[anhonestchild]

First of all I would like to add that I am a 13 year old girl and am not a parent. I have read all of the Harry Potter Books. With two parents that are devoted Christians I understand partially your view on the Harry Potter books but I respectfully disagree. To a young child the Harry Potter books are comforting. These people although portrayed as witches and wizards are well rounded people and little kids respect that. For instance if any of you have read the Harry Potter Books Hermoine Granger is a girl very dedicated to her school work and loyal to her friends. Why wouldn’t you want your children to follow in her foot steps. And dreaming of flying or casting of a spell isn’t a crime. Dreams are part of life. Also these books have very little to do with worshiping Satan. Just as in the movies “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Matrix” Harry Potter is a fight between good and evil. To a readers point of view especially a young readers point of view they dream of fighting the enemy not being the enemy which is what Jesus is “the hero” “the leader” and “the savior”. In these books Harry is “the hero” of the wizarding world. I understand it is better for a child to read about Jesus but honestly have you ever seen a child read the bible. The Harry Potter books relate to us and can portray good and evil at a young age. These characters can help guide your children’s point of view on how to act Harry Potter- a boy struggling to do the right thing and safe anybody he can. He is very dedicated to his friends and he is determinded to help any and all who need him. That isn’t a problem if I were a parent I would want my children to act like that Hermonie Granger- a girl dedicated to her school work and her friends. She is very level headed and always tries to help push both of her friends in the right direction. Hermonie is much like me and as I read these I wanted to be like her.

Ron Weasley- a boy who may stand in the shadow of his friends but is always loyal, helpful, and true to his friends and even his enemies. This is a good person you want you kids to read about good people and not people that are robbing stores and drinking like most books do. These are a few of the characters in Harry Potter and I believe that all of them are the same with the exception of Voldemort. I understand that you are protective of your children as my mom didn’t let me read these books until last year but don’t debate a great series. These are good and wholesome books and I have taken a lot of time to defend them. I hope that as I have seen your point of view you will see mine and consider it. Thanks for your time

[jdm]

Uh oh

[MaryFromMichigan]

Newbies are often given a very hard time here.
I'll give you the benefit of a doubt.
Interesting first post.
Welcome to FR!

[ConservativeTerrapin]

In before the ZOT! Yes!

[Arkinsaw]

The books have a lot of positives so far. But I prefer to wait till the end to find out where all of this has been leading. We have not seen the whole series so we really cannot judge until then.

[randog]

Do the HP movies accurately follow the books? If so, I don't see what the hype is about. I've seen one of the movies (forgot which one) and was entertained but not overly impressed.

[generally]

Welcome to Free Republic!

You write very well for a 13-year-old. You could have a career as a writer if you keep it up. You make some great points.

My kids and I have read all the Harry Potter books, although I made them wait until I thought they were old enough to handle some of the content. I don't think the books are appropriate for very young children. Before I let them read the books, we had some talks about the difference between fantasy and reality, good and evil, religion and mythology.

[MineralMan]

Some people will call you names in this thread, I'm afraid. Just ignore them.

[ConservativeTerrapin]

A little too premature I guess. I will take this for what it's worth. Moving on...

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

We want our kids to read about perverts and liars.

And about a person who sends out his friends to lie for him.

That's why we send them to public school to learn the history of the Clinton presidency.

[Wormwood]

Very nice post, and some good points as well.

Welcome to Free Republic, where more of us agree with you than you might think.

[Old Sarge]

Congratulations, you're now a FReeper.

And in the words of Rubeus Hagrid:

"An' a thumpin' good 'un, once ye've been trained up a bit!"

[jdm]

1/2/06 vs. 1/2/05. That's the kind of mistake made when drafting personal checks, the first few weeks of a new year.

[BibChr]

Again, taking you at your word that you're who you say you are....

Who are you talking to? You are seeming to reply to thoughts not much in evidence here. Christians who have reservations about HP do so from the perspective of the Bible's consistent stance against witchcraft (Deteronomy 18:10-11). Did your Christian parents ever explain that to you?

Having said that, though a Christian, I don't oppose HP for that reason. HP books don't hold out witchcraft as options for people, since we're all "muggles," by HP-definition, and not capable of magic.

Though I'm reading through them, my reservations are these:

(1) They're not particularly good writing. I hope you supplement your HP-reading with JRR Tolkien, and CS Lewis.

(2) While you go on about Hermione (probably my favorite character -- though maybe Hagrid), they're not called "Hermione Granger and the...." They're about Harry Potter; and it's not for nothing that Conrad Gempf wrote a good essay called Harry Potter and the Habitual Liar. Read it.

(3) What child read's the Bible? This does make me wonder -- a little, not harshly -- about your upbringing. My kids do, and have, for one thing. My six-year-old has memorized Bible verses A to Z, and loves to read his Bible. My ten-year-old has read the whole New Testament, and is up to 2 Samuel in the Old; he has a great time with it. And those are just my young ones.

I don't disagree with everything you say, but I don't think you really understand some of the reservations some people have with Harry Potter books.

Dan
Biblical Christianity BLOG

[jdm]

When you have a second in the coming days/weeks, would you be willing to discuss your politics?

I assume you also have a strong interest in politics, being that you registered to FreeRepublic.

Give this a whirl sometime, if you like:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

[backinthefold]

For a 13 year old, you are more well written than all 3 of my kids at that age. They could talk it, but write it, as you did???  Well, I will just stand by and watch...

 

For the life of me, I cannot understand why you signed up just to post this. We had us a very pleasant thread talking about the Half Blood prince 3 days after release to talk about it.

 

Kitty will still be standing by...

[NW Mike]

Here's hoping that besides HP books and movies, Santa stuffed your stocking with a boatload of asbestos underwear. I suspect you are going to need them. Welcome, nonetheless.

[billbears]

I'll give you one good reason they shouldn't be read to young children. They are horribly written. It has nothing to do with the content. The sentence structure is poor and the descriptions are basic. You mention dreams and fantasy. I agree that all children should have those as parts of their childhood. However challenge the child. Start them off with the Hobbit and then advance to LOTR. One of the first books I read was the Hobbit (when I was around 7). Any words I had problems with I wrote down and asked my parents at the end of the day. Did I understand all the underlying meaning in Tolkien's work then? No and I wouldn't expect any child to do so. But rereading the series through my early teens I did begin to understand.

[Blood of Tyrants]

People who look for Satan can find him anywhere, even when he isn't there. The books do not promote witchcraft because as anyone who has read the books knows, you either are or are not born with magical abilities and nothing you can do will change that.

[misty4jc]

I hope that as I have seen your point of view you will see mine and consider it.

Who's point of view? MINE? Do we know each other? Listen up honey: Use the rest of your winter vacation to read your precious HP books....I do NOT care. Contrary to how you were raised to see things, the world is not (and this is not a site) filled with evil, right-wing prudes who want books burned and all the fun sucked out of life. Bigger things in the world going on than Harry Potter.

[GatorGirl]

Thanks for the input. I agree. When I was a child I read alot of fairy tales and fantasy stuff like Narnia, Wizard of Oz, etc... and I am still a Christian.

However, your post is directed to everyone with the POV that we're all against it. I think you'd find the breakdown here as follows:

1) A small minority are against HP.

2) A larger minority are for it or neutral.

3) A very large majority simply don't care about it one way or the other.

It is interesting that you posted with the intent to dispel what you think is the general view of HP and I'm wondering if you think we're a monolithic bunch on every issue. Which, of course, we are not!

Good job, I hope you stick around here. Happy New Year!