I just finished reading Golden Compass for the first time and I loved it. I’m off to find the next book.
I absolutely agree with your comments about the ways in which people read sacred AND secular texts. We often see what we want to see for fear of being challenged or changed. We so crave that which is safe and known. Pullman wants us to THINK — why should that be so scary?
I am sure that controversy will ultimately help at the box office.

I have read the “Dark Materials” trilogy twice. I have read the Bible, and continue to read it. The story that Pullman weaves is intriguing and imaginative. I am uncomfortable with portions, particularly where he misquotes the Bible. Page 371 of “The Golden Compass” reads “Go to the shelf beside the desk and bring me the Bible.” Lyra did so, and handed the big black book to her father.
“You do remember the story of Adam and Eve?”
“Course,” she said. “She wasn’t supposed to eat the fruit and the serpent tempted her, and she did.”
“And what happened then?”
“Umm…They were thrown out. God threw them out of the garden.”
“God had told them not to eat the fruit, because they would die. Remember, they were naked in the garden, they were like children, their daemons took on any form the desired. But this is what happened.”
He turned to Chapter Three of Genesis, and read:
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and your daemons shall assume their true forms, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to reveal the true form of ones, daemon, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they saw the true form of their daemons, and spoke with them.”
Lord Asriel has a version of the Bible I’ve never read!
The New King James version says, “The serpent said to the woman, “you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
Now one could argue that Pullman has written a fantasy tale. Everyone knows what the Bible really says. There are no “daemons” in Holy Scripture; not even for the sake of a good story line, for intrigue, or entertainment. My discomfort is with the possibility of a child reading Pullman’s books and being misled in their beliefs. No name calling here, no condemning of Pullman and his religious beliefs or lack thereof. It isn’t about him. It is about children and their ability to discern. It is about our responsibility to guide our children. Jesus teaches us in the Bible in Mark 9:42, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”
IF you choose to allow your children to read the “Dark Materials” trilogy, be prepared to answer their faith questions and teach them the difference between God’s Word, and Lord Asriel’s.

My otherwise-intelligent mother forwarded me the “don’t-see-the-movie email.” My reply:
Instead of reverting to the book-burning days of the mid-century, I prefer to teach my children to read intelligently, listen to and learn about the views of others, ask good questions, and be confident enough in their own good values that they don’t have to live in some weird insulated bubble.

I also got a scarred forwarded email from a mom. I suggested she read the books with her 5th grade son and talk about them. If possible they should do it before the movie comes out. I am going to read them as well. I have no dire expectations. Instead I expect to read about characters stumbling to find meaning and worth in their lives and the lives around them. I like the general images I have seen and i am loooking forward to the experience.

The Bible tells us to “abstain from ALL appearance of evil”. I Thess.5:2. This includes reading horoscopes, Reading Harry Potter books and seeing the movies, tarot cards, and everything else that has to do with witchcraft and the devil. If you are truly a Christian you will not even want to be around these things because they will end up destroying you.

I wasn’t aware of this film or the books mentioned….but this email got my attention. I am raising 5 children between the ages of 8 and 22. Many years ago I got caught up in the New Age arena and exposed my older children to a “new and free religion”. All about love and making our own choices and thinking I was right I encouraged them to find their own God-path within themselves. Boy, was I wrong. God is God. The Bible is the Truth. There are rules for us to follow as children of God that we cannot stray from…well, we have the choice but the consequences are written just as plain as day. With my younger children I have pulled in a much tighter reign. Children need to know the truth about the Bible and all of It’s messages. And we as parents need to assert that truth. Once we lay a solid foundation, I believe that our children could be exposed to outside lies and deceit but at least then they will have the ammunition to realize what lies are being told to them. They must hear the Truth though….first.

If Scripture truth means anything to you, then abstaining from all appearance of evil should be a way of life. If it is questionable, it has no place in our life. That being said, consider this. 1 Corinthians 10:31–So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. This is living with a purpose.
When the government is training people to recognize counterfeit currency, they are never exposed to counterfeits. Instead, they spend their time studying the real thing until when a counterfeit bill is put in front of them, they will recognize it instantly because they will SEE the difference. It is critical for Parents and Grandparents to teach children the truth of God as found in God’s letter to man-the Bible, while they are children so that when false teachers and lies are presented to them, they will, just as the agents who are studying the currency, recognize falsehood because they KNOW the truth.

I was just wondering how those of you quoting scripture are able to find a computer to post on. Haven’t you sold all your possessions yet? Jesus said to get rid of *everything you own* and give to the poor if you wanted eternal life in heaven. He said it at least twice (Luke 14:26-33 AND Luke 18:18-22) and it was very explicit. Or are we simply disregarding certain parts of the Bible and using only the ones that we need to make our point?
On a side note, correct me if I’m wrong, but did any atheist/secularist organizations protest, boycott, or in any way decry the release of the Narnia movie? Interesting. It seems some people actually are dedicated to the open-minded pursuit of truth by considering all sides of an issue before making a decision.

i think tht this satanic work of art shouldnt not be watched by any one who calls themselves a christian and as for the athiast/secularist who didnt rage about Narnia must not believe too much in what they say and didnt care enough to say anything… but christians love their religion and God enough to say something and tht should be admired.

what story would be about trust in the bible?

