For those Harry Potter lovers - Did you know ??

Me too! :laugh:

 

I still sing "put down the duckie" to myself now and then when it runs through my head. It embarrasses my kids to no end when I do it in public. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6HdH57rZzU

 

I'm not sure why this is still in question, still being used by christians. It's witch craft, promotes witch craft among children and youths. God condemns witchcraft, and we are told to avoid even the appearance of evil, meaning things like harry potter. God and His word have to come first at some point here.

 

But the argument is that it's just entertainment and therefore not real so it's not like we are actually doing it.

 

My daughter has read all the books. My son has read some of the books. We've seen some of the movies.

Maybe we're rare exceptions but, after all this exposure, nobody here has tried to turn anyone into a newt.

 

That is not actually the argument I have used. You seem to keep repeating the same statements without actually engaging what I said. Some pages ago, in between a lot of people insulting each other, so I suppose it was easy to overlook.

donnA, I believe you like science fiction. What are the criteria you use as to whether a piece of science fiction is acceptable to read or not? What about some works of fantasy?

One aspect of my argument is that Harry Potter CAN be acceptable to read on the same basis as Hans Andersen or the Brothers Grimm. Although I think HP is too intense for many grade school kids after the first volume or so.
Of course, I realize there are Christians who believe all fairy tales are wrong. And they are entitled to that view.

But I am curious about those Christians who, not having read Harry Potter, pronounce it wrong, yet they would read Cinderella, watch Star Wars, etc.

 

No, but possibly, was it was a beaver? :D

 

I should apologize for this post. I don't believe MK was justifying homosexuality so I shouldn't have asked.

 

Here's a Twila Paris song that I think is relevant to this whole discussion.

RESCUE THE PRISONER - 1993

See the insolent man standing on the street
Hear the thundering sound of rebellious feet
Demanding rights
Defending wrong
It can bring the righteous blood to boil
And we ask, “Oh Lord, how long?
Oh Lord, how long?”

This is not the enemy
Flesh and blood have been deceived
When we move beyond the anger
We will see

We’ve got to rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
Prisoner of war
That’s what He came here for
Rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner

In the beautiful land, hear the rivers cry
See the innocent ones learning well a lie
“There is no right
There is no wrong”
It can almost make your blood run cold
And we pray, “Lord, make us strong
Lord, make us strong”

This is not the enemy
Jesus died to make them free
Love will reach behind the danger
Come with me

We’ve got to rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
Prisoner of war
That’s what He came here for
Rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner

We are called to be a light
That even blinded eyes can see
To break the chains
To bind the wounds
And to proclaim the captive free

Rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
Pray for the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
Pray for the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner

 

I think I get it :thumbs: Amen

 

Hey Joe. Am I imagining things or haven't you already changed that post? Then again, I may have read the thing twice and gotten to completely different ideas out of it. Sometimes that happens. I blame that on being dyslexic, but I might just be nuts! :laugh: Second time through, I don't remember the justifying comment.

Either way, I haven't had much time to return to this thread and reply. This is my life right now. It has taken me an hour and half to type this reply! I started and then the exterminator came. Then phone call number 1, then 2, then 1 caled back and asked me to do some research, my son for some reason expected lunch and now I'm back trying to get this typed before I have to pick up the girls at school.

One of these days maybe I'll be able to hold a coherent conversation, again!

Now to answer your post. (oh and sorry for attributing some one else's quote to you, oops!) Is it wrong to create fictional characters who do not live by our moral standards? Is it wrong to create fictional worlds that weren't created by God? Is it wrong to read such things? As always, these questions apply to believers. Unbelievers are "condemned already" so it pretty much doesn't matter(to God) what they do.

No, there is no difference between ongoing adultry and an ongoing homosexuality. The Word says something like he who divorces his wife without cause and she remarries causeth her to commit adultry. So there is no difference. These same, who divorced with no more cause than they were tired of each other, to immediately turn around an join in a new "relationship" are equally continuing to sin. But they are welcome in our churches and homosexuals shunned. You tell me how that isn't a double standard. One sin is simply harder to hide than the other.

One more question, do you really believe it is good to simply leave people in their sins? Because when we shun an entire community because we don't like their lifestyle, how then are we to be a witness to them? Can you be a witness to someone you keep yourself separate from?

I think, and this is just my humble liberal opinion, that we'd do better to preach Jesus and leave off the criticism of certain groups because their sin is supposedly worse than that of others who we rarely revile as a group.

If you'll notice, when repentance is preached throughout the Bible, rarely are individual sins indentified. They didn't bother because people already know what their sins are!

No time to proofread, I hope this all made sense!

 

I did answer your post back there. Point for point.

The post you responded to, IS the basic responce, though not specifically YOUR responce.

