Posted on 08/01/2007 6:59:32 AM PDT by ParsifalCA
I am warning those who have not finished the series . . . and there must be still a few of them by now. . . that there are spoilers ahead. I have just finished the last book . . . having spent an enjoyable evening with it thanks to Sam’s Club and an indulgent wife.
I am done with Harry Potter and enjoying the literary aftertaste the way one enjoys a fine meal almost as much after it is done as when it is being consumed . . . though it is a bit sad that the series is finished.
And it is really finished . . .
Will one be able to re-read the books with pleasure?
I think the answer is only a tentative “yes.” If one knows the “puzzles” and “the secrets” of the book, it will not take away the charm of the characters or the fun of a good Quidditch match, but the first read will always be the best.
The strength of these books is in the plot and the second read, when everything is known, will be satisfying for finding all the clues to what happens . . . but I am hard pressed to know if I will want to re-read them a third or fourth time.
A really great book is as good on the fourth read . . . and some children’s books (Little White Horse) are better.
I deeply enjoyed the last book and thought the ending satisfying. For those who found them quite Christian, they will find much in this last book to give strength to their idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at exilestreet.com ...
Mideast Press: New 'Zionist Plots' Involve Harry Potter, Darfur
Arutz Sheva ^ | 31 July 07 | Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(IsraelNN.com) In two articles appearing in Middle Eastern newspapers this week, Islamist leaders pointed out what they said were new Zionist plots. In an Iranian publication, the worldwide Harry Potter phenomenon was declared a global Zionist conspiracy, while an Arab newspaper quoted a Sudanese leader blaming Jews for Sudan's own Arab-on-Black genocidal civil war. %ad%
Kayhahn, an Iranian publication closely affiliated with the ruling mullahs and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Harry Potter series "a billion-dollar Zionist project." The Potter books were designed by Zionist plotters, according to the Kayhahn editorial, to "disrupt young minds." Khamenei had criticized Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry for approving the distribution of the latest book in the Harry Potter series, which was released last weekend with much fanfare.
Excellent!
“What if your children were REQUIRED to read the HP books as part of a lesson on occultism in society? Would you allow that?”
Required by who?
And who is teaching the lesson?
Have you heard of “Heather Has Two Mommies”?
Well, it is still beer. And to paraphrase Franklin beer is proof there is a God and that He wants us to be happy.
Which, getting back to the Butterbeer reference, means that Harry Potter is in fact pro God.
Glad we figured that out.
Well with heavy metal there is the King Diamond problem, and the Glen Danzig problem. So there are actual satanist performers in heavy metal, of course they’ve never been big acts either, they don’t make Ozzy or AC/DC money. And with good reason, they kind of suck. But in the main section of heavy metal I think the satanist crowd is in line with the norm.
Some of that running to the things people warn them against is just rebellion. We all do some of it. To this day, even with my teenage years nearly 2 decades behind me, I don’t like cheeseburgers, and I know that the reason I don’t like cheeseburgers is my mom loved them and one of my first bits of rebellion was cheeseless burgers. Now I know cheeseburgers and your immortal soul are kind of a weak comparison but there are parts of that which hold true, part of setting up your own identity is picking things to rebel against, and sometimes it’s going to be matters of taste, sometimes it’s going to be rules, and sometimes it’s going to be warnings against legitimate danger.
That’s where it becomes important to teach your kid to think, the question for teenagers isn’t “are they going to do something stupid” it’s “were they given the tools necessary to survive”. And that’s one of the things I think the condemners miss, somewhere along the lines they started treating their faith like it’s fine china that needs to be protected, they forgot that faith is supposed to be a shield that protects you. by being constantly afraid of things that might maybe wound their kids’ faith they’re taking away their kids opportunity to use their faith. They should be instilled with enough faith to be able to listen to a Danzig album and say “that sucked”.
Let me rephrase... it has no connection to what is in the book. The right hand side passages have nothing to do with what is portrayed in the book.
I’m curious. Are you trying to win an argument or are you trying to change minds? Either way, I would highly recommend educating yourself by reading the books first. One, you’ll know what you’re talking about, and two, you might gain a little more respect from those with whom you are arguing.
Since this would seem to defy the laws of physics, I'm calling shenanigans on it.
I guess that Edward Teller must have been a very great wizard, or at least an alchemist, highly skilled in the occult, since he was able to transmute one substance into another: Taking hydrogen, and turning it into helium!
Mark
What I'm getting from you is a forest of non-sequiturs.
HP is pure occultims in an “entertainment” form.
You haven't produced a single bit of evidence that HP is occultism, that huge list you quoted from another site is nonsense, and you admit you haven't even read the books! And you ask what's the difference between the books and the movies? Have you EVER, in your entire life, seen a movie that was exactly like the book it was based on? Even close?
Franklin never had Gennie Cream. :)
I have certainly been in meetings where it has made it feel like purgatory...
We have those in the upstairs hall bathroom. It's a disaster.
Whoa! You're kidding me! In Italy, Italian schoolkids are reading the poetry of an Italian poet????
SHOCKING!!!
I feel so deprived. When I was in grammar school, I was reading junk by guys named Twain or Whitman or Melville (among others).
No you didn’t make the point. You brought forth an old long list of lies. I pointed out one the lies, then you wiggled around to another side of it trying not to make it a lie, but you were wrong, it’s still a lie.
There is absolutely no occultism in HP, and the fact that they LIED about the whole “invite” thing is part of the proof of that. I’m not arguing over shade of meaning in occult practice I’m pointing out that the authors of that list LIED about how the events in HP “relate” to occult practices. There’s no there there. Harry can do magic with or without the invitation, he can do it all by himself without even know there is such a thing. THEY LIED, and now you’re defending them with MORE LIES. STOP LYING.
STOP LYING.
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.