'HARRY' CATCHES HELL FROM CHRISTIANS

New York Post ^ | 11/24/01 | TODD VENEZIA

[kattracks]

November 24, 2001 -- Is Harry Potter the spawn of Satan?

That's the opinion at one Christian school in southern Australia, where parents voted yesterday to forbid students from reading about the bespectacled wizard and his preteen cohorts.

The vote was just part of a widespread anti-Harry backlash by religious conservatives angered by the best-selling books' blatant celebration of witchcraft and the occult.

[nopardons]

Then stick to facts, and stop offerring your assumptions as facts !

[Exigence]

Yes, they can believe whatever they want, but when they start trying to ban books (or burn them, as happened in Pittsburgh last year), it worries me.

I'm not sure I agree. As long as libraries are funded by tax dollars, tax payers should have some say. And, parents should always have a say in what their children read.

Burning books and preventing them from being published are abhorrent to me, but simply not purchasing them for a library is unfairly categorized as "censorship."

That said, our family is both evangelical and HP fans. My kids know the difference between fantasy and reality -- unlike too many adults (the Clintons among them *g*).

[Exigence]

and some of the names used are taken from real people involved

Yes. It's called "folklore." In fact, did you know most Arthurian retellings use the names of characters from folklore too? *tongue in cheek* And, some nursey rhymes talk about dead people and the plaque. Shall we ban "Ring Round the Rosie"? Did folks get so excited about naming the space capsules after mythological figures?

Let's not get silly about this. Folklore is folklore and British folklore is different than American. That doesn't make it "real."

[nopardons]

You know, don't you, that YOU spend even MORE time on thee threads, posting cherrypicked scriptures, and heaping calumny on people, whom you don't know ? You have accused many of being " bad " Christians, advocating " evil " , and claiming that they haven't read the Bible to their children, when they have done. Why is that ?

Posting scroptures, higglity pigglty , and ignoring the parts where GOD has actually FAVORED someone who uses their gift from GOD, to do what you would claim is " occult ", is hypocritical. Isn't Joseph's dream interpretation dabbling in foretelling the future ? If not, why not ?

If the HP series bothers you so much, then stay away from them. It's as simple as that. It's a pity that your faith is so shallow, that you believe that these books will make other Christians reneg their faith. It won't.

Have you nt told / read your children fairy tales, " THE WIZARD OF OZ ", and / or any of the variations of the Arthurian legend ? How about Shakespeare's " A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM " and the Scottish play. ( I won't even type the name, as most thatre folk won't; that's just tradition.) : - )

[nopardons]

You know, don't you, that YOU spend even MORE time on thee threads, posting cherrypicked scriptures, and heaping calumny on people, whom you don't know ? You have accused many of being " bad " Christians, advocating " evil " , and claiming that they haven't read the Bible to their children, when they have done. Why is that ?

Posting scriptures, higglity pigglty , and ignoring the parts where GOD has actually FAVORED someone who uses their gift from GOD, to do what you would claim is " occult ", is hypocritical. Isn't Joseph's dream interpretation dabbling in foretelling the future ? If not, why not ?

If the HP series bothers you so much, then stay away from them. It's as simple as that. It's a pity that your faith is so shallow, that you believe that these books will make other Christians reneg their faith. It won't.

Have you not told / read your children fairy tales, " THE WIZARD OF OZ ", and / or any of the variations of the Arthurian legend ? How about Shakespeare's " A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM " and the Scottish play. ( I won't even type the name, as most thatre folk won't; that's just tradition.) If you have done so, then that is hypocritical.

[Snowy]

Unfortunately these things are real..they are not make believe..God believed in them enough to put warnings about them in His word..

Until someone can give me a spell that can magically clean up my house while I sit by my computer posting on FR, I will not believe any such cr@p. If you think witchcraft is real, please offer some proof.

[Harry Zee]

Ha! Good one, 'snake!

[Woodkirk]

"Facts -- facts -- facts, you say -- you can't handle the facts" There is that better. Since you don't believe Webster's Dictionary or the Scriptures, how about some wisdom from Jack Nicholson in his fiction mode.

[bookwurm]

EXCELLENT RESPONSE. This is exactly what it is. Why can't they see it for what it is? It's sleek advertising aimed at our children.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Why is this so personal with you? It really does make me wonder why all the energy expended to defend this book..

