"Christians" Trying To Save The World

(With "quotes" refers to those who call themselves Christian and may or may not be so, while without quotes refers to those that are genuine believers and followers of Jesus.)

Here we go again.

Have you heard about all the news in "Christian" circles concerning the movie coming out soon called "The Golden Compass"? A good number of "Christians" are being quoted for their deep concern for an agenda behind this movie. In short, the movie is based on a trilogy of children's books written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman, a determined atheist, is writing these books primarily inspired by his disgust and hatred for Christianity. He's quoted that the point of the books is to kill God in the eyes of children. He's also quoted trying to do the exact opposite C.S. Lewis did with his Chronicles of Narnia, using a very similar setting and everything, except (if I understand correctly) God is the bad guy. You can read here for more details.

Think for a moment on so many of the battles "Christians" choose to fight. Think about the things that really riles us up, putting us on the offensive, and makes us want to get ready to attack. To me, "Christians" really lack strategy and vision. They know a little bit about the enemy but they really don't know how to fight. So these "Christians" sort of begin flailing their arms everywhere hoping they hit the bad guy, but all they accomplish is hitting and hurting the wrong people and they look really stupid (making the rest of us look stupid too).

Quite a few years ago, J.K. Rowling produced Harry Potter and the books have been under attack ever since. So many books and articles have been written demonizing Rowling. While I hold some belief that her books are a tool for introducing children to a pleasant, fun-filled, look at witchcraft, did she deserve to be demonized?

Too often, we "Christians" decided to attack agendas as if those leading it are the very enemy himself. We treat leaders of gay-rights, same-sex marriage, legislation from the bench, abortion, witchcraft (magic), atheism, etc. like they're the enemy, but they' re not the enemy.

We need to stop being so overly concerned with making our world safe and secure that we "Christians" bash and attack anything that challenges our faith or the faith of our children. If Christians really want to save the world then maybe they need to spend more attention on learning more about the culture in our neighborhood, the hurt and pain these people are in, the lies they have been told about God, and start reaching out to them in ways that are effective!

Now as far as this movie, "The Golden Compass", and its content, I would suggest caution from those with children. That's always wise. I haven't seen the movie (it's not out yet) so it would be really tough for me to list the specific cautions. But who knows, maybe we Christians might actually see something in the movie that will help us understand the stance of atheist more (not what they believe, we know that, but how they can better be reached).

Also, don't get me wrong. There are certainly things Christians need to stand up and fight, but we need to learn to pick our battles wisely and, even more important, learn to fight them wisely.