Golden Compass
I've had many folks ask me what I think about the book and upcoming movie "the Golden Compass". While I reserve judgment until I have read the novel, I suspect this text will fall into the realm of "the DaVinci Code" and "Harry Potter." Both were touted as horribly damaging to the Christian faith. I've read both and found neither particularly challenging. I expect this is because I am a mature Christian, well-taught in matters of faith, and shielded from unbelief through Word and Sacrament. For the Christian who is immature in faith, no doubt such materials are challenging. I wouldn't have my children such fantasy novels. Then again, some of the sci-fi and fantasy I read as a young adult seriously challenged my faith. Yet this testing was like the refiner's fire and exposed my error and tendencies toward unbelief. After returning to God's Word, I was made a better Christian. With Pullman's novel, it appears his challenge is with the institutional church which we are often critical of as well. Ultimately, we Christians are rightfully fearful of the one who can snatch away both body and soul. This righteous fear, born from faith, is what compels us to avoid demonology, sexual perversions, and other idolatry. So we should be concerned and by all means test such material before subjecting our children to them. A brief description of the story line illuminates the challenges this film (and book series) may give. Click through the link for a full review. DK120
THE STORY
The trilogy takes place in three different worlds, following the heroine Lyra and her “daemon†through harrowing adventures. In Lyra’s world daemons are the external souls of humans, in animal form, and cannot be separated from their humans by too much distance without causing excruciating pain.
The story is riveting for science fiction and fantasy fans, with trips through gateways to other worlds, armored polar bears, descriptions of fantastic creatures, good and bad angels, evil adults hunting for children, suspense and adventure, and breathtaking descriptions of idyllic worlds.Pullman’s vitriolic anti-God and anti-Christian propaganda, however, invades his books early on, intrud-ing with increasingly tiresome tirades against a controlling, oppressive church ruled by a manipulating, oppressive Authority who lies to his subjects and takes away all their fun. In HDM, for example, Pope John Calvin, headquartered in Geneva, largely controls the world in which Lyra lives. Pullman speaks of the church’s castrating boys without anesthesia to keep their voices from changing, so churches will continue to be filled with songs sung by high-voiced boys. This castration theme recurs several times. The church is cruel in Lyra’s world, and it practices inquisition-style torture to maintain compliance.One mysterious element that figures prominently in the story is “Dust.†The underlying question in the story is, What is it? Dust is the elementary particle from which all conscious life issues. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, Dust was attracted to them, and they became conscious.Lyra’s mother and father are cold-hearted and cruel. Her father’s goal in the story is to stage another rebellion aimed directly at the Authority (God) to complete what Satan had failed to accomplish in her rebellion. In HDM Satan is a female named Xaphania, who has always fought against the closed-mindedness of the Authority. All her rebel angels are referred to as followers of wisdom.
In this story we learn that Yahweh, the Authority, was the first to emerge from Dust into a conscious being. As others came into consciousness, he convinced them that he had created them; so from the beginning the Authority was a liar and a manipulator. The Authority was young during Adam’s and Eve’s lifetimes, but by the time of Daniel he was known as the Ancient of Days because he had advanced in age. By the time we meet God, he is a feeble, senile being held captive in a glass coffin. Later, he finds relief when his coffin is finally broken open so he can dissolve into nothingness. We learn that the one who is really in control in the heavens is Enoch/Metatron, who meets his end when Lyra’s parents sacrifice themselves in order to destroy him.
Lyra is portrayed as a wild child, abandoned by her parents as a baby, who lies to get what she needs. Her conversion comes when she and a companion from our world, Will, travel to the land of the dead. There is no heaven or hell. All the souls that have ever lived are in a storage tank guarded by harpies (mythological beasts). Lyra convinces one of the harpies to show them the way out of the land of the dead by telling her story, and for the first time she tells the truth. She is never able to lie again. The harpies, who are hate-filled because they have been fed on Yahweh’s lies, realize they are hungry for true stories. They love Lyra’s story and are transformed by it. They promise to release all the dead, who will also share their stories. The dead who follow Lyra and Will out return to Dust and float away as golden sparkles into the stream of the collective consciousness to forever be part of the elemental, physical, conscious “stuff†of trees, flowers, people, planets, and stars.
As it turns out, Lyra and Will are the new Adam and Eve, whose fall will redeem the world from the oppression of the church. Mary, an ex-nun from our world, who plays the part of the temptress in this story, tells them her story. She was first devoted to the church, and then, as a young woman, fell in love and had a (implied) sexual experience that helped change her mind. Her story awakens Lyra and Will, both 13 years old, who fall in love. Their love (including their implied sexual union) saves the world where they are staying and opens the way to save the rest of the universe.
