SENTINEL WATCH January 7, 2008 Issue

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

ANNETTE BRIDGES

IS THERE A GOD? If so, what is God like and how do I relate to this divine power? The recent buzz around the release of the movie The Golden Compass, based upon Philip Pullman's first book in His Dark Materials trilogy, has prompted people to take a closer look at these questions. Although a children's adventure tale on the surface, it introduces metaphysical themes, encourages individualism, and explores the importance of grappling with big ideas — of testing and proving them.

But the movie and books have also been accused of being anti-Christian and espousing atheistic beliefs. I was particularly intrigued by the publicized fears that readers or moviegoers would somehow be harmfully influenced, or that children would be falsely educated and begin to question the spiritual ideas that they'd been brought up to know and love. As I left the theater after seeing this movie with my grown daughter, I wasn't feeling shocked or challenged in my beliefs. But I couldn't help wondering if this controversy was hinged on a broader misunderstanding on many fronts about God.

Instead of being harmful, questions — even those that doubt the very existence of God — can actually open the way for greater dialogue about the nature of our Creator. The rejection of a narrow concept of God is all too familiar to me. When I became a student of Christian Science, I was presented with a very different view of God, Jesus, and salvation, than the one I'd learned in the faith tradition of my youth. Learning that God was not distant but always present, loving me unconditionally, was encouraging. In fact, I'm reminded of Mary Baker Eddy's statement in Science and Health that "the everlasting I Am is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be understood aright through mortal concepts. The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?" (p. 256).