Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Earlier this week I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (the most recent one). I'd been putting it off, because I'd been very disappointed with Order of the Phoenix (not much seemed to happen until the last couple of chapters), and had been told Half-Blood Prince was more of the same. But I quite liked this one.
There's an article here at Yahoo! News about the people who reckon Harry Potter encourages children to get involved in occult and pagan stuff.
And there's a pretty brief article here at Relevant, about Christian stuff in Harry Potter.
5 comments:
The Bible clearly says that God hates witchcraft (Harry Potter depicts real witchcraft), and that all who practise it will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Would Jesus read Harry Potter?
If Jesus didn't read Harry Potter, how would he know that Harry Potter depicts real witchcraft?
The Tanakh and New Testament both depict real witchcraft, and Jesus was quite familar with the Tanakh.
There's a discussion of this question going on at the Relevant magazine forum: 'When are witches good?'
The Bible portrays witchcraft as it really is - disobedience to God. Witches are NEVER good. There's no such thing as a 'good' or 'white' witch, all of them dabble with demonic power they know very little about.
Harry Potter, however, encourages children to participate in witchcraft because it portrays the practice in a positive light - all the 'good' characters use it, and it is seen as a means of obtaining power to do and get what you want.
I've seen the trailers of the movies and it is obvious straight away that this is not something I want in my life. Who wants to read about a boy who dabbles in something that is forbidden by God? It's like watching pornography! Personally, I'd rather read stuff that is going to help me grow closer to God, not further away from him.
'While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, 'What is this babbler trying to say?' Others remarked, 'He seems to be advocating foreign gods.' They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, 'May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.' (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: 'Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.'
(Acts 17:16-23)
Paul then goes on to explain the gospel, and even quotes Pagan poets. Kind of like quoting Eminem perhaps?
Paul was certainly upset by the fact that the people of Athens were worshipping artificial gods ('he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols'). But he still investigated what was important to these people, and thus realised that Messiah was the fulfilment of their religion.
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