Harry Potter Series

[AirDancer]

My mom says she read that the books depict Harry doing things like stealing, getting revenge, dishonoring elders, etc--and getting rewarded for it.
I have to admit, I have my doubts regarding those claims. I dunno...just kinda seems like the info might be off. The people I know who have read them haven't mentioned anything like that being in there.

So I'll go ahead and ask--is what she heard true?

Harry and his fellow Hogwartians have the same personalities as kids in the 'real' world: they don't always follow the rules, they have likes/dislikes, they can be mouthy & rude. Not a single one of those kids could be called 'perfect'. (It's like being in a middle school building during school session.)

In each book, he is presented with a challenge, and he sees it through to completion. However, at the end of just about every book, Harry Potter receives recognition or awards based on the ultimate good he has done.

Like I said, Harry isn't perfect. He has to make decisions between good and evil; he has to overcome an early childhood where his parents are killed and he's raised in a household where he is not wanted. Along the way in the 7 books, he loses friends, faces potentially fatal dangers, and in general, does not have an easy time of it.

The main aspect about Harry: even if he has strayed the straight path a bit, he always returns to the straight & narrow path. His trials and tribulations have strengthened him & helped him to mature into a good, solid young man. He also understood early on that he couldn't do it all on his own.

I enjoyed the books. And no, I certainly did not surrender my strong faith in our Lord because of these books, nor have I come across anyone who walked away from our Lord because of Harry Potter.

My 2-cents.

 

[farouk]

Harry and his fellow Hogwartians have the same personalities as kids in the 'real' world: they don't always follow the rules, they have likes/dislikes, they can be mouthy & rude. Not a single one of those kids could be called 'perfect'. (It's like being in a middle school building during school session.)

In each book, he is presented with a challenge, and he sees it through to completion. However, at the end of just about every book, Harry Potter receives recognition or awards based on the ultimate good he has done.

Like I said, Harry isn't perfect. He has to make decisions between good and evil; he has to overcome an early childhood where his parents are killed and he's raised in a household where he is not wanted. Along the way in the 7 books, he loses friends, faces potentially fatal dangers, and in general, does not have an easy time of it.

The main aspect about Harry: even if he has strayed the straight path a bit, he always returns to the straight & narrow path. His trials and tribulations have strengthened him & helped him to mature into a good, solid young man. He also understood early on that he couldn't do it all on his own.

I enjoyed the books. And no, I certainly did not surrender my strong faith in our Lord because of these books, nor have I come across anyone who walked away from our Lord because of Harry Potter.

My 2-cents.

AirDancer:

Joanna Rowling likes CS Lewis which she probably read when she was younger.

C S Lewis's children's books were very popular 40 years ago.

Blessings.

 

[AirDancer]

Hi, Farouk -

CS Lewis books continue to be popular, and with good reason. They are excellent stories, both spiritually and creatively.

 

[alexlove]

My mom says she read that the books depict Harry doing things like stealing, getting revenge, dishonoring elders, etc--and getting rewarded for it.
I have to admit, I have my doubts regarding those claims. I dunno...just kinda seems like the info might be off. The people I know who have read them haven't mentioned anything like that being in there.

So I'll go ahead and ask--is what she heard true?

uhm yeah kinda, but thats not the main focus and he doesnt always get rewarded, he does get lectured for a bit! its just like any kid there going to do all those things

 

[evenifigoalone]

Makes sense.
[video=youtube;TUVJoRmPWq0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUVJoRmPWq0[/video]
This video relates to this subject.

 

[handy]

That was very good, Questdriven... I think I might share this elsewhere on the thread....

 

[Briseis]

Harry and his fellow Hogwartians have the same personalities as kids in the 'real' world: they don't always follow the rules, they have likes/dislikes, they can be mouthy & rude. Not a single one of those kids could be called 'perfect'. (It's like being in a middle school building during school session.)

In each book, he is presented with a challenge, and he sees it through to completion. However, at the end of just about every book, Harry Potter receives recognition or awards based on the ultimate good he has done.

