The new Harry Potter book comes out on Saturday, so I hear. The Book Standard reports that the new books are under tight security. One delivery driver "revealed recently that he had been ordered to make the ten-hour trip without stopping. To ensure compliance, his truck was outfitted with a global positioning system, which allows a satellite to monitor his progress—reporting any deviation from the strictly regulated route, or even stops for bathroom break."
I thought is was interesting that more time and effort are spent on tracking Harry Potter books than is spent on tracking suitcases packed with nuclear bomb making parts. I know not really a far comparison; but, isn't unbelievable the hype that goes into things?
That is not really my real concern. I was thinking again about Harry Potter recently. I have never really given and clear thought to the subject or appropriateness of filling ones mind and imagination with the content of Rowlings best sellers. I know have a 3 year old son that might someday be interested in fantasy literature - thankfully, not yet! That is not my genre of choice. But I want my decisions to be based on clear biblical conviction.
Deut. 18.9-14 is absolutely clear that God forbids having anything to do with one who practices sorcery, divination, necromancy, wizardry, etc... That is clearly Harry Potter. Why do so many Christians readily bring this stuff into their homes and the minds of their children? Once in my last church, we had a missionary teaching children's church. I thought that was safe enough. I later found that she was pushing Harry Potter to our children -"there are good moral lessons about good vs. evil, etc..." When do good moral lessons trump Biblical authority? Isn't there other places to get good moral lessons without spitting in the face of clear biblical teaching?
While I am at it, let me ask an honest question. I know, a bit taboo for a Christian to even think about questioning The Lord of the Rings. Shame on me for even thinking anything might be remotely wrong with that series. But doesn't that series also involve sorcery, wizardry, etc... I know, I know ... it's all good vs. evil, allegorical, etc... But again, let's deal with the text of Scripture. When can we bring that kind of stuff into the minds our children? As long as we use some Christian themes and Christian words, the other stuff is okay? Then let's all got buy the latest U2 album! See? When does it become acceptable?
These are honest questions? I admit to having never read either Potter or Lord of the Rings. So I speak with level of ignorance. But I think I grasp the spirit of Deut 18, and other Scriptures.
By the way, two night ago we started, for family devotions, Little Pilgrims Progress by Helen Taylor. This is great fictional literature!
Grace to You!
4 comments:
Richard Abanes is "a recognized authority on cults and religions" who has written THE TRUTH BEHIND THE DAVINCI CODE, which I have read, and HARRY POTTER AND THE BIBLE, which I haven't yet read. Based on the former, I recommend the latter as to the instant issue.
Notwithstanding the fact that your post titled YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ is the best place for the balance of my comment, a book which is, in-and-of-itself, a must-read for today's Christian -- WHY ONE WAY? by Dr. John F. MacArtur, is particulaly useful as to issues such as the Harry Potter controversey. WHY ONE WAY deals well with cultural relativism and post-modernism; without a "grasp" on such, discussion about Harry Potter is as useful as chasing one's tail (so-to-speak).
While I'm at it: If your'e still compiling a "top ten list", please give due consideration to Jerry Bridges' TRUSTING GOD. Pastor Bridges' straightforward approach to the soveriegnty of God provides the cornerstone to development of Theocentric theology.
Ah, John Bunyan, a tinkerer by trade I believe he was? The fellow found himself in a bit of a pinch did't he? What an imagination! What a wonderful allegory. What a dangerous journey he will lead one on. There is a useful place for allegory in our children's lives. (And what about reading for fun?)We've read the writings of the athieist Samuel L. Clemens (AKA Mark Twain), and the communist Charles Dickens; is this literature beneath the Christian family? Jules Verne, Homer, James Barrie, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Alfred Hitchcock - should Christians be discouraged from reading these, too?. (I can't tell if these authors are Christians or not). Move over Walt Disney, I'm sitting down to read my copy of Twelve Ordinary Men, or is it Twelve Angry Men, or is it the Dirty Dozen?
Grace back at ya.
Not sure who is hiding behind ANONYMOUS, but that was a poor staw man you built.
When did Homer, Dickens, Clemens, POe, etc... seek to normalize what God had condemned? Need for a little leisure does not trump God's commands to be holy and separate! I read many of the Classics. I was a literature major for I began my studies for ministry. I also read the newspaper everyday, which is not "Christian."
The good thing about many (not all - i.e. Salinger's Cather in the Rye) of the Classics is that they did not seek to normalize what God has condemned. What do you watch on TV? What CD's do you listen to? Does it make light of or seek to normalize what God has condemned? Then we should stay away.
Man and our desire for entertainment and leisure are the not the authoritative rule. God and His Word are.
Please be care not make an idol of entertainment / leisure ("reading for fun")
My wife and I made our kids read C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" in place of Harry. That seemed to us to be the most God-honoring choice.
Do I think kids will turn into Satan worshippers if they read Harry? No - probably not. My only criticism is for those Christian parents who expose their children to the occult without any investigation or serious contemplation.
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