First of all to the author:
Pullman has said many other things about his purpose with “His Dark Materials” that counter what is quoted here.
Here is an educated and thorough look at the book:
http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=1156
To the commentator Carey Marshall:
By using the scripture “abstain all appearences of evil you have given the author of this article an example of:
“skimming the stories in order to extract the verses that serve their own agendas, without paying a bit of attention to the larger context or story in which they find the juicy bits.”
If you read the greater context of that chapter you will find that the “avoidances of evil” has to do with “prophecies.” As it states in the book, “How to Read the Bible for All it’s Worthy”: “To make this text mean something God did not intend is to abuse the text, not use it.”
Simply put, you need to learn to use exegesis.
As far as what Pullman really means:
“I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief,” says Pullman. “Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil’s work.” – from A Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23371-2001Feb18?

Thank you, Spence, you responded eloquently. Excellent links!
The controversial content (at the very least female circumci**on) is repulsive that it would be awarded international children’s book of the year. Proves how truly out-of-touch many librarians and literary professionals are throughout the world (in regards to children’s mental health and maturity/development).
Fie on Scholastic for loading schools with dozens of copies at every school book fair they do. It is commendable to teach children to search for truth, but that is NOT what Pullman’s works are about. There are too many offensive and degrading issues within the trilogy to list here (I’ve read them) to excuse his works as being “good” for young people. Regardless of doctrinal creed or none at all, Pullman offends me that he would enjoy traipsing along his merry way, happy that he is “saving children before their parents and religion perverts them.” His closed-mindedness and lack of civility astounds me. Shame on him. I truly feel sorry for his poor departed grandfather who tried to raise him as a loving individual.
Well, Pullman’s works won’t be on my children’s shelves unless they choose to read them, but I hope they will choose not to. I know that you don’t have to try-out every single new fad to decide whether or not you want it to be a part of your life…and this isn’t being closed-minded, it’s being selective–because our lives are too short to spend time on cheap shrift. Just my thoughts. READ HIS PAST INTERVIEWS FOUND AT THE LINKS ABOVE!!!!! (It’s always good to go to the direct source, Robert Pullman himself, to see how abhorrent the content is!)

The controversial content (at the very least female circumci**on) is repulsive that it would be awarded international children’s book of the year.
Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of international children that have the repulsive practice foisted upon them in the name of one god or another.
Seems to me that your problem is with reality, not Scholastic.

Since Adam and eve, Satan has been attacking Godly men.
As we all know, Satan has an agenda. Weather it is to be blatantly obvious or dancing gentility around, the outcome is the same; he doesn’t like God or those who believe in God. Satan wants our downfall… his best efforts are spent getting us to do it to ourselves. “Inter fighting” I’ll call it. Christains and others, who believe in GOD, need to get right with God, Be a good example of Christ’s LOVE, spreading God’s message, not our mixed up interpretations, read the whole scripture, not just the parts we want to pick out and use to slap others in the face with… Godly people have to stop judging others and pull the logs out of our own eye first. Then we can really make a subtle impact of our own. With our families, our kids, our friends and co –workers. We can not shove religion in other people faces. Christains are getting a bad name.
As for the kids, we need to fight fire with fire, make movies wear God is “REAL MAGIC” as real as it gets. To kids magic and miracles are one in the same; they just need to learn the difference. And that were the Godly men come in, we reach out and share what we know to be the truth. My children know the difference. They know of God and they know of Satan, and they know he is so very real, in a world that chooses to ignore the real dangers, and that’s a world without compassion, love, encouragement, hope, believing and most of all FAITH.
We become the bad guys when we force or beliefs on others. Why else do we fight against tyranny, why do we have wars? We want a Godly world, Start in your own home, friends family, work etc. The ripples in a pond, how far do they travel?

Thanks kkp, that was just what I needed. The one thing that these books/movies have brought to my attention is the very ugly side of religion/”christianity”: The complete lack of love, compassion, NONjudgementalism…. I have now become aware of the cruelty and accusations towards those that do not believe as we believe, that have seperate agendas than our own, etc etc etc.
The one thing that seems to be consistently lacking in those that criticise The GC is God, in the hearts of the critics/judges. God gave us free will when we entered earth, but man, in the name of his religion, seeks to take that away from us. It seems that “christians” don’t have the faith in God to keep them, and their children, safe from a movie. So “they” want to take the movie away from everyone.
I have to say that, based on what I have heard “christians” say in posts, videos, radio (Focus on the Family)… I am ashamed and horrified to be called a “christian”. I do not want to judge people, or make accusations towards anyone, or lash out and attack anyone. I do NOT want to hurt anyone, or take away their god-given free will. But it’s starting to sound like if I am a “true” christian, than this is what I am going to have to do. My heart is broken. Like you said, christians are getting a bad name. And I can’t blame it on satan either, because it sounds like people are choosing to be outright judgemental, full of attack, etc.
Anyway, thank you for your openness, for your words of wisdom. You said to be an example of Christ’s LOVE, Godly people have to stop judging others and pull the logs out of our own eye first, etc. It seems like the christians that are the most judgemental are the ones that are speaking the loudest. Where is the Love? I thought Christ was about unconditional love. He didn’t walk around telling everyone that they were always wrong.
PS~ Instead of trying to take movies away from others, I love your suggestion about people making God movies!
Also, I hope this does not offend anyone, but I try to see the beauty in all things, and I can see God’s beauty at work in The Golden Compass. Although I have seen some uglies coming out in people, I would rather see the truth than a lie, if God thinks that I am ready to see the truth.