 

This whole thing about witchcraft and magic is amusing, but consider this. Perhaps it isn't magic at all...just advanced technology, which the Bible is silent on. Remember Clarke's Third Law?

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

 

Yes

The MAJOR constructive item is getting kids to read by the thousands. Most kids today will not and many cannot read novels. The novels were written with a fair amount of grammar and words that kids will learn; besides the British way of saying things.

Let's ask this question---does a FICTION book HAVE to do something to make it okay? It is like watching a show on TV. The books not only teach and have gotten kids to read reasonably complex books and I don't know ANY kids who thinks that any of this stuff is real. Its like Santa Claus. I always got presents from Santa Claus when I was a kid, but I can never remember a time I didn't know it was just fantasy for fun. If a kid is capable of understanding her writting, I would imagine they understand that it is just for fun. Come on now:

Riding on broomsticks?
Repairous Occulus to repair Sunglasses?
Playing a game on brooms?
A flying car?
Wizards and witches who keep their money in a bank run by goblins?
Dragons from every country in the world?
Ghosts who live in the plumbing of a bathroom?
werewolves (sp?)?
giants?
Hipogriffs (half eagle, half horse)?
Majic ministry to keep muggles (you and me) from finding out about the magic world living around them?

For goodness sakes. Its fantasy and pretty good fantasy at that. The witchcraft warned about in the Bible was the worship of certain god's and goddesses in past history- not somebody that can wave a magic wand and change a rat into a cup.

 

Never have read, never will read

We will never read Harry Potter nor watch the movies. God calls witchcraft an abomination.

Why find something God calls an abomination entertainment?

 

So becasue kids read more we should let them be taught about the witchcraft that God calls sin? I think not. We affirm sin when we allow kids to be part of it, even as a book.

There are many christian authors who write for kids. At least they do not affirm sin. There are even non christian books that are safe for kids to read.

 

How sad that grown adults are afraid of fiction, acting like so-called "witchcraft" is real...that magic and flying broomsticks are a fact of life. If it wasn't so sad that people have lost their ability to think critically about such things, it would be pretty doggone funny.

 

I for one have not read these books and my children are young adults with no children. In due respect my opinions are formed from the opinions of others. So I do not feel threatened by these stories. I do object to the assumed step into witchcraft that these books seem to take. Whether or not Doubledorff is gay seems to be speculation. It is however the step into witchcraft that I am compelled to address.
Witchcraft as is understood Biblically was/is the introduction of hallucinogenic drugs to make contact with the spirit realm. Do these stories contain such drug use? As I said before I have not read these books and if I had children that were being exposed to them I would read them to see if they were appropriate for them. Drug use is not appropriate.
I have read much science fiction over my 51 years and if you think fantasy is a taboo then we need to recall much of our modern technology for it just might be demonic. We owe our modern world to the imagination of some of these ingenious authors. In fact I'd say that we owe everything to the greatest imaginative mind ever, God. Have you noticed the life that is in the oceans? There are creatures there that boggle the human mind. Creatures that rival anything the mind of man has ever come up with. A child's mind is full of imagination and it should be fostered.
Now with that said I do not agree that the introduction of a child to witchcraft is a good thing. It fosters the imagination in the wrong direction and toward things that are not of God. HP is that initial step into a realm of fantasy that teaches that one can control events simply by the power of their expressed will. I've read a lot of Star Wars scifi and this is the direction they go. The will can control the "dark side" as well as the will can control the light. The verbal connotations of HP expresses a will over any situation that the main character experiences. Thus making the title character a budding god. Here in is the deception. The same deception that the serpent told eve in the garden.
This is not an easy thing to tell a 12 to 14 year old reader. So it is up to the parents to teach our children that there is no god but God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and He loves us enough to leave us the greatest story ever told, the Bible. As mentioned it begins in the garden and ends with an eternal city with out sin and death. It tells us of a King that gave up His life for His subjects. It tells us of a Kingdom that transcends space and time. It tells us of the utter destruction of evil to the point of never being able to affect the affairs men again.
Exhort your children to read their Bibles. Read it to them yourself. But most importantly live it before them. That's the greatest thing about this Book. We are it's characters and our children are it's readers. They see us and they read us. So if we are doing what we as parents should be doing then we need not to worry about what they are reading.
I leave you with this;
2 Corinthians 3:1-5
1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;:godisgood:

 

I will address only this since I think it has been covered pretty mcuh in much of these types of threads. But what I would like you to know is that it is NOT 'speculation' as you presume. Read the article please. The AUTHUR declares by her own lips he IS gay. The one who wrote the books makes the annoucement and though it was presumed by many youths that he was gay she verifies their 'speculations' and says it is FACT.