THIS IS AMAZING

Dangerous Times for Those Who Follow Christ

Religious perspective

Pullman is a supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. New Yorker journalist Laura Miller has described Pullman as one of England's most outspoken atheists.^[5]

The His Dark Materials books have been controversial with some Christian groups. Peter Hitchens has argued that Pullman actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda.^[6] In support of this contention, he cites an interview in which Pullman is quoted as saying: "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."^[7] In the same interview, Pullman also "acknowledge(s) that a controversy would be likely to boost sales. But I'm not in the business of offending people. I find the books upholding certain values that I think are important. Such as that this life is immensely valuable. And that this world is an extraordinarily beautiful place, and we should do what we can to increase the amount of wisdom in the world'."^[7]

Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's series.^[8] Although Pullman has criticized C. S. Lewis's series The Chronicles of Narnia as religious propaganda, the two series have several things in common. Both feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds. The first published Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, begins with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does the first His Dark Materials book, Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in North America).

Literary critic Alan Jacobs (of Wheaton College) argues that in his recasting of John Milton's trilogy, Pullman replaces a theist world-view with a Rousseauist one.^[9]

However, Pullman has found support from other Christians, most notably Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. These groups and individuals contend that Pullman's negative portrayal of the "Church" in His Dark Materials amounts to an attack on dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Dr. Williams has gone so far as to propose that His Dark Materials be taught as part of religious education in schools. Moreover, authors of works dedicated to critical appraisals of religious themes in his writing have described Pullman as a friendly and generous debating partner^[10].

Other Christian writers, such as Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware, while finding his anti-Christian position troubling, "also uncover spiritual themes within the books, which, like shafts of light, break through an otherwise gloomy universe—despite Pullman’s best efforts to keep them out. In the end, the authors argue that Pullman offers an unwitting tribute to the God he intended to discredit."^[11] in their book Shedding Light on His Dark Materials.

Christians, we live in a dangerous world. I'm not terribly fond of strict Roman Catholicism, but this... this is truly horrible. An archbishop suggests that a series written by a humanist be used for 'religious education' in schools? For what religion are we talking about?! Its quite clear its the religion of the worship of humanity. Humanism.

The movies/books are a blatant rebuttal of Chronicles of Narnia (which I knew before reading this just from some of the content of the story).

Something I have always been fairly good at is discernment... you know, taking what is happening, comparing it to other things historically and contemporary, and coming up with a solution as to whether something is right or wrong. My religious beliefs are based on the Word of God (not what some mere human says), and so I hold things against that. I hear a lot of Christians today talk about God as 'all love'. Specifically, there are some large local churches, where you will find that people believe this. Its true, God is love. But He is more powerful than just a human emotion that we call 'love'. Christians today associate love with a warm fuzzy feeling. With that they miss the point. There are other thing they miss is all of the other things that make God the Person He is. His Holiness, His Justice, His Mercy, His Wrath, His Grace, His Benevolence. I think that if we want the correct view of what's God love is, we need to go through and look at who He is, and see what love truly is.

More than that though, and the point of this, is that just like in every other age, the majority of people in a time faith in Christ is unpopular, feel that certain things are dangerous to Christians trying to pursue Christ. Most people's historical perspective begins with the day they were born. As in, they feel that every age before our current one was just like ours. Its reiterated in movies where no matter what time period it is, people are pretty much the same. Its not true. We assume that sexuality as early as 15 was common all throughout human history. Lets not go back too far... just to the fifties. You know what the teenage birth rate was? Extremely small. Unnoticeable. Then we had the 60's, where many Christians' warped definition of love comes from (watch Saved! or better yet, for the sake of your respect for God, avoid it and just try to read a review on it). But you know what people say? They say that Christians are too harsh on sexuality today. Its unrealistic for any attractive person not to have sex by twenty. I know a lot of unattractive people then. Or maybe its something else. In the fifties, before birth control and things that prevented pregnancy, birth rates among young people were amazing low. Yet, even with birth control, after the (what I like to call) "Selfish Revolution" of the 60's, birth rates skyrocketed.

If you believe in Jesus for your Salvation, why don't you believe in Him for help when your human/sinful side is tempted? I don't a whole lot of 'christians' trust Christ in the first place to tell you the truth. The amount of conviction a lot of people would feel for what they say would drive them to change... And although our society in Christianity today tells us to mind our own business and that you can't find out what a person believes by their actions, the Bible says otherwise. God is the final authority, but worship of God is not just a one-on-one affair. Its communal. We go to church and work as a body all together to serve God, not just by ourselves. And a body needs to be kept healthy by getting rid of parts that are unnaturally there, like people who don't really believe in Christ at all. This isn't to say we violently act towards people, but there are people who are strangling churches and Christians are taught now by so many liars that we aren't allowed to judge what a person does. Quite contrary... we are. We aren't allowed to judge what's in a person's heart.

When you look at what makes a time period dangerous for the followers of Christ, you have to imagine what things would be dangerous, and if Christians are making a big deal out of trivial things and not focusing on dangerous things. What is truly dangerous for Christians today? The media: television, movies, music, etc. What else? Moral relativism, humanism, ungodliness, etc. And what do 'christian' leaders who everyone likes to hear say today? That the media is okay, we can find God in anything (even though God would have nothing to do with some things), even what throughout all of world history even among secularists would be considered trash. That its okay to watch whatever you want because your strong enough to handle it (yeah right... people are weak today). That at the same time, we're too weak to resist sexuality, so we should just try to make sure its with the right person (telling people they are weak is the first step to making them slaves of some sort... once you convince them they need you, they keep coming back). They say that you can't really know what's true, so stop trying (moral relativism). They say that we need to focus on ourselves and what's good for us (humanism). They say that Christianity has nothing to do with a physical manifestation of beliefs, but its more of a psychological thing.

They say all kinds of things... and people listen. When trying to figure out what is good or bad for you to do as a Christian (things that tear you apart from God and things that bring you close to Him), its best to see what He's said on it. I won't tell you what He's said. I challenge you to take what He's said on the matter over what some 'mega-pastor' over some massive church has told you. (Really lose definition of Pastor there... a Pastor is a 'shepherd', but I've seen 'pastors' over churches so large they wouldn't even be able to name half the people. That makes them a public speaker, not a pastor).

I'm starting a Bible Study on the attributes of God with Phil and Josh. We want to know more about God, not ourselves. Once it gets going, I'll probably give a time and place for it online so people can come. I can promise though that there will be times when you leave (if we truly cover all of the different things that make God who He is), that you will realize you haven't had a whole lot of respect for God, as I have recently learned. You'll also come away sometimes feeling like God can do some pretty earth-shattering things and you may not agree with what He's done (in which case, you can chose to feel that your way of doing things is superior to God's, or inferior).

Instant Anger

Religion and Stupid

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- A Sudanese court found a British teacher guilty of insulting religion and sentenced her to 15 days in prison Thursday for allowing a teddy bear to be named "Mohammed," British authorities and her lawyer reported.

Gillian Gibbons also faces deportation from Sudan after her prison term, her lawyer told CNN.

He said that he was "very disappointed" with the verdict and that Gibbons planned to appeal.

Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her -- inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer said.

Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of 7-year-olds in Khartoum to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the British Foreign Office said. She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan's constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.

Perfect Description