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.
Some of us have actually done both.
My oldest was "enchanted" by the first book in 5th grade. He's having a hard time getting to read this one because he just got back from his fourth missions trip, is working Vacation Bible School this week, has Bible study tonight...
He didn't start out as a Christian apologist, though. In fact, he didn't abandon agnosticism until after his military service in Europe in World War I. If you're interested in his conversion, check out Surprised by Joy.
I’ve read all the books and they are pretty harmless. The source of magic is never made clear. They are not very deep reading although OOTP reminded me a lot of working for a large corporation.
However, I have seen no evidence that Harry Potter books encourage kids to read anything besides Harry Potter books.
This includes The Wizard of Oz - witches, wizard AND magic.
Thank God my parents didn't ban these kind of books for me.
operative word, “fantasy” people.
By that standard, I must also condemn C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and also, I suppose, James Barrie (Peter Pan), P. L. Travers (Mary Poppins), and who knows how many others.
No thanks. Narrow minded idiocy is what brought down the Pharisees.
Thanks for the heads up!
Potter Ping!
Yawn. Read the books, then talk to us about the point Rowling "tried to make." Aggressive ignorance is not a virtue.
Did I say that out loud?
Whew, I thought it was just me... LOL!
Not true, at least in my household.
EEEeeeeewwwwww!!!! Be honest, Joe ... you're gonna play an Inferi in the next movie, aren't you?
I wish I could but the restraining order says I have to stay 100 yards away from Emma Watson.
Like Gandalf and Luke Skywalker.
These types are articles never really about keeping kids safe from "demonic possession". They are always about keeping kids scared and firmly under parental control.
Darkness is living with the same beliefs and fears as the ancients. One day humanity will read about modern religion in the same context as the worshipers of the gods of Olympus. They'll wonder why the same people who split the atom and conquered disease where afraid of the medieval retribution of a bronze age deity.
I've read this accusation for ten years. It worried my mother for a while so she had me read the books before letting my younger siblings - some of them were only five or six at the time - read them. I still haven't actually found anyone who can back this claim up with evidence. Where are the kids flocking to Wicca? Where is the huge increase in virgin sacrifices and satanism? It's been ten years, there should be some proof by now.
So God told you not to read Harry Potter?
If that's your concern, you really don't have to worry about the Harry Potter books on that score:
(1) The magical ability is portrayed as being quasi- genetic. If you haven't got it, you're --- like all the people reading these books ---a Muggle, and there's nothing you can do about it, however hard you try.
(2) The wands cannot be duplicated in the real words: each one must have a core consisting of either dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, or phoenix feather. Nothing you could find at Wal-Mart. The potions have similarly fictitious ingredients (ashwinder eggs? jobberknoll feathers?) not likely to inspire alchemical imitators.
(3) Most important: the ordinary wizarding magic is portrayed as an alternative technology (the equivalent of a fax, a laser, an antibiotic, a GPS), not as access to unseen bodiless entities.
Harry never uses the ultimate unforgivable curse (the "Avada Cadavra") which causes death, even in the heat of battle; the bad guys, the Death Eaters, use it all the time. Instead, Harry almost always uses the "Expelliarmus", which causes the weapons to fly out of aggressors' hands. The fact that he doesn't use deadly spells is portrayed as very significant; "Expelliarmus" (Disarm) is seent as Harry's "signature spell", by which others can identify him.
And when in the HP books there IS access to an unseen bodiless entity, a true conjuring of occult spirits (e.g. Voldemort's conjuring) it is always portrayed as dangerous, defiling, and sickeningly evil.
Exactly the lesson you would want impressed upon your children.
I don't think HP is above criticism. The series has its flaws. Myself, I much prefer Narnia. However, I think your most serious concerns --- about making the occult attractive ---- can be laid to rest.
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