Harry Potter vs. Gandalf

The Decent Films Guide ^ | 11/01 | Steven Greydanus

[Aquinasfan]

Audio link to Steven Greydanus discussing Harry Potter and other recent movie releases on Catholic Answers.

[Aquinasfan]

FYI

[billbears]

bump for later

[ppaul]

Harry Potter, Hairy Plotter, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseaum.....

[wewillnotfail]

Get used to it, or rather get used to a repeat of the whole issue with Tolkien as the son of satan.

[RMrattlesnake]

Q: These books are just fantasy and therefore harmless.

A: This argument of fantasy is the most mindless argument of all. If these books were "fantasy" books about violence or pornography people would have no problem seeing how harmful they were. The Harry Potter books present as harmless children using the power of witchcraft, something God has declared is an abomination. Deut 18 Q: "Children who read about Harry Potter will probably discover little about the world of the occult."

A: Essentially witchcraft is about our being able to control people or things by what we say or the rituals we do. This is clearly presented in the Harry Potter books. Also witchcraft is about using various means to foretell the future. This is also clearly stated in the Harry Potter books.

The real question is do these books provide Satan an opportunity to seduce children into experimenting in witchcraft, thereby gaining power and authority in their life. There is no doubt that these books do provide an innocent view of witchcraft.

The Harry Potter books are not handbooks of witchcraft, in other words all the practices and philosophy are in the books, but they are not necessarily set forth as a coven would practice them today. Therefore those who make these claims seem to believe that these books are harmless. The real question is if a child reads these books would they be more open to experimenting with witchcraft. When we consider today that children have no fear of experimenting with witchcraft are these appropriate books for children to read? There is more witchcraft material easily available to our children today than at any other time in history. There are also more children practicing witchcraft than at any other time in history.

http://www.therealpotter.com

[Aquinasfan]

The real question is do these books provide Satan an opportunity to seduce children into experimenting in witchcraft, thereby gaining power and authority in their life.

That's my belief. The risk is far greater than any potential reward.

[RMrattlesnake]

Yes it does.

Years ago I was heavy into New age, shaminism, celticism ans wicca and was intoduced by seeking help from self help books.

Lucky for mr I was help out by local christian youth. <p. So the answer is yes.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

rather get used to a repeat of the whole issue with Tolkien as the son of satan.

Extremely unlikely, what with the well known Christian orthodoxy of all of the Inklings.

[Mr. Thorne]

Harry Potter vs. Gandalf

Gandalf'd take the brat. No contest.

[beekeeper]

I am not trying to change your mind. We all have our fears and limits. I was raised on Grimms Fairy tales. If you go back to the origional, and not the watered down versions, they make harry potter look like a Sunday School outing. They are bloody, full of the occult and really bad practices. From that horrible background I should be very into the occult. Instead I am a born again Christian.

Books present ideas which can instruct both in good and bad. I fear them much less than the reality that surrounds us daily, such as gossip, hatred, intolerance, devisiveness and the like.

And I will be seeing HP next week.

[Aquinasfan]

Lucky for mr I was help out by local christian youth.

So the answer is yes.

Thanks for your testimony. A lot of the Potter fans don't seem to believe that it's possible.

[Da_Shrimp]

The Harry Potter books are not handbooks of witchcraft, in other words all the practices and philosophy are in the books, but they are not necessarily set forth as a coven would practice them today.

But they aren't. Where're the God/Goddess? Where are the Circles? Where are the Elements?

Years ago I was heavy into New age, shaminism, celticism ans wicca and was intoduced by seeking help from self help books.

If you were 'into wicca', tell me all about it. What did you do? What rituals did you perform? What words did you use in setting up the circle? Were you Gardnerian or Alexandrian or something else?

[Aquinasfan]

Once a child's interest is stimulated, all he has to do is go to the school library and type in "witchcraft" or "spells" and voila.

[Phantom Lord]

What real spells were you able to cast? Who did you cast them on and what were the effects?

[AMDG&BVMH]

anthropomorphic mandrake roots that look and scream like living human babies but may be transplanted or destroyed at will by teachers and students;

This is seriously creepy, and is the reason my daughter stopped being a HP fan. She realized that something is seriously wrong with this (ability to kill -- gratuitiously and at will -- something that is by the author's design a representation of human babies).

We'll be seeing Lord of the Rings instead of HP . . .

[Da_Shrimp]

Aquinasfan, I'm not actually questioning that fact. What has tended to bother me about these HP threads is that they tend to stray into bogus posts about Wiccan practices, and that's what I'm trying to avoid before we get started.

As for children entering that info in search engines, well, yes, they might. The Pagan Federation in the UK has had interest generated by HP (though nowhere NEAR as much as generated by foreign imports as 'Charmed' or 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch').

[Ward Smythe]

Well for the record I'm also looking forward to The Lord of the Rings and hope the movie will inspire my son to read it (I think it will).

I'm refuse to get drawn into another debate thread. But for someone who is afraid of Harry Potter and the influence it has on kids, you're sure giving it a lot of publicity.

[AMDG&BVMH]

you're sure giving it a lot of publicity

What Acquinas fan is doing is to promote analysis and reflection about something that is already widely known about and wildly promoted . . .

By the way, I think your son will love Lord of the Rings. I read the series to my daughter when she was pretty young. She loved it. It was good for me, too!

[Brett66]

Excellent article. BTTT