Like I said, Harry isn't perfect. He has to make decisions between good and evil; he has to overcome an early childhood where his parents are killed and he's raised in a household where he is not wanted. Along the way in the 7 books, he loses friends, faces potentially fatal dangers, and in general, does not have an easy time of it.

The main aspect about Harry: even if he has strayed the straight path a bit, he always returns to the straight & narrow path. His trials and tribulations have strengthened him & helped him to mature into a good, solid young man. He also understood early on that he couldn't do it all on his own.

I enjoyed the books. And no, I certainly did not surrender my strong faith in our Lord because of these books, nor have I come across anyone who walked away from our Lord because of Harry Potter.

My 2-cents.

Excellent description. Thats what I love about HP. The perseverance and good winning out. Excellent character growth.

 

[thoushallnotbeignorant]

I never understood the controversy books are not going to turn kids into satanist I have read all the books like 20 times and can't find a thing that would make kids worship the devil people make their own choices a book won't make them do anything

 

[Knotical]

The problem with Harry Potter, from a biblical standpoint, is that it is all about magic. Specifically, wizards and witches, which, historically, are associated with evil. But, what the author of this series has done is forced a change in perspective in regard to it, basically saying that all magic is not necessarily evil.

Of course one rather humorous oddity about the series is the class that is a common thread throughout it. That being "Defense Against the Dark Arts" class, which, again historically, witchcraft and wizardry was considered Dark Arts. So, really, this class would be teaching a defense against everything the children are learning.

Kind of a catch-22, isn't it?

 

[SemperFidelis07]

I've read the books and you know what? They should be treated as what they are: fiction. Not to mention it has morals like the importance of friendship and love or as Dumbledore says in book 4, "It matters not how someone is born, it matters how they grow up to be." Not to mention if you look closely, you can see subtle Christian references. The naysayers who go on about how evil Harry Potter is and that it teaches children witchcraft usually never even read the books but somehow, they're okay with the magic in Narnia and LOTR. Seems like double standard to me.

 

[evenifigoalone]

I've read all of the Narnia books twice and seen all the movies--both the Disney and BBC versions. Listened to an audio adaption, too.
It actually does put magic into a good light. Certainly, many of the "bad guys" are people like the White Witch, but the "good guys" also have magic on their side--such as the "deep magic" described in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There was a wizard in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, too, and he was on a "good guy"--he was in the charge of a particular island and had to use spells because the inhabitants were literally stupid and he was trying to protect them. Lucy, one of the main characters in the series, had to look through the wizard's spell book and use one of the spells to help the inhabitants.
Also, C.S. Lewis placed many, many elements from Greek mythology in Narnia.

As a child my parents used to keep me from watching anything with magic in it. They had no problem with Narnia because it has many Christian allegorical elements. But then my dad pointed out the inconsistency there and he no longer banned us from watching anything just because it involved magic.

To me, it's not an issue as long as I know reality from fiction.

 

[farouk]

I've read all of the Narnia books twice and seen all the movies--both the Disney and BBC versions. Listened to an audio adaption, too.
It actually does put magic into a good light. Certainly, many of the "bad guys" are people like the White Witch, but the "good guys" also have magic on their side--such as the "deep magic" described in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There was a wizard in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, too, and he was on a "good guy"--he was in the charge of a particular island and had to use spells because the inhabitants were literally stupid and he was trying to protect them. Lucy, one of the main characters in the series, had to look through the wizard's spell book and use one of the spells to help the inhabitants.
Also, C.S. Lewis placed many, many elements from Greek mythology in Narnia.

As a child my parents used to keep me from watching anything with magic in it. They had no problem with Narnia because it has many Christian allegorical elements. But then my dad pointed out the inconsistency there and he no longer banned us from watching anything just because it involved magic.

To me, it's not an issue as long as I know reality from fiction.

My brother and his wife didn't seem to have a problem with his children reading the Harry Potter books, anyway; and they tend to be pretty sensitive to possible influences, etc.

