My first impressions:

This is not even close to being a Children's book.

• At 350 pages of small print it's way longer than any of the Chronicles of Narnia.
• The main character in the book is 11, but I'd say the target audience is far closer to 13 -17.
• In fact, the library sticker on the side says, "Young adult."

I'll write a full review when I'm done.

I doubt I'll see the movie as everyone seems to agree how artistically terrible it is.

The Golden Compass is the first is book in a trilogy written by author Phillip Pullman. These books were inspired by The Chronicles of Narina, which Pullman hates because their Christian allegory. In his Children's fantasy trilogy Pullman is seeking to promote atheism and attack organized religion.

Naturally many Christians are upset by this.

I am too, but I'm also asking:

How can we as followers of Jesus have a humble attitude about this? (Phil 2:5 -8)

How can we exploit this movie and use it for good? (Rom 12:21)

The Controlling, Domineering, Murdering Church

Pullman very overtly rejects religion because it has "involved persecution, massacre, slaughter on an industrial scale." New Line Cinema has sought to water down the overtly anti-Christian themes in the novels. They don't want to make a movie that offends but instead are seeking to spread a general "critique of all dogmatic organizations."

Can't we be humble and learn from this? Can't we just admit, "Yes, it's true, the Church has a record of being domineering, controlling and overly dogmatic. Many have murdered in Jesus' name. We as Christians are sorry for our own actions, that actions of of Christian brothers and the lack of action we have taken to correct it."

Admitting that we as people are broken doesn't say that God is broken. On the contrary it affirms our need for God. God is perfect. We are not.

Boycott Religious Dialogue

The Catholic League has called for an official boycott of the movie.

Let me see if I understand this: There is a heavily promoted, high-budget major motion picture being released in December. It contains many references to religion and will most likely spark conversation and national debate on the topics of God, religion and the Church. People who seldom think about God and talk about him even less will now be engaged in a full fledged conversation.

And this is a bad thing?

Anyone who knows me knows I talk about Jesus all the time. I've experienced many people actually leave the room simply because I mention his name. These people hate to talk about religion and it has been very difficult to engage them in spiritual conversation. But when I have talked to them about The DaVinci Code we've been able to have a very engaging conversation about God and faith. This doesn't make The DaVinci Code good. It means its a horribly researched, flagrant lie that I exploited to get to know some of my friends better.

Can't we do the same thing with The Golden Compass?

Killing God

In the novels the characters finally find God and then they kill him.

The problem is they were just a bit late with this one.

Others have already killed God.

He rose from the dead.

Many people think that believing in God requires a “leap of faith”. This would mean that belief in God is blind and is no different than belief in any other superstition or myth. For example, to believe that breaking a mirror will cause seven years of bad luck requires a leap of faith since there is no good reason to believe in it. This is why many people have abandoned the religion of their parents and ancestors. This is actually a very good thing because people are finally beginning to think clearly and abandon ungrounded beliefs and superstitions.

A Grave Mistake

However, there is a huge mistake here. Just because it requires a leap of faith to believe in a particular religious system does not mean that the same is true for belief in God. If God exists and wants us to believe in Him then we should be pre-programmed with a desire to believe. This means that we must be able to confidently believe in God and have good reasons for doing so. Furthermore, if God wanted everyone to believe then it must make sense to everyone regardless of where they live, when they live, or their level of education. Believing in God should come natural to a nomad in the desert, a scientist in the laboratory, and an average citizen in a city. There must be something embedded in the nature of every human being that would allow them to confidently arrive at this conclusion without any doubt or hesitation. 

Check Your Facts

It's true that people don’t always agree with one another.  However, there are a number of agreed upon facts that will not be rejected by any sane individual.

The First Fact: Seeing Is Not BelievingSomeone might ask: “if God exists then why can’t we see Him?” The answer is that we don’t need to because we believe in many things that we can’t directly perceive such as gravity, magnetism, infrared rays, etc.  For example, you cannot see the waves emitted by a cell phone, but they are there.  You can only see the signs and effects that indicate their existence.  Likewise, it is the signs and effects in the world that indicate God’s existence.

The Second Fact: Something Does Not Come Out of NothingIf a bucket of water were to fall on your head you would probably look up to find out where it came from.  That is because you know that it didn’t come out of nowhere because something can’t come out of nothing.  Likewise, when you look at the world around you it is natural to wonder where it came from.

The Third Fact: Examining Something Reveals Something about Its DesignerWhen you look at a calculator you see that it has buttons, a screen, a case, etc.  If you think about how this calculator must have been designed you know, for certain, that its designer must have had knowledge of mathematics because it can perform calculations.  You also know that he must have had knowledge of plastics engineering in order to make the case.  Therefore, you know something about the designer without ever having met him or even seen him.   Now look at yourself and the world around you. Your body has several complex systems designed to keep you alive such as the circulatory, immune, and digestive systems. The earth and other planets rotate around the sun in what is known as the solar system. Each system in the world has been set up so precisely that if there is even a minor error the entire system begins to breaks down. Whatever designed these systems must have known that each aspect of every system must be calculated precisely in order for it to work properly. This implies that the designer of the world must possess the qualities of both knowledge and wisdom.

The Fourth Principle: Believing in Coincidence Requires a Leap of FaithSomeone might claim that the car he drives wasn’t designed and built in any factory but rather was formed after an earthquake, tornado, and hurricane happened to sweep through a junkyard and assembled the entire vehicle by chance. Only someone mentally deficient would believe that story because the complexity of a motor vehicle cannot coincidentally form.Likewise, neither you nor the universe could have been designed and brought into being by coincidence. Therefore, anyone who says that the blind forces of nature created the universe and all that is in it is required to take a huge leap of faith in order to believe this. It’s not much different than believing in any other superstition or myth. Rather, it’s much wiser to attribute your existence and the existence of the world to God.

Conclusion

So let us all think clearly, abandon superstitions, and only believe in those things that make sense. If that means throwing the various idols and gods of your ancestors and teachers in the trash bin of history then be it. Don’t forget to dump “mother nature” as well.