Last night I brought my 9 year old and 11 year old daughters to see the Golden Compass at the cheap theater. For all the hype and controversy I wanted to experience it.
First off, unlike what the fear mongers predicted, my children did not decide to renounce their baptisms and claim allegiance to an agnostic worldview. Rather, they didn't connect much at all to the worldview portrayed. The construct of the story didn't fit or connect with them. They left saying they much prefer the way Narnia tells a story than the Compass and that they aren't interested in the rest of the series of films. They are thinking for themselves and interpreting critically the things they see and hear and experience. These are the skills I'm glad to see developing. If the Kingdom of God is ulitmate reality, why are we scared of opposing views? Can't our kids experience the Kingdom for themselves and then let the powers of this world pale in comparison? No need to fear. the Kingdom has no equal in power.
On our drive home, we even had a conversation where I introduced them to the worldview of "secular humanism". A construct where the center of the world is us and our pleasures and our accomplishments. The enemy is anything that tells us to submitt or that limits humanity. This is the fallacy of the Enlightenment experiment, that humans and science can solve all the great questions and problems of humanity. And anyone believing in a God-centered world is simply believing in medieval superstition. There is no God, we are the center and the great hope. The arrogance of humanism is staggering to me. The Creation around us is so incredibly complex and well designed, I can think of nothing else but that it points to the reality of a Great Designer.
I like the old saying, that a wise man says: "there is a God, and I'm not him". This is the beginning of the Kingdom worldview. It is about submission to eternal truths about our world and how we should live. It is the beginning of true freedom and the dispelling of fear. This begins a whole new agenda, not one centered around me, but one cetered around the Kingdom of God. Living in this agenda comes with a power that need not fear a cultural enemy, rather it is in our nature to respond and think with grace and peace.
peace to your Kingdom agenda today,
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4 comments:
I love the fact that you have conversations with your kids about secular humanism:->
Craig, you know how I roll
Just as long as they don't see The DaVinci Code they'll be alright.
Tom Cruise disagrees
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