Issues concerning Harry Potter

If my faith is going to be shalkn by me reading Harry Potter, maybe the problem is not the reading material, but my faith.

 

That's what I tried to say, just in a much more long winded way.

 

HDM is better than HP from a literary point of view rather than because it presents a more overtly Biblical worldview.

AITB

 

Exactly. HDP is much better literature, and although some of the plot may be considered objectionable, I agree with AITB that there are Biblical themes to be found.

Too often, I think we overlook excellent literature because it is either not overtly Christian, or it explores non-Christian or even anti-Christian themes. Adnittedly, some people ought not read such stuff, but that doesn't seem to imply that no Christian should read it. AITB has explained, rather well, the virtue of a particular trilogy that are considered, by some, to be anti-Christian.

I try to discern whether or not something has any merits before I object to it. Otherwise I'm just responding to propaganda and not being at all mindful.

 

Indeed.

My concern is that Christians often react to second-hand information rather than putting in the time to find out first-hand what something is about. Reacting to second-hand information is a way of saying that we're reacting to or copying someone else's reaction to something. And so our judgment can be no better than theirs. Theirs may be good but it may not be.

But I respect that there is a genuine difference of opinion among Christians over how dangerous it is for their children to read literature with nonBiblical and/or even anti-Biblical worldview. I know I'm at the "I'm not worried about it" spectrum rather than the other end. To me that's consistent with me having my kids in public schools - I'm anything but a separatist and I prefer to expose my kids (within reason) to what the world is like and talk them through it than keep them away from it and let them hit it unprepared, one day, when I'm no longer right there to talk about it with them.

AITB

 

I am replying to this thread without reading the responses. Only because I've seen this topic before. And I know how it usually goes.

I heard so much negative heresay about these books, that I wanted to read them myself to see what all the fuss was about.

What I found is that they were easy to read. I liked them. After reading them myself, My son and I read them together... I've never seen him enjoy reading so much. That was a blessing in itself...because that spark of the love for reading was started for him by these books...now He reads everything.

I don't understand how a group of people can let fear dictate their lives... I really don't know how anyone can be afraid of something as docile as these books. What I want to know is how a children's book can be such a bone of contention and moral outrage...and books written by Stephen King and Anne Rice are not. Those books... I know I can't handle. But, again... I let my own experience be my guide... I didn't let the gossip and heresay of others who had no personal knowledge of their own dictate my actions. I'm the one who is accountable...and when I answer for the choices I made in this life...I'm not going to ever say because so and so said so.

[ September 20, 2002, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: WisdomSeeker ]

 

I think I got more and more into HDM so, are you sure you gave it a fair chance? I wasn't sure at the beginning, whether I'd like it or not.

But if you do prefer HP then fair enough. Each to his/her own!

AITB

 

I just told my kids not to read any of them. I am not really certain of them. I do censor a lot of things they read. We don't make issues out of them. They read alot. But I noticed they didn't want to read them because they never pressured me at all. Not one time was there a but. Maybe mine were too old for them.
My older son loved all the C.S. Lewis "Narnia books" and J.R.R. Tolken books, and my younger son likes all the Brian Jacques "The Redwall Series", and J.R.R. Tolken books. My Granddaughter loves a good Murder Mystery. Especially by Lois Duncan.

Sherrie

[ September 22, 2002, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: Sherrie ]

 

I also read all the HP books before speaking against it, to think and see for myself the merit of Rowling's work.

There's some nice creativity in plots and development, until we get to the 4th book, which was mired in long preparatory material. Stubbornkelly points out well that the books grow up with the readership, that Harry ages in each volume as the next complete year of school is chronicled. To me this is good and bad. It's good in that it keeps attention and loyalty with the teens who first started reading HP when it first came out. It's bad, imho, in that as each year shows, the level of the classes, and therefore spells or conjuring also increases. It's a bit subtle. I think if anyone read the last book first, and saw a child killed, a good kid, murdered, then folks wouldn't be so impressed. It washes over; we expect the teenage reader to be more ready to see such violence because of the preceding books. Also, the levels of subterfuge and outright deception on the part of the good guys seems to increase with each book, too.

From my pulpit, I cannot condone the continued reading of HP. To me it's like boiling frogs. The first book is like cool pleasant water and the frog gets comfy. Each book gets progressively warmer with deeper incursions into character issues and magic which are not edifying or conducive to unity in Christ. Finally, the water is boiling, but it's too late for the frog to escape. After all, all we like sheep, would turn and act like frogs.

I let my daughter, 11, read the first, but no more. My family saw the movie, but will not see the next, since I read the book.

Each person must decide at what point liberty and grace part ways and cause one to stumble, or others. But that's only imho. Thanks for considering it.

David

 

[I think if anyone read the last book first, and saw a child killed, a good kid, murdered, then folks wouldn't be so impressed.

Interestingly, I read an interview with the author, who said that she had Lord Voltemort kill Diggory to show children that evil has consequence. The headmaster later uses the death to say, "if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what right and what is easy," remember what happened to Diggory. Not a bad message for a kids book, I would have thought.

 

My niece used to read all the time, then she lapsed into watching too much empty television. Last winter, we went to see the "Lord of the Rings" movie. She was so enthralled, she started reading Tolkien books the same evening.

Then she discovered "Harry Potter"; she read all the books though twice. She got the DVD and virtually memorized the dialog. I can honestly say that LOTR and HP brought literature and the arts back to life in a child in which they had all but died. We even made a quill pen and she tried out calligraphy.

And as I watch her obsession with HP I don't see an obsession with spells and potions and power. I see an obsession with the social interactions between the characters, a response to the history and depth of culture, and an awakening knowledge that every history (even a fictional one) isn't a dry series of events, but an amalgam of lives and ideas.

-Neil

 

My born again Christian on-fire-for-God daughter has seen the movie and read the books, and so far hasn't attempted to turn me into a chocolate frog.

 

I'm curious how many people would ban Harry Potter from the house, but not ban Cosmopolitan from the house?

 

*pause, glances around for the anti-Monty Python police*

SHE TURNED ME INTO A CHOCOLATE FROG!

I got better...just wish she hadn't eaten me legs.

 

Oh, goodness, I've been one-upped!

Well, alright, but if this means I have to give up my Life of Brian DVD, I'm protesting.

 

Or Britney Spears. Or Nickelodean. Or the Disney Channel. Or Bugs Bunny ? The list is endless.

My guess is that folks who ban books like "Harry Potter" from their household can't be very secure in thier role modeling ability.

 

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." ~ Philippians 4:8 (KJBible)

Do the Harry Potter books fit this profile?! Do the Harry Potter books teach Biblical morals or principles?!

Do y'all not believe God's Word says witchcraft is sin?! It is a sin according to I Samuel 15:23, II Chronicles 33:6, Galatians 5:20! Since when does God 'condone' sin as long it's in the form of fiction???!!! When did it become 'ok' to enjoy sin so long as we're not actually participating...just pretending???!!!

Psalms 101:3 says,"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them the turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."

A while back, people were parroting the phrase, "What would Jesus do?". Do you actually think that Jesus would indulge Himself into such things as Harry Potter? Do you not realize, if you are saved and Christ lives in you, that you are causing Him to partake in something that He blatantly calls SIN??? It's time for God's people to WAKE UP and say...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD! (Joshua 24:15) We cannot serve two masters!

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." ~ Proverbs 4:23 (KJB)