The number one movie of this past weekend was The Golden Compass which made an estimated 26 million dollars. For weeks a controversy over this film and the book series that it is based on has been brewing over the supposed anti-Christian messages being sold to small children with Narnia -like animals, Harry Potter-like magic, and Lord of the Rings-style epic storytelling.

I saw the film on Friday and walked away unimpressed. The story seemed rushed, the characters seemed flat, and the ending was paced very oddly. There was a great polar bear fight with a surprising and satisfying payoff but is was not enough to save this film for me. I could not imaging taking a group of 10 year olds to this film and expecting them to sit still during the almost 2 hour screening.

However, one positive outcome from seeing the film. I found 3 elements of this story that, I believe, Christians can use to discuss their faith with those who have seen the film. This week I’ll be posting these three points for you. Let’s get to it.

1) The Magisterium
According to Entertainment Weekly, the Magisterium is a “fractured church-like body with power over every aspect of life. No Pope, and about as Christian as the Inquisition.” In the film the members of the Magisterium dress like bishops and cardinals and are seen as opposing free will and free thought. The books refer to the Magisterium as “the Church” and they serve a higher being known as “The Authority.” The film briefly mentions “the Authority” but it wasn’t clear to me that the name addressed a being.

The members of the Magisterium meet is secret meetings and slink around with duplicitous looks. In one scene, a top official tries to poison one of the main characters. In another a group of elders are seen conspiring to consolidate power through fear and coercion. All of this leads up to what the Magisterium is really up to.

They seek to separate children from their daemons (souls) in an effort to keep them “safe” from Dust (more on that later) and to help them “grow up.” By growing up and maturing these children can put away childish questions and flippant behavior and get down to the real business of serving the Magisterium’s agenda. Soulless beings are more manageable than beings full of life. We meet one little boy who has lost his daemon. He is a shell. He is nearly physically dead and we see that he has been spiritually ravaged.

In my eyes, the men and women of the Magisterium seem more like Pharisees than a true church body. It was Jesus who said that in order to follow him into the Kingdom of God we must have faith like children.

“He called a little child, whom he placed among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place—becoming like this child—is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:2-6 )

This one was easy. Anyone or group who claims to serve the Lord will speak and act like the Lord. Their agenda is God’s agenda: bringing life to the dead. The Magistirium brought the characters in TGC nothing but pain, sorrow, and loss. That doesn’t sound like any church that I want to be a part of and it doesn’t sound like a church that seeks to follow Jesus.

Part 3: Dust to Dust