Alright, promise me that you won't block me forever or anything, because I just want to share my opinion on the issue of Harry Potter. Yes, Harry is a wizard. But he's not demonic. Yes, there are things from the books/movies that I don't necessarily agree with. But the good outweighs the bad in this case. For a few weeks now, a couple of my friends and I have had a "debate" (for lack of a better word) on Harry Potter and whether it's wrong or not. So I will now address some of the main issues that I have encountered within these debates.
1) The characters are wizards. Most people in the Christian community at this point will make a face and walk away, noses up-turned. But in our fallen world, wizard means something much different than in there world. In our world, a witch or wizard is someone who takes advantage of demonic powers to use for their own personal gain. Anyone can do this, and it is utterly wrong. But it's not wrong when you are special, and born with the gift. You don't think that superpowers are demonic, right? Well the wizards and witches in the Harry Potter books and movies are just like their own breed of superheros. It's not wrong in their special case.
2) There is no distinction between good and bad. WHAT?!?!?!?! This is probably the most stupid point I have ever heard coming from someone who has never read the books. Harry and his friends are up against a villain through the WHOLE SERIES. Seriously, people? Lord Voldemort is an evil wizard (there's the exception to the rule stated above. If you are LV, you are bad.) planning to rule the wizarding world, and destroy all the "half-blood" wizards and regular people. There is a clear fight between good and bad. There are also a lot of great morals for friendship, loving your enemies, etc.
3) People who are allowed to read Percy Jackson and The Olypimpians (which is a series about gods, demi-gods, and everything from Greek mythology thrown into modern times.) but not the Harry Potter books. I don't get it. Granted, it was the parent's choices and they are probably making the right choices in leading their kids, I don't understand how gods and demi-gods aren't considered on the same level as Harry Potter. I can see how it's mythology and all fake, but so is HP! This point just confused me. I don't read PJATO. I just don't like them as much. They are great stories, but i'm just not as big of a fan.
So there you have it. My main points, and one concerning something I don't get at all (aka those kids have no room to argue with me about how HP is bad). There are draw-backs to the Harry Potter books just like many, many other books. But they are still some of my favorites.
Bailey
ps- Don't get me started on Twilight. There i'm much less of a fan. GO ORIGINAL DRACULA!
1) The characters are wizards. Most people in the Christian community at this point will make a face and walk away, noses up-turned. But in our fallen world, wizard means something much different than in there world. In our world, a witch or wizard is someone who takes advantage of demonic powers to use for their own personal gain. Anyone can do this, and it is utterly wrong. But it's not wrong when you are special, and born with the gift. You don't think that superpowers are demonic, right? Well the wizards and witches in the Harry Potter books and movies are just like their own breed of superheros. It's not wrong in their special case.
2) There is no distinction between good and bad. WHAT?!?!?!?! This is probably the most stupid point I have ever heard coming from someone who has never read the books. Harry and his friends are up against a villain through the WHOLE SERIES. Seriously, people? Lord Voldemort is an evil wizard (there's the exception to the rule stated above. If you are LV, you are bad.) planning to rule the wizarding world, and destroy all the "half-blood" wizards and regular people. There is a clear fight between good and bad. There are also a lot of great morals for friendship, loving your enemies, etc.
3) People who are allowed to read Percy Jackson and The Olypimpians (which is a series about gods, demi-gods, and everything from Greek mythology thrown into modern times.) but not the Harry Potter books. I don't get it. Granted, it was the parent's choices and they are probably making the right choices in leading their kids, I don't understand how gods and demi-gods aren't considered on the same level as Harry Potter. I can see how it's mythology and all fake, but so is HP! This point just confused me. I don't read PJATO. I just don't like them as much. They are great stories, but i'm just not as big of a fan.
So there you have it. My main points, and one concerning something I don't get at all (aka those kids have no room to argue with me about how HP is bad). There are draw-backs to the Harry Potter books just like many, many other books. But they are still some of my favorites.
Bailey
ps- Don't get me started on Twilight. There i'm much less of a fan. GO ORIGINAL DRACULA!
Look, I'm not saying that you don't make good points. But really the facts that you use are what people think about it, not what the book is actually about. Wizards right? Well lemme think, whether or not magic is in another world doesn't make it right, or good. Just like in the Wizard of Oz, there is no such thing as a "good" witch. And who says there is no such thing as demons in another world? Its a load of bullpoop. Besides that however, these ideas I read, does scripture back them up? All I see is opinion, not Biblically based ideological standards; thus I'm not compelled to say that your opinion is valid. Or is it even all that good. Are the books bad? Maybe, are they "good"? Probably not. But given a Biblical viewpoint, magic no matter where it is, is still considered demonic. And really, why do you WANT to read books like that? I thought being a Christian meant sacrificing all that you had for Jesus because you love him and because he has saved you, not going off and being like the rest of the world. No, I'm not saying it's "evil" to read the books, what I am saying is, is that it would not be a good idea to say this book is "good." Just sayin'. Please don't feel offended, this is towards the viewpoint, not the person.
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DeleteI just wanted to address the things that had come up in the "debates" that I thought I could handle on a level of ignorance--considering i'm not a scholar or anything :P I completely get your points, and they are really good ones. what I was saying about the witches and wizards was that (and this I actually got from a very smart, biblically minded person who has thought about this a lot before she read or let her kids read the books)the difference between the witches and wizards here and there is that those wizards are given gifts of being able to control "magic". Magic in the books is neutral, and the people in these books makes decisions based on what they want and believe to make the magic a tool for doing either good or bad. I probably should have addressed this on more biblical terms, but yes. Most of the points I made were based on opinion. I wasn't trying to get too deep here. Thanks for your input though, it puts new perspective on the issue :)
I am a christian: Christ saved me. I love Harry Potter...more than any other book series on earth besides the bible - I can't deny it. I could speak for hours on why Harry Potter is great to read, but i'm not going to do that; it is notan issue. The issue is opinion. In Romans 14 it says, "Who are you too pass judgment on the servent of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls." At the time there was an issue, such as this, on whether christians could eat unclean animals or not. Biblically it was not wrong to eat unclean animals, but those who prefered not to eat unclean animals were not wrong either. Harry Potter's witchcraft is not satanic enough to be biblically wrong...just like eating unclean meat. Those that ate only clean food considered the others wrong, and vise versa. We are all christians: Calvinist, Arminians, Harry Potter fans, and haters. We all serve the same god.
ReplyDeleteYes it is true that 'being a Christian means scarificing all that you have for Jesus because he loved you' and we should be in the world not of it. I don't consider Harry Potter wrong, in fact I love it! If I consider it wrong biblically (that is between me and God). If you think it is wrong, then don't read the books: that is between you and God. Neither of our's salvation is in jepordy because of this decision. I've read thousands of articles on why HP is wrong: i'm stil a fan. It really doesn't matter. Bailey is not holding back on giving everything to Christ, she is all good;). We must not judge one another over a simple thing such as this. There are issues that do deal with salvation...honestly I don’t think Harry Potter is one of them. I recomend the books due to their extremely rewarding values and morals that champion any other fictional work I've ever read. We're all christians here and we all serve God who is almighty. Let us not bicker over a dumb issue like this, let us build up one another in Christ, who saved us…all.
truer words were never spoken, Josh.
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