. The first two are weird fantasy, but no more anti-Christian than anything else is these days. Ammie, where are you! :) You wrote a brilliant email about it which I don't have anymore. You explained it so much better than I can!
Heidi, I have not read the books. But I have refused to read authors for less than this. I typically look for books that do not only have neutral themes, but pro Christian themes. Any person who wishes to kill God in the mind of his readers does not deserve any patronage from me. I know I have some radical thoughts here. But I wish to make a statement to all authors who would play with the minds of children, that I don't want to hear what they have to say, and they can just go back home for all I care. I believe that if this author had written to adults, I probably wouldn't have read his books, but I probably would be writing this blog either. His crime was in aiming his teachings at children who's parents most likely would have no idea about the themes in these books. That's just hitting below the belt as far as I'm concerned. And that deserves the most strict reaction to all concerned Christians, I believe. Of course, you are free to have your own opinion, but I feel that this is something to have an opinion about. As the website said, people are concerned about parents taking their children to the movie and then buying the books for them not having heard any of this. I feel that this is something parents should know about before they decide whether to see the movie or get the books. I also understand that the author intends to write another book, which will depict Christ. I do not expect that will be good. And so I make my statement here for all to read that I, personally, won't put up with it.
... Wow Heidi, I wasn't planning on writing another blog about it. I think you got me riled again. You have a talent for that I think. ;-) No offense of course... I value your opinion, and welcome people who challenge mine. And I am interested in what Aimee will have to say, even if it too will likely rile me. ;-)
Ammie, I spelled your name wrong... sorry! I'm a terrible speller.
I'm glad that I was able to bring it to your attention. I just feel like parents need to be aware of the message the author is trying to send in his books. I don't like the idea of kids being tricked into reading something that could be very disturbing for them. It's hard enough for kids these days as it is.
First of all, I will admit that I have read the trilogy. Second of all, I will admit that I OWN books 2 and 3. Third of all, I'm pumped to see the epic polar bear throwdown in the movie.
Let me make a couple of points: A) The books are not aimed at children like the Narnia books. The books are aimed at young adults. The movie is not rated PG, it's rated PG-13. Parents should be responsible for preventing their too-young children from watching or reading something that is not age appropriates
B) As with the Da Vinci Code, will people please please please recognize this as fiction? It's not going to shatter someone's testimony. It's just science fiction. The God depicted in the book is so far removed from the God I believe in, that it didn't affect me. It was as unrelated to my beliefs as Prometheus rebelling against Zeus. Nothing more
C) The children do not kill God. God in the book is depicted as a very old old angel. The children find God in a golden cage and open up the cage to help him because they think he is hurt and the wind blows and he disappears into the ether. Hardly malicious.
D) This from a recent article in TIME magazine "But to be fair, it's not religion that Pullman has a problem with, exactly, or religious believers; it's what happens when religion mixes with politics. 'Religion is at its best when it is furthest from political power,' he says. 'The power to send armies to war, to rule every aspect of our lives, to tell us what to wear, what to think, what to read--when religion gets hold of that, watch out! Because trouble will ensue.'" Even many religious people are wary of theocracies.
Anyway, that's my take. I like the theme of overthrowing oppression and valuing love over fear. And just remember that the Church and God depicted in the books is probably pretty far off from your church and your God.
Thanks jimbobathingummy. :) yes, i know who you are. and, as ammie did, you are able to put things uch more clearly than i can.
Well, Jimbo, you did make a good point. But, kinda like I was saying with the war... people's intentions matter to me. This particular author did not have worthy intentions. Genius as he may be, and as harmless as you think his books may be, I cannot support his intentions. He is intentionally attacking the Christian world. And even if he only shakes the faith of a handful of people, I don't know how I could ever condone it. I'm an idealist. And one of the ideals I live by is to never knowingly support anyone who intends to harm the faith of any of God's children. Of course no one is perfect, and I'm sure I fall short on many of my ideals all the time. But I do my best. But the thought that anyone would want to kill God in the minds of children leaves me a little bewildered. If those are his intentions, no matter how well he may succeed, I cannot support him. And I'm not sure what you mean by young adults, but my guess is that he is aiming at teenagers, who are at the most impressionable age. The church loses more kids at the age of 18-21 than any other age. I guess teenagers are still children in my mind.
Anyways... I am glad to hear your thoughts though. I'm glad to hear that the books won't likely do much harm to their readers. I miss our old nelson debates we used to have. They were fun. ;-)
BJ
My parents have been in town, and I haven't been online. I'm gonna post my email on my blog (ammieandjonathan.blogspot.com). Please check it out. I said some of what jimbobwhoever said (and unlike Heidi I don't know who that is!). I think I say this in my email-soon-to-be-blog-post, too, but I'll say it again here just in case: In a nutshell, speak it! Don't pay for things you don't like! But BEWARE uninformed scare tactics! (hahaha!)
I'm glad you responded to Jimbobathingummy as well. And just out of curiosity, if you would never shake the faith of any of God's children... how would you teach a non-Christian that their faith is, in fact, centred in the wrong thing? I suspect that would shake their faith immensely. And as for you comment about teenagers and the books and them being shaken, my I quote directly (or as directly as I can remember) from my little brother, who is 15 now and was probably 14 when he read the books, in a recent conversation we had about them: "He killed God? THAT wasn't God!" So just for the reference, there is at least one (LDS) teenager out there who is completely aware that, in fact, God is something completely different from Pullman's perceptions and attempted portrayal. Now, as for the age-group the church loses the most out of... I'm interested to know your source on that, as my sources have told me that, in fact, the church loses more single members between the ages of about 28 and 40 than any other age group. :) There. That's a lot of subject changing for one comment. hee hee.
I'm glad you responded to Jimbobathingummy as well. And just out of curiosity, if you would never shake the faith of any of God's children... how would you teach a non-Christian that their faith is, in fact, centred in the wrong thing? I suspect that would shake their faith immensely. And as for you comment about teenagers and the books and them being shaken, my I quote directly (or as directly as I can remember) from my little brother, who is 15 now and was probably 14 when he read the books, in a recent conversation we had about them: "He killed God? THAT wasn't God!" So just for the reference, there is at least one (LDS) teenager out there who is completely aware that, in fact, God is something completely different from Pullman's perceptions and attempted portrayal. Now, as for the age-group the church loses the most out of... I'm interested to know your source on that, as my sources have told me that, in fact, the church loses more single members between the ages of about 28 and 40 than any other age group. :) There. That's a lot of subject changing for one comment. hee hee.
Ooops. Sorry. I only meant to post it once.
Heidi, you know how statistics are. There are lots of statistics for lots of things. The church doesn't really post its statistics anywhere, but the statistic I sited was what we were told in my sociology classes at BYU. However, I have no doubts that there is some other statistic about something similar that you have heard. And I'll readily admit that my memory isn't the greatest either. I could be just flat out wrong.
Oh, I wasn't condemning your source or your stats! I didn't make that clear. I was just interested to know, that's all.
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