 

[farouk]

PS: Someone just posted something about Christina Perri on another thread; she recently did a tribute track to Harry Potter, Thousand Years, or something.

 

[evenifigoalone]

My brother and his wife didn't seem to have a problem with his children reading the Harry Potter books, anyway; and they tend to be pretty sensitive to possible influences, etc.

I've heard some "things" about the series, but I'm really thinking a lot of these claims are either completely made up or highly exaggerated. My mom claims that one of the good characters tried to kill a relative and it was shown in a positive light. She got that from a video she watched that was anti-Harry Potter and was making all kinds of similar accusations. I've come to believe that those sort of videos cannot be taken seriously, but I'm not going to argue with her about it.

And, y'know, I know a lot of Christians who read the series, who I don't think would be reading it if the claim about the main character murdering someone in cold blood and it being shown as a good thing was actually true. Some facts must have gotten twisted somewhere.

 

[farouk]

I've heard some "things" about the series, but I'm really thinking a lot of these claims are either completely made up or highly exaggerated. My mom claims that one of the good characters tried to kill a relative and it was shown in a positive light. She got that from a video she watched that was anti-Harry Potter and was making all kinds of similar accusations. I've come to believe that those sort of videos cannot be taken seriously, but I'm not going to argue with her about it.

..

questdriven:

Well, it's good not to get into too many arguments, yes.

But is this something that your mom has still been saying recently? because it sounds to me from your various other comments that in some ways she's not stressing some of the things that she used to. (Kind of majoring on the majors instead and minoring on the minors...)

Blessings.

 

[evenifigoalone]

If differences in opinion, come up, she often brings it up. She says there are certain things she's afraid of me doing, that she wouldn't want me to do no matter what, and reading Harry Potter is one of them. So I don't want to stress her out further.

 

[farouk]

If differences in opinion, come up, she often brings it up. She says there are certain things she's afraid of me doing, that she wouldn't want me to do no matter what, and reading Harry Potter is one of them. So I don't want to stress her out further.

questdriven:

Well, you're right not to want to stress her further.

I wonder, do the people who influence your mom also say the same about C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? which, with the Narnia series, was what a lot of my contemporaries read 30 - 40 years ago, and there weren't any movies made against them.

Anyway, Joanna Rowling says that these works by C S Lewis were her basic inspiration for Harry Potter.

As a matter of fact, I'm personally not into Harry Potter. I did hear Christina Perri's tribute track to Harry Potter, Thousand Years, and it's quite melodious.

Blessings.

 

[evenifigoalone]

questdriven:

Well, you're right not to want to stress her further.

I wonder, do the people who influence your mom also say the same about C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? which, with the Narnia series, was what a lot of my contemporaries read 30 - 40 years ago, and there weren't any movies made against them.

Anyway, Joanna Rowling says that these works by C S Lewis were her basic inspiration for Harry Potter.

As a matter of fact, I'm personally not into Harry Potter. I did hear Christina Perri's tribute track to Harry Potter, Thousand Years, and it's quite melodious.

Blessings.

No, she quite approves of Narnia. She's even bought me books on it, like a Narnia devotional. I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about that series.

 

[farouk]

No, she quite approves of Narnia. She's even bought me books on it, like a Narnia devotional. I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about that series.

questdriven:

Well, that's interesting; I hadn't heard of a Narnia devotional. Anyway, your good mom can't think there's much harmful to do with it, seeing as she bought it for you. Just like she can't really think that the Skillet CD that you said she bought you, is harmful, either. It might even be the opposite.

Blessings.

 

[evenifigoalone]

questdriven:

Well, that's interesting; I hadn't heard of a Narnia devotional. Anyway, your good mom can't think there's much harmful to do with it, seeing as she bought it for you. Just like she can't really think that the Skillet CD that you said she bought you, is harmful, either. It might even be the opposite.

Blessings.

I showed her some songs from the album she bought me the other night. She's fine with it, it's just not the kind of music she likes. Thought it was a bunch of "noise". xD