>>>I don't think anyone should be reading them.
I didn't like Them either.
Posted on 07/23/2007 7:04:00 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
If there’s a child in your house, then you probably know what’s going to happen when the clock strikes 12 tonight. The final Harry Potter book—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—will be unleashed on the world.
The big question that has millions of kids on edge: Will Harry live—or will he die?
But the big question many parents have is: Should their kids be reading novels about wizards and witches and magic?
A Christian expert on Potter mania says, “It depends.”
Connie Neal, a veteran youth pastor and mother of three, is the author of a book titled What’s a Christian To Do with Harry Potter? Neal says parents must use discernment in deciding whether to allow their kids to read Harry Potter. For example, kids with an unhealthy interest in the occult should probably not read these books. Other Christians believe their kids benefit from the moral lessons the Potter books teach.
Neal’s belief that it’s okay for Christians to read secular novels comes from her reading of the biblical book of Daniel. Daniel, you will remember, was a teenager when he was taken away from Jerusalem to live in exile in Babylon. There, he was taught the language and literature of the pagan culture. He studied at a school that trained Babylon’s magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers. The actual practice of sorcery and astrology was, of course, forbidden by God. But Daniel studied it well to understand it.
One day King Nebuchadnezzer called on his magicians and astrologers to interpret a dream; none could do it. In a rage, the king ordered that all of his wise men be put to death. Daniel asked to see the king, who then asked him, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel responded: “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.”
Daniel had immersed himself in his culture’s pagan literature in order to understand it. But, because of his deep devotion to God, he didn’t defile himself. As Connie Neal told BreakPoint, “God put Daniel in Babylon to be a light in the darkness—and he was. He was not afraid to read literature that resounded in the hearts of the people with whom he lived. He used his familiarity with this pagan literature to reveal the true and living God.” And Neal knows some kids who have done the same in our own post-Christian culture.
Now personally, I don’t recommend the Potter books. I’d rather Christian kids not read them. But with some 325 million of them in print, your kids will probably see them and hear others talk about them, and they’re probably going to read them anyway. So use this occasion to teach them to be discerning—like Daniel. Dare them to have Daniel as their role model, not Harry Potter.
And if your kids do enjoy Harry’s magical world, you should give them copies of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
These books also feature wizards and witches and magic, but in addition, they inspire the imagination within a Christian framework—and prepare the hearts of readers for the real-life story of Jesus Christ.
That's good. You see, you'd have to kill anyone you told, and it's very hard to dispose of a body...um, that's what I hear anyway.
You are absolutely correct. These books were written for entertainment and for the things you mentioned. Give the kids a break, let them be kids for a while. I doubt any of them will turn out as wizards, witches, etc. They will turn out as adults with an imagination that a happy childhood brings. I do remeber the towels and masks that we used to be Superman or Batman. I also remember the silver with pearl colored plastic gripped guns we used to play Gene Autry or Roy Rogers while we chased the bad guys. What kind of life we give our kids when we deny them these experiences.
And why not? No nudity, no sex, no human sacrifice. Lots of friendship, loyalty, defeat of evil....yet not good enough for kids?
Why ever not? What better way to glean the good lessons of good vs evil from the books, while assuring the kids that no, there is no such thing as magic? If you limit your kids to reading only what supports your and their worldview, how are they ever going to learn the tools to defend their beliefs when they leave home and go out into the big wide world?
The magic in the books is just a vehicle for the moral of the story, that good will win out over evil, and sometimes, folks have to pay a heavy price in order to do that which is good.
I read the last one before the kids got to it. ;o) I've really enjoyed the series, and it's fun to talk about the characters as though they are folks we know, and about the trials and triumphs. They are like any other fiction series in that regard; you come to 'know' the characters very well.
I don't think anyone should be reading them.
It isn’t that hard.
>>>I don't think anyone should be reading them.
I didn't like Them either.
Why?
I'm going to make a big assumption here, but Christians aren't going to teach their kids that the Bible is just a story.
So you'd have no problem then with your child reading Mein Kampf or The Communist Manifesto? How about Playboy or Penthouse? How about any books by Aleister Crowley? How about Manson In His Own Words?
Parents have a responsibility called discernment.
And you've shown you have none by comparing a children's novel to the most evil crud ever put on paper.
If you believe in God and the Other, yes. Read it.
I have never read them and likely never will, but not for "moral" reasons. I've seen all the films, and frankly, I do not find HP and his world all that interesting. But that's just me. I read A LOT, and cannot make time for Potter.
The big difference I see between those stories and the Potter stories is that the others show the weird stuff as weird. Where as the Potter stories shows the weird stuff (the occult) as something that can be accessed to one's advantage.
Thus, whereas only the very weird child would aspire to create a Frankenstein or be a Wolf-man. The Potter books present the occult in a palatable sense, with heroic possibilities and broad appeal.
The occult is real, and it's real dangerous.
Muslim kids should read these books and watch the Movies
TT
Why?
The most interesting thing was... in the latest Potter book, Rowling wrote the best Passion-scene I’ve read in many years.
I think she “came out” in this book and showed her true allegiances, and I like ‘em.
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