Harry Potter

Harry Potter

A while back I went and say one of the Harry Potter movies. It was the first time I had seen any of them. Some people probably think I’m strange for not being a Harry Potter fanatic, while others would call it a sin that I would see such a movie with all of the "witchcraft and magic."
Many conservative Christians are against Harry Potter because of what it brings forth, and because of the scenes of witchcraft presented. However those in favor of Harry Potter come back with counter-arguments themselves as to why it is okay.

Essentially, the argument against it seems to be "Well it’s bad because it has things in it that could never happen- it is all about make believe, fairy tail, and magic- all of things which contradict the Bible." But the argument for reading Harry Potter or at least for not being against it, is, "It’s just a book- what harm can a book do?"

These are very basic arguments, and I do not presume anyone holds absolutely and completely to one of these views, disregarding the other with all of their heart and mind. But these are essentially the basic and common arguments for whichever side arguing. I do believe that we should take a deeper look at the issue than these two mere arguments, because I believe that each one is fatal in and of itself.

First, let us consider the fallacies against the argument against reading Harry Potter. We should not simply reject anything that uses scenes and schemes that seem out of this world. These are used in the Bible plenty of times. Isn’t there a story of a horse talking recorded in the Bible? Wow! That sounds like something we’d hear on Toy Story, Spirit, or Harry Potter. Why is Harry Potter the only rejected story of these? Why do we reject Harry Potter and not The Chronicles of Narnia et al? In fact, the author of Harry Potter intended for many of the themes to be Christian themes.

However there is also great problem with the argument "It’s just a book." What if I said "Pornography is just a magazine- it’s fine." My argument would not hold up next to the Bible. If the book does show us something that is anti-Christian, then we should, moderately stay away from it. Even yet, though, it may not hurt to see and read it so that our ignorance would not show forth the one who supports the sinful book. However we should only read it if we can handle it and not have our faith shaken, and if it is not something sinful to read in and of itself.
So where does my opinion lie. It is hard for me to say for sure, but I honestly did not feel as if Harry Potter is really bad. The themes that seem to be of witchcraft can be explained by either a different universe, advanced technology, or by symbolism. If we present a story within a different universe, understanding that this different universe does not really exist, then we really lose nothing- we gain a nice story. If the scenes are explained by a highly advanced version of this universe (as many but not all in this case are), then we lose nothing, but rather gain the imagination of what the universe could be. If the scenes are symbolism’s, then we lose nothing, but rather gain knowing what the symbols could be about- often these symbolism’s may be Christian themes. It is possible to have a bad theme, but I don’t see that conclusively here. I believe that most of the Harry Potter movie I saw could be explained by one of those. I could not really understand the symbolism’s, but I had not read any of the books, or seen any of the other movies.

Still, guard what you hear and see with the Word of God. Do not look at these books and movies in the wrong light, but if possible, a better way to see the grace of God and the truth of Scripture.

What Do You Think?

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Pray For Our Troops

September 24, 2007

Ryan Hampton