The Lie Of The Golden Compass
12-07-2007
by Johann Snyder

The Golden Compass is generating a lot of buzz, which is sure to add up to an unfortunately large box office take. With everyone talking about it, I figured I should add my two cents to the noise regardless of whether my voice is heard or not. The central issue at stake with The Golden Compass is whether or not it’s merely a critique of the church, in which case it may help reformation much like Martin Luther did with his criticism, or is it an assault on the church, in which case a line as been drawn and it’s time to take a stand. After seeing the film, I believe it’s the later rather than the former; and I am to make my stand.

I am well aware that the church isn’t perfect, that we as Christians make mistakes, and that I personally still have a lot of perfecting to be done by the Holy Spirit. I have also done my best to balance being teachable with being uncompromising in my beliefs as a Christian. I know that there is still much to learn, and that sometimes the beliefs I have either need to mature or change altogether. At the same time, I want to make sure I never compromise the core beliefs of my Christian faith and that I remain steadfast in what the Bible reveals as truth. To that end, I welcome critique as honest critiques can only help me learn and grow. However, when someone assaults my beliefs, it’s not because they wish for my betterment, it’s because they wish for my destruction and for the victory of their beliefs over mine. I have not read Pullman’s books, nor do I desire to. Yet, from my viewing of the film The Golden Compass, it’s clear that its aim is not to help improve the church, but to convince people that the church must be removed in order for freedom to reign. And to accomplish this goal, it uses the oldest lie known to man; the very lie that caused our downfall in the first place.

In The Golden Compass, the Magisterium (read the church) is the absolute authority over all. It exists to tell people what to do, what is proper, what is right, how to think, what to believe and why they should believe it. To that end, it has determined that all mentions of a substance know as dust must be abolished and never mentioned. Moreover, it does everything in its power to make sure the influence of dust is erased from existence through its experiments with children. For dust, you see, is what causes adults as they grow older to think horrible, evil things and causes them to cease to be good people. In other words, dust is sin. Yet, is this substance known as dust as bad as the Magisterium makes it out to be? Has the Magisterium merely duped people into believing what they want them to believe about dust in order to maintain their power and keep people captive in their thinking? Might dust actually be something more benevolent, perhaps even something that can reveal truth, a truth that’s entirely different from what the Magisterium presents as truth?

I won’t keep you in suspense, for that’s exactly what’s suggested by The Golden Compass. In fact, the golden compass of the films name is a device that reveals truth; and does so with dust; and therein lays the problem and the deception. When satan came to Eve, his plan was very simple; get God’s creation to question its creator in order to drive them apart. This was accomplished by getting Eve to question God’s authority, to question if what he said really was true, to question God’s definition of sin. Satan presented sin not as something to be avoided, but embraced so that Eve would be enlightened, god-like and truly free. Oh what a cunning scheme; words that drip with honey and the appearance of truth. And the lie worked. Eve believed the twisted philosophy of satan and took the fruit which God forbade, and humanity has been paying the price ever since.

The Golden Compass isn’t out to critique the church in order to help it improve or return to a purer faith. The Golden Compass is out to destroy the church by undermining the fundamental truths of the Bible. It repeats the very lie that brought sin into the world in the first place, and it does it wrapped in a cloak of adventure and fantasy. The Golden Compass doesn’t question the church, it questions God. It questions his holiness, his justness, his righteousness, his authority and his love. That will not stand, not as long as I draw breath to serve the loving God who set me free from the very lie the movie promotes. Truly I can not think of a more appropriate title for material such as this than His Dark Materials; for all it can accomplish is to darken thought and reason and blind people to the truth of God’s word; something that I will strive to prevent.

Now I am not calling for ban of the film, nor am I suggesting people picket in front of theatres and boycott the film. Pullman has every right to his opinion, and I’m sure he is sincere in his beliefs; though he is sincerely wrong. That is what I will stand against. The Golden Compass is where the line is drawn between truth and lies. The truth is God loves you, and only Jesus Christ can set you free from sin. Sin doesn’t lead to enlightenment, and abandonment of the authority of God does not lead to freedom. On these issues I can not compromise, nor can I coddle any film that would promote such ideas. And you know what else; it’s not even all that good of a movie.