Posted on 06/03/2004 9:38:49 AM PDT by BobbyBeeper
FIRST-PERSON: Is Harry Potter merely entertainment? Jun 2, 2004 By Phil Boatwright
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" Photo courtesy of harrypotter.com
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (BP)--"I love Harry Potter. I think it would be so cool to be a witch," Sharon, age 11, says.
That's my answer to anyone who says J.K. Rowling's adventure series is harmless fantasy.
While the Harry Potter book and film series has held a hypnotic fascination for youngsters, its thematic foundation is troubling. Arguably, perceptive children can view such material without succumbing to the snare of the occult, but it would be naive to think that movies and TV programs containing witchcraft are not aiding the rise of Wicca in our culture.
In a television special titled "Hollywood Spirituality" which aired several years back on E! Entertainment, Raven Mounauni, a professing witch and owner of an occult paraphernalia store, credited the 1996 movie "The Craft" with inspiring young women to explore the world of witches. "I get a lot of teenage girls in here. You can always tell when 'The Craft' has been on TV, 'cause we get a big influx of girls looking for supplies."
Occult practices shouldn't be considered just diverting amusement. Ouija boards, psychic readers and other forms of misleading supernatural entertainment should not be taken lightly. In Leviticus 19:26 we are instructed, "Do not practice divination or sorcery." There are several warnings in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, making it clear that we are to avoid witchcraft or anything associated with the occult. So if God is instructing us to avoid occult practices, how can we justify using it to entertain ourselves?
This may not be a popular view right now. The first Harry Potter film installment earned $969 million worldwide. J.K. Rowlings' five books on the young wizard have become a phenomenon, allowing the author to become the richest woman in England, with assets beyond $1 billion. That would indicate that many parents find nothing wrong with these children's adventures.
There are even a couple of books out right now exclaiming parallels between the Potter books and the Gospel. One author suggests the books help relate Christian themes and truths, opening the door for talking about things such as right and wrong, the nature of faith, loyalty, bravery and trust. Honestly, I think that's a bit thin. Yes, Rowlings’ themes deal with honor, friendship and self-sacrifice, but the kids in Harry Potter gravitate to sorcery in order to accomplish these attributes. And even if there are positive elements associated with the series, you simply can't ignore the witchcraft equation.
Members of Wicca teach a philosophy that embraces no absolute truth or sin and replaces the patriarchal male creator God of the Bible with a belief in both male and female gods. Its credo instructs members to embrace spirits and conjure spells in order to control their lives and the lives of others. There are millions of practicing witches worldwide. Indeed, Wicca has become one of the fastest-growing religions in the world today.
OK, it's good that children are reading. But what is it they're reading? Shouldn't that be considered? When an author makes $1 billion on five books that have sorcery as a main theme, and renowned secular critics hail the films as incredible filmmaking without examining their occult roots, I question what's really behind this phenom.
Is it merely entertainment? Or is there a dark spiritual source feeding and supporting it? I realize that may sound like a stretch, but often Satan is most deceiving with a glossed-over package. Wouldn't it be a shame if kids got pulled into witchcraft, while their folks thought of the books and films as merely children's fantasy? --30-- Phil Boatwright is a film reviewer and editor of The Movie Reporter, on the Web at www.moviereporter.com. (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKAB
You're so dogmatic sometimes.
There are 2 Indian girls that were always mentioned in the books, and they factor into the 4th book. One of them is Harry's date to the Yule Ball.
This is an article I suggest everyone who wonders if D&D is evil should read: http://trhickman.com/essay.html . It's worth it!
It wasn't the most impressive werewolf.
The Hippogriff was pretty cool though.
it has been my experiance that those that think dungeons and dragons is evil, don't research it for themselves. they just listen to others.
The author of the article wrote the Dragonlance series. Don't let the title of the article fool you. ;-) Honestly, the only personal problem I have with D&D is my husband gets to go out and play and I'm stuck at home with the kids.
and telling kids that they are going to hell because they are reading harry potter is a sure fire way to get them to think that religious people are insane.
off the top of my head, i can not think of a better way to drive those 'spiritually vacuous' kids away.
I don't remember them in the books, but I'm sure you know what you're talking about. I guess, when I read books, I don't notice what ethnicity the people are. To me, it just seemed to be a little too PC to be adding minorities just for the sake of appealing to the new immigrants to Britain. Not that I see any problem with it; it was just unexpected for someone who doesn't pay that much attention to such details. Come to think of it, there's a lot of different countries that pop up in the book, including Cho and some Russians from another school.
my shift key doesn't work, so no caps or question marks will show up ;-0
i have all those saved to my local webserver, along with most every other pro/anti dnd article on the net. i also play and collect the books.
A person seeing it without reading the book first is going to find a hard time understanding what's going on. There simply isn't enought time to explain everything.
Personally, I thought it was really creepy-looking. For those expecting a hairy creature, I guess it disappoints. The more 50/50 split of Man and wolf, with the sparse hair and the long legs and wolfish head, and how it moved, really gave me the creeps. I've been recently into a subject called the "beast of Guavodan" (sic?). A wolf/dog animal that killed a bunch of people in France in 1767. A real horrible animal, and this werewolf sort of reminds me of it. There's a scene where the "dog" is in front of the werewolf and one get's a good comparision of the two: the dog is quite frightening in it's appearance, but the werewolf just looks like it belongs in someone's nightmare; totally out of our normal world.
I don't know anyone who says that, myself.
On the other hand, as Christian I think it responsible to set it out to a kid that the book's a fantasy, and (I take it) has its pluses and minuses as such... however, real-world magic is always black, and always bad.
Dan
The claim that certain people can violate just about every single one of the known laws of physics by wriggling their noses (or whatever) IS ridiculous.
Sheesh.
I take it spy movies aren't very high on your list, either.
*** DING DING DING *** No more calls; we have a winner.
I'm sure that poor Aquinasfan feels terribly put upon by having these "arguments" scrutinized and found wanting, but it's necessary. After insisting (for example) that it's long past time for the Muslim community to repudiate its nut fringe, it is surely incumbent upon FReepers to do likewise.
Those odd sounds you hear at the bottom of the hole you've dug yourself are people talking in Chinese.
Yes, like all reasonable and moral writings they take the position that rulebreaking and lying are justified when the alternative is worse. You've already conceded as much.
I'm sure the lunatic fringe mean well. I'm just hoping to point out that even if the HP series (and heavy metal, and D&D) existed for the sole purpose of drawing kids away from God they're not doing nearly as good a job as the people constantly ringing the alarm bell. Between giving people headaches, embarassing the faith, and the inevitable boy who cried wolf phenomenon they really do the faith a disservice.
To be precise, when only two options are possible, and both are evil, the choice of the lesser evil is permissible.
Regardless, the central objection to the series is the portrayal of "good witchcraft," a contradiction in terms for Christians.
Even worse, the protagonist is a "good wizard." For Christians, this is analogous to being a "good blasphemer."
What dog do libertarians like you have in this hunt?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.