My sweet girl has finally returned from camp all tan and full of chatter about new experiences, friends, etc. We have talked in great lengths about her whole week and today that led into a conversation that started with this question: "Mom, is watching Harry Potter bad?"
You see, we attend a Baptist church. But, I refuse to be defined by the church I go to or by anyone who attends that church. I am first and foremost a Christian and I follow Christ and nothing else. We attend a Baptist church because we believe in their statements of faith. We agree that the Bible is God's Holy Word. However, to say we believe in the way of thinking that many Baptists have, well, we'd be lying! We like having an occassional drink (gasp!) and we do watch the Harry Potter movies and even READ THE BOOKS (oh, the horror). One of the counselors told the kids that God hates witchcraft (of course I don't dispute this) and if you watch these movies, well, it's just as if you're practicing witchcraft yourself. FREEZE! This has FANATIC written all over it. Does that mean when I'm watching a movie or the news and someone gets raped, then I raped the person? Or if someone is murdered, I did it? Hardly! This is why I always pray to God and Him alone for guidance. Can you imagine having to please every person in a Baptist church, or any church for that matter? Holy moly, if the church congregation were our judge, we'd be in big trouble. Fortunately we have a Saviour who knows we're not perfect and loves us anyway. So much so that He laid down His life for us. I follow Him alone, not a church, not any other person, not a particular denomination, etc. I don't think my prayers will get me to Heaven. He shed His blood for me. That's enough. To think that anything else will get me to Heaven mocks His death on the cross. Thanks to Him I get to spend eternity in Heaven without getting the punishment I deserve. I'm not depending on whether or not I lived a perfect life (who has?), I'm not depending on the works I've done. It's my faith in Him and what he's done for me that will get me there. I broke the law through my personal sin and He paid my price. What a wonderful Saviour!
1 comment:
When I first saw your post, I had an immediate opinion but didn't have time to sit down and try to put it together intelligently. Then after thinking the last couple days, I realized that I was obviously going to be biased just based on how much I love The Harry Potter books and my lifelong love of the fantasy-genre.
So, I decided to actually try to look up what the Bible says about such things since so many people have a problem with it. The primary verse I found that people refer to is this:
There shall not be found with thee any one...that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, | or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Deut 18:10-11
I have to admit that after reading about this, I realized I should probably be more cautious about these topics than I have been. While I still don't plan on keeping my older kids from seeing the movie/reading the books (or stop from rushing to get that last book myself!) I think it would be a good chance to open up a discussion about how, although this is a fun story to watch, the actual practice of witchcraft or wizardry IS a sin. Even things such as palm reading and Ouigi Boards. I also think I will be careful how young I let Ben and Clara see these movies so I can be sure they differentiate between fact and fiction and are old enough to understand such a discussion.
That all being said (and it was a lot wasn't it!) I don't really see how Harry Potter is really any different than a lot of the stories that we grew up with that cast Wizards and Witches in positive roles (such as Merlin and Glinda).
Thanks for this post, it really made me think about this, which is my favorite part about blogging.
Oh and the kid pictures of course!
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