[Mr. Silverback]

There are links to further information at the source document.

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[Mr. Silverback]

BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[Shadowstrike]

As Christian children, we weren't told we couldn't go see Dracula, or the Wolf Man, or Frankenstein. We were told that these things were not real, that they were 'legends' or stories made up by people. I think it's the same with Harry Potter. Advertising has made it a phenomena, but parents can make their children understand that it's only a story.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“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.”

B U M P

[stephenjohnbanker]

“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.”

B U M P

[NotSoFreeStater]

My wife and son are taking turns reading it. I cheated and read the last chapter and epilogue. I won’t give it away.

[americanophile]

Christian kids, like all kids benefit from fiction reading. If you can get a kid to read a book at all, it’s a plus.

[ColdSteelTalon]

I don’t think any kids should be reading them.

[oneamericanvoice]

Oh no! Not this AGAIN! I am soooo tired of these paranoid attacks! Good grief! Have all of you forgotten your childhood when you tied on a towel and wanted to be Superman? Or better yet, wished you could blink your eyes and wiggled your nose like Genie or Samantha and have your homework done or room cleaned? I went to church and Sunday school every week, yet knew the difference between “fantasy” and reality. My family’s faith and mine was not jeapordized by my childhood fantasies.

Have any of you ever read a Potter book? If you had with an open mind then you would know that Potter and friends is far more about the good values like friendship, loyalty, strength, good versus evil, etc. You even have the characters celebrating Christmas! Not just on one occasion either. In fact, in this last movie they wish each other “Merry Christmas”! When was the last time you had a mainstream film doing that?!?!

You should be happy if your girls think Hermoine is great. She is smart, an avid scholar, strong, feminine, courageous, and loyal.
Ron is funny, loyal, and courageous.
Harry is a defender, a warrior, a teacher, loyal, and courageous. He has faced evil and defeated it. I’d be proud to have him as a son.

Have more faith in your kids. And remember, if they wave a stick around and say something you don’t understand...it is still only a stick and what they are saying is just jibberish. Just like the magician who says, “Abracadabra”.

[Barnacle]

Potter Mania: Should Christian Kids Read 'Harry Potter'?

Hell no.

[JRochelle]

If you purchased the book, what did you pay for it?

I bought one for my son at Walmart last evening for 17.88.

The inside cover price was a lot more!

[SuziQ]

But the big question many parents have is: Should their kids be reading novels about wizards and witches and magic?

Why ever not? What better way to glean the good lessons of good vs evil from the books, while assuring the kids that no, there is no such thing as magic? If you limit your kids to reading only what supports your and their worldview, how are they ever going to learn the tools to defend their beliefs when they leave home and go out into the big wide world?

The magic in the books is just a vehicle for the moral of the story, that good will win out over evil, and sometimes, folks have to pay a heavy price in order to do that which is good.

I read the last one before the kids got to it. ;o) I've really enjoyed the series, and it's fun to talk about the characters as though they are folks we know, and about the trials and triumphs. They are like any other fiction series in that regard; you come to 'know' the characters very well.

[yldstrk]

If you believe in God and the Other, yes. Read it.

[Sans-Culotte]

Well, Colson seems to think it's sorta OK to read them with qualifications. Whoever said that reading a Harry Potter book constitutes subscribing to a new religion and world-view? They're just stories.

I have never read them and likely never will, but not for "moral" reasons. I've seen all the films, and frankly, I do not find HP and his world all that interesting. But that's just me. I read A LOT, and cannot make time for Potter.

[TexasTransplant]

Muslim kids should read these books and watch the Movies

TT

[JenB]

The most interesting thing was... in the latest Potter book, Rowling wrote the best Passion-scene I’ve read in many years.

I think she “came out” in this book and showed her true allegiances, and I like ‘em.

[abercrombie_guy_38]

Not this again.

It just makes real Christians look a bunch of paranoid fools. How embarassing.

[Old_Mil]

The actual practice of sorcery and astrology was, of course, forbidden by God. But Daniel studied it well to understand it.

How curious. I don't happen to remember reading anything about Daniel's extensive studies of the occult in the book that bears his name.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Are we going through this nonsense again? This debate has been going on since the first Potter Book. Get on with other things.

[Revolting cat!]

I hear tulip futures are the next big thing. Gotta get with the program, keep up with the Joneses, join the mob, if it sells, it must be good. And so on...

OR

[null and void]

Naaahhhhh, Keep ‘em ignorant, I say!