Posted on 11/22/2010 10:20:36 AM PST by null and void
Well, now .... aren't you the presumptuous one.
You've read the books, and somehow missed out on how Harry Potter lives up to this little passage:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."
If you've read the Bible, I'm sure you'll recognize the quote.
Individually criticizing someone for what they read is a far cry from Gov't sanctioned book burning.
I've taken a few of them online myself. Every time I think I'm going to be a Hufflepuff, I end up a Gryphindor.
*For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places*
And he's talking to an 11-year old boy.
(And it's Rowling's first book, and her writing got better as the series progressed.)
Absolutely! Also the powers wielded are inherently genetic, not derived from satanic/demonic sources; and follow strict 'natural laws' analogous to scientific laws.
Even the evil antagonists are internally evil, not possessed, using their neutral (as a gun is neutral) abilities for their own internal evil purposes.
One of the main lessons is that the capacity for good and evil is internal to each person, and it is the individual who chooses which to manifest. Another is that by chosing evil, one ultimately destroys themself from within. Also, good wins the war, even if evil manages to win a battle or three.
Hemingway used terse prose expressively. The ‘point’ being made is banal and obvious. I’m not talking about using large words but using expressive language. It ain’t in that quote.
Harry was constantly angry during most of Order of the Phoenix. He asked Sirius if he was turning evil. He cast an unforgiveable curse several times out of a desire for vengeance. He manages to overcome all this partly by realizing that Voldemort can use that anger to weaken his bonds with others.
I must say that the complete lack of trust the central characters have in most adults occasionally bothers me. For example, what was the point of lying about the troll in the bathroom incident? Minerva would have been proud of the boys for going to rescue Hermione, without Hermione being in trouble too. I also think they could have told her why they were up at the top of the astronomy tower. They were simply trying to keep Hagrid out of trouble.
Harry could have saved himself and others a lot of pain by confiding in some of his teachers more often. But really, there wouldn’t have been much of a story if they just followed the rules and sat in the common room all the time. :)
That's right -- Dumbledore even explicitly says, in order to make this very point to Harry, that it is our choices, not our abilities, that define us.
That's just human philosophy, nothing biblical about it. In fact, Satanists will say the same thing.
“I do reject those who condemn it wholesale as being dangerous.”
I don’t disagree with that. Adult Christians should probably read Das Kapital, to continue my example, to understand the secular enemy. My concern is my kids. I don’t think it’s even a close decision whether to let an eleven year old boy watch HP, if one is a Christian.
If one is secular, there’s no discernible reason, except arbitrary personal preferences, not to let one’s kids watch HP or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or “Debbie Does Dallas” because any hypothetical consequence of watching has no referent in any value system that is meaningful.
Gryffindor (/spelling police)
Defending Pelosi would be impossible. Church of England is pretty watered-down anyway, so I won’t defend Rowling’s faith.
I don’t sense that she is at all hostile to Christianity, and I don’t pick up any commie overtones in her books.
But that’s just me.
I am. When you submit ideas that seem contrary to known facts, and cannot explain the inconsistency, you failed.
It all starts with one individual.
Well ... that's pretty traditional fare in books where kids are the heroes. And it's pretty typical of kids in any case -- especially when it comes to planning something less than safe: adults tend to try to prevent such behavior.
But I don't know that I'd call it "complete" lack of trust.
Harry could have saved himself and others a lot of pain by confiding in some of his teachers more often.
That's actually one of the points of the series -- how many times did Harry make assumptions about the other characters, and how many times did it end up coming back to bite him?
But as you say ... there wouldn't be much of a story left if they'd been all honest and open.
“the complete lack of trust the central characters have in most adults occasionally bothers me.”
Goes back to Tom Sawyer probably.
What it all starts with is Gov't intrusion, not private interaction.
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