Blog 5 - Untitled as yet

I just watched this trailer on the apple website – it looks, at first glance, very much like a cross between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I have had a few chats with people about the books, and I have copies but have not read them. Partly because this kind of fantasy is not so much my thing, though I should really have a proper read. My first reaction is it seems to be yet again following the line of one person who is ‘chosen’ to fight the bad person who wishes to bring destruction (I'm confused - is Neo the one, or Harry or Frodo?). So yet again it’s the age old theme of good versus evil. The rest then, I suppose, is about the context of that. It’s interesting that after years of debate about Harry Potter it now seems that JK Rowling was inspired by Christian themes and even quoted Corinthians in her last book. That said, I am told that Philip Pullman is anti-religion, and is quite forward about stating that in his stories. Still, Paul found a statue to the unknown God in Athens and made good use of that, and surely this story is about the very Christian theme of the battle to overthrow evil, in all its forms. Sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I, and I haven't even seen the movie yet!!

My take on all these things is let’s use them to help people think about the life God has given us – and even if the film seems anti-Christian – it’s bound to contain gutsfulls of reality. Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis says, we claim the truth where we find it. I love the notion that there is no truth beside God. There is no love beside God. So wherever you find truth and love at work – it’s a sign of the kingdom. Perhaps the challenge will be how do we make good use of the film to point people to the real chosen one – the one who’s Golden Compass was a shoddy cross – and who fought the battle through vulnerability and weakness. The danger will be that we rise up in protest against the movie – I’d rather look for the God-moments in it. And my guess is there will be shedloads…

On a much more serious note - I'm very concerned about the following vid...