Because people are LYING about this movie. And THATS wrong!! Sheesh.. did you even read the link I provided YOU??

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Until someone can give me a spell that can magically clean up my house while I sit by my computer posting on FR, I will not believe any such cr@p.

LOL!!!! I wish it were so... LOL

Your post just reminded me of the tv show "Bewitched". I think there was a bunch of hoopla over that at one time too. I remember trying to twitch my nose and make things happen. Never did!!! :o)

I loved your response. I think its time we just laugh at all this, it really is getting comical. Thanks for a voice of reason!! Mary Ann

[RnMomof7]

You know, don't you, that YOU spend even MORE time on thee threads, posting cherrypicked scriptures, and heaping calumny on people, whom you don't know ? You have accused many of being " bad " Christians, advocating " evil " , and claiming that they haven't read the Bible to their children, when they have done. Why is that ?

Actually I think you are the bandwith champ in favor of HP..I have posted frequently..but little compared to you

If someone is "feeling" condemnation from the scriptures that I post..it is the Holy Spirit not me. I have not "heaped" anything on anyone...the word of God speaks to it..I do not have to.

Do I believe that there are alot of "professing " Christians that see nothing the matter with reading these books to their kids..or purchasing them for their kids..yep..again I would ask them have you sat down with your 4th or 5th grade child and read the entire Bible with your child? So what counsel should that child take..which is more important..moms defense of a book that glorifies witchcraft or one that glorifies God? And that leads me to observe that such parents may live lives very different than their profession..

And yes if parents are reading these to their children and taking them to the movie...they have little care for their child's spiritual welfare..

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. God's comdemnation not mine

So why are you such a big defender of this book? You know I hate it because it is antichrist..why as you so passionate in its defense?

[RnMomof7]

Until someone can give me a spell that can magically clean up my house while I sit by my computer posting on FR, I will not believe any such cr@p. If you think witchcraft is real, please offer some proof.

Is God a liar? Or perhaps you think the Bible is fantasy too.

[RnMomof7]

Because people are LYING about this movie. And THATS wrong!! Sheesh.. did you even read the link I provided YOU??

People lie all the time...and about many things..what interest do you have in promoting witchcraft in children?

[RnMomof7]

Yes. It's called "folklore." In fact, did you know most Arthurian retellings use the names of characters from folklore too? *tongue in cheek* And, some nursey rhymes talk about dead people and the plaque. Shall we ban "Ring Round the Rosie"? Did folks get so excited about naming the space capsules after mythological figures?

" One character is named Vablatsky (a play on the name of Madame Blavatsky, a theosophist of the 19th century). A class in "Transfiguration" (regardless of its sacrilegious context for us Muggles) also hints at familiarity with the "New Age" belief in stages of enlightenment, including that of "transfiguration". A closer reading might also reveal a woman author plagued by the perpetual adolescence of the rest of her generation and with very probable extracurricular interests in the occult. "

[discostu]

Gonna bump you here. I've been part timing on these threads, they're amazingly frustrating. Big bump on your statement about how the anti-Potter venom is turning people away from Christianity. I've been on the "wrong" side of these arguements most of my life (started playing D&D in '79). I can honestly say that the constant pounding of the "it's satanic occultism" crowd is what drove me to actually study the occult for a time (had to find out what these people were talking about). And the constant venom these people keep mustering up for how I chose to entertain myself has pushed me to the point where, regardless of my beliefs, I will never call myself Christian again. While I know that you represent the majority and they represent a rather insignificant minority, they're loud and they're ever present and I don't want to share any labels with them. It's bad enough I share the label of American (and now Freeper, and they have caused me to seriously reconsider that on ocassion) with them; but I will not share the label they are most proud of, the one they wave as a rallying banner and brandish as a weapon against the "unbelievers". If I ever convert back I'll be making a new word for it, and I'll borrow a page from L. Ron Hubbard and copyright it so I can sue them if they try to use it.

[RnMomof7]

I did offer proof...but it is proof you can not see or understand,because you reject the word of God

Deuteronomy 18:14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so [to do].

Jeremiah 29:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that [be] in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

Jeremiah 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 27:10For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

Revelation 22:15 For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

God the creator of all believes in it..he warns against it and tells you the penality for participation in it