What’s A Parent to do with The Golden Compass?

I want to write one final post on the Golden Compass (article 1 / article 2) saga.  One comment to this blog was respectfully disagreeing with my proposal that parents restrict access to such books, stating that for the child it will only create more inquisitiveness and rebellion.  I’d like to answer that here in this post.

Admittedly, people will pick up these books with differing motives.  Some see it simply as a story, a facet of an author’s imagination, in which the reader is invited to share the fantasy.  Others will pick it up to get the ‘good bits’ and teach children lessons through discussions and practical illustrations from their lives.  Yet others will steer completely clear of the books and movies.  Of recent memory the same positions and arguments floated through the Christian community during the era of Harry Potter.  The HP movies are yet to finish their run, and the arguments haven’t been settled either and no will they quickly in regards to The Golden Compass.  Whereas the first two articles pointed out the background to the movies and the books, I will point out what I believe Christian parents should do.

My point in the original article was that parents need to parent - and here is where I intend to clarify and expand on this.  They need to understand the nature of their child/ren and use discernment to deal with it in a wise and godly way.  For some children it will be suffice to say ‘no’.  For others they will need to see the evidence of your reasoning.  Give them the moral reason why.  It is to these parents that I say though to handle it with careful wisdom.  As you do, realize that franchises such as Buffy, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, Pokemon and Sabrina - The Teenage Witch along with others like it, serve as tools that expose people (both adults and children) to the entry level of occultic practises such as witchcraft, sorcery, and spells.  Most importantly it shows readers that these tools provide a spiritual power apart from God.  How you handle the questions your children ask will depend on the type of relationship you have with your child, as well as their own spiritual maturity.  To teach your children effectively you need warm and caring relationship with them.

Some parents and other supporters of the books will propose that reading these books to children will allow for great discussions and serve as a springboard for further learning.  It will - I agree.  But at what cost? Surely there are other ways to introduce the dangers of witchcraft than in a fantasy filled, well written and imaginatively charged book.  Some advocates for these books say that they give opportunity for friendship and trust and making sure that they are faithful to their word.  While all these are good qualities no doubt, is that not a bit like saying we should allow children to deal drugs because they learn maths?  When I want to teach my children the dangers of a hot stove, I won’t put their hand on the plate.  As parents look for opportunities to discuss these things with your children, but lets do it in an appropriate, timely and in a mature forum so that when these types of books hit the market they are already aware that there is something wrong with these genres.  Don’t stifle their queries and shut them down.  Witchcraft, sorcery and the like are all around us

So in short - what’s a parent to do with The Golden Compass?

1. Pray - before anything take it to God and pray.  Understand and be sobered knowing that one day you are going to give an account of how you parented your children, and praying for them is a non-negotiable.
2. Realise that you are the parent - and you are the one who has the right to control and veto what comes into your homes.
3. Talk with your kids openly about the books, giving age appropriate answers and discussing why you don’t want them to be read.  Encourage the discussion if they are interested; don’t push it if they are not.
4. Decide whether you will or will not read them. Decide also whether you believe that your children should be introduced too witchcraft through a book which encourages a neo-paganism view of good and evil (that both evil and good are the same in power; ie The Force in Star Wars) rather than the Biblical one where God’s power vanquishes Satan’s who has been doomed since his fall from Heaven.
5. Realise that occultic influence are all around you and your children; but Jesus has said to us to be in the world, not of the world.  How you determine how that looks for you and your family is a decision between you, your children and the Lord, and one to which you need to give an account of.