Harry Potter Series

[farouk]

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

questdriven:

So she's fine with you liking the hard rock Skillet music she bought you. If so, this is a kind of progress! right?

I must admit I've not really gotten into Harry Potter myself.

Blessings.

 

[RachelKeeth]

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.

There are major differences between the two, which is why a lot of people approve of C.S Lewis but not Harry Potter. Just a few of the differences are that 1. C.S Lewis was a christian and J.K Rowling is not and their writings reflect that, 2. in the Narnia series witches are evil and in Harry Potter being a witch/warlock is seen as something "cool", and 3. Harry Potter has a lot of ties to the occult whereas Narnia does not. For me the reason I do not read them is mainly because of the last reason.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Personally none of that in and of itself would bother me, but that's just me. I can respect why some parents may want to avoid letting their kids reading it, and those who wish to avoid it themselves. Like my dad used to say, God isn't going to fault someone for being careful.

(At the same time, though, some do take it too far. People that make some sort of pamphlet, video, radio program, etc which seriously twists or exaggerates facts just to promote an agenda to shock value people into avoiding something, for example.)

Although I have read somewhere that J.K. Rowling actually is a Christian? According to breakpoint.org, anyway.

 

[farouk]

Personally none of that in and of itself would bother me, but that's just me. I can respect why some parents may want to avoid letting their kids reading it, and those who wish to avoid it themselves. Like my dad used to say, God isn't going to fault someone for being careful.

(At the same time, though, some do take it too far. People that make some sort of pamphlet, video, radio program, etc which seriously twists or exaggerates facts just to promote an agenda to shock value people into avoiding something, for example.)

Although I have read somewhere that J.K. Rowling actually is a Christian? According to breakpoint.org, anyway.

Hi questdriven:

You raise an interesting point there. I do understand the idea of parental caution.

But interestingly also, a criticism that is sometimes made of something like Christian rock is that it's supposedly too loud and people use it to shock rather than to express Christian testimony in a melodious way. (Let's leave aside whether there is ever any slight, or more than slight, truth to this.)

But really, some extreme conservatives do the same as they claim Christian hard rockers do. In order to shock people into conforming to some idea of theirs, they will sometimes, as you rightly, distort or twist facts in order to try to provoke a negative reaction to it among the uninformed.

So who are the people that are really engaging in shock tactics?

Beneath the engaging sound of Christian hard rock, Christians who have chosen testimony in this genre may actually be expressing a well-established and God honoring message. But does it honor God to give a deliberately distorted presentation of 'facts' in the interests of truth? And so who here is being the real rebel that brings dishonor?

I look at my own heart.

This is all kind of a bit broader now than Harry Potter, but it's good to put it in a wider perspective, I guess, if this makes sense?

 

[farouk]

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

PS: questdriven:

I imagine there are a lot of things that she will gradually get used to, anyway.

And not feel 'threatened'.

Least of all by some nice music.

Blessings.

 

[spero]

To break it down into moral basics, the message is quite good. I would go as far as saying the message is almost Christian. The idea that Harry would die, but return to life for a loving cause on behalf of his friends is very Christian... More Christian than say... Lord of the Rings. I have never understood why Lord of the Rings is more acceptable to parents than Harry Potter. It's morally ridiculous. Gandalf and Saruman use spells that seem far more realistic than Harry, Ron, and Hermoine. Don't get me wrong, I love Lord of the Rings, but I think that people have really flipped their moral compass backward regarding these two movies. I would allow my kids to watch Harry Potter where every piece of witchery is not without a message of Love, loyalty, friendship, sacrifice, and the destruction of evil, way before I would allow them to watch Lord of the Rings. I think parents are comfortable with Lord of the Rings because the portrayed evil is more direct and obvious. The portrayed evil in Harry Potter is subtle and ambiguous, much like satan is in the real world. I guess when it comes down to it, I would rather equip my kids to overcome satan's actual strategies instead of equipping them for a swarm of fictitious orcs, whom satan has obviously not decided to use since the beginning.