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?
God Bless America
Pray For Our Troops
September 24, 2007
Ryan Hampton
Showing posts with label movie suggestions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie suggestions. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
National Treasure
National Treasure 01/15/2007
I saw National Treasure a couple of nights ago for the second time, and I figured I would give you some thoughts on how I thought the movie was. I thought it was a good movie. It had a good story line, and the actors and actresses were good. Though the movie was not a comedy, there were several funny parts in the movie. The movie also was somewhat historical (even though the movie is mostly fiction), and brought up a lot about our founding fathers. But beyond all this, perhaps the best thing about the movie was that it was almost completely clean. This was a movie that would in most cases have much cursing and rude humor, but in this movie there was little or none of that. The movie was rated PG, probably for the few semi-violent scenes, and a complicated story line, but could have easily been turned into a PG13 rating (a pg13 rating that would be an R rating in 1960 perhaps).
The movie, in case you haven't seen it, was about a man born under the family line of those who supposedly held the knowledge that there was a national treasure- a treasure of world history artifacts going back for thousands of years. The treasure was held by the free masons. Some of the founding fathers were masons i.e. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. in fact, about half of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence were masons. Of course the story line exaggerated the facts most likely into a fictional story, with a few truths. Finally, someone in the family line held the first clue that had been passed down, and he decided to search for the treasure, even against his fathers advice, who was skeptical to the movie. However, this man worked hard with the partnership of his friend, Riley, with the mindset that you have got to do what is considered wrong to do what is right- just as the founders of this country did. They did have enemies, however. They had to work against others in search of the treasure. Of course, like most movies, the end works out good for the good guys and bad for the bad guys. The Declaration of Independence was stolen, and it help lead the way to more clues in search of the treasure. With the help of a worker at the national archives in Washington D.C., the treasure was found, by the good guys, who then split the treasure with the world, symbolizing the balance of power the founding fathers wanted for the country. Just as one man does not get all the treasure, so not one man gets all the power in a government.
The movie was not political, but it did indirectly bring up a few questions, questions answered best with the philosophy of a conservative or libertarian. The movie put emphasis on the founding fathers, and their desires. At the end, there was even a comment made by Nicholas Cage, the biggest star in the film, about balance of power, which the founding fathers did to help minimize government. The movie also portrayed the Declaration of Independence, and included a moving line about how different the founding fathers spoke compared to people of today. If we spoke and talked the same way our founding fathers did, we would be much smarter and wiser about our government, those that represent us and are supposed to protect us.
So with this in mind, I encourage you to pick up and look at the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution, or some other important national document (not the original of course), and read it, and read it thoroughly. Try to understand more about what our founding fathers had in mind for this country.
I saw National Treasure a couple of nights ago for the second time, and I figured I would give you some thoughts on how I thought the movie was. I thought it was a good movie. It had a good story line, and the actors and actresses were good. Though the movie was not a comedy, there were several funny parts in the movie. The movie also was somewhat historical (even though the movie is mostly fiction), and brought up a lot about our founding fathers. But beyond all this, perhaps the best thing about the movie was that it was almost completely clean. This was a movie that would in most cases have much cursing and rude humor, but in this movie there was little or none of that. The movie was rated PG, probably for the few semi-violent scenes, and a complicated story line, but could have easily been turned into a PG13 rating (a pg13 rating that would be an R rating in 1960 perhaps).
The movie, in case you haven't seen it, was about a man born under the family line of those who supposedly held the knowledge that there was a national treasure- a treasure of world history artifacts going back for thousands of years. The treasure was held by the free masons. Some of the founding fathers were masons i.e. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. in fact, about half of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence were masons. Of course the story line exaggerated the facts most likely into a fictional story, with a few truths. Finally, someone in the family line held the first clue that had been passed down, and he decided to search for the treasure, even against his fathers advice, who was skeptical to the movie. However, this man worked hard with the partnership of his friend, Riley, with the mindset that you have got to do what is considered wrong to do what is right- just as the founders of this country did. They did have enemies, however. They had to work against others in search of the treasure. Of course, like most movies, the end works out good for the good guys and bad for the bad guys. The Declaration of Independence was stolen, and it help lead the way to more clues in search of the treasure. With the help of a worker at the national archives in Washington D.C., the treasure was found, by the good guys, who then split the treasure with the world, symbolizing the balance of power the founding fathers wanted for the country. Just as one man does not get all the treasure, so not one man gets all the power in a government.
The movie was not political, but it did indirectly bring up a few questions, questions answered best with the philosophy of a conservative or libertarian. The movie put emphasis on the founding fathers, and their desires. At the end, there was even a comment made by Nicholas Cage, the biggest star in the film, about balance of power, which the founding fathers did to help minimize government. The movie also portrayed the Declaration of Independence, and included a moving line about how different the founding fathers spoke compared to people of today. If we spoke and talked the same way our founding fathers did, we would be much smarter and wiser about our government, those that represent us and are supposed to protect us.
So with this in mind, I encourage you to pick up and look at the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution, or some other important national document (not the original of course), and read it, and read it thoroughly. Try to understand more about what our founding fathers had in mind for this country.
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