Your thoughts on Witchcraft...

[jo]

[Karen]

[lee_merrill]

[jo]

Um, have you read the books Lee? :) Cos from your post it would not appear that you have. Muggles are NOT non Christians.

[Fea_Istra]

I don't recall HP mentioning Christianity or even using it symbolically/allegorically... so I'm not sure about Muggles being Christian (or non Christian). There's nothing particularly Christian about the Dursleys

About lotr, that's more tricky. Gandalf is indeed an angel, Sauron is a demon, Elves I think are also creatures...but I recall Tolkien saying that he doesn't like putting religion in fictional books; and that Middle Earth is a pagan world. However, he did say that the pagan religions sort of 'prophesied' (sp) Christianity; so perhaps he was trying to 'sub create' (to use his word) a world that did this too. Only Tolkien knows I guess he took his books really seriously.

By the way, mmmmmmmmm Junior Mints

I also love Seinfeld

[jo]

I really am keen to hear if Lee has read the books because there simply is no mention of Christianity at all and certainly nothing to suggest that the muggles are Christians or CHristians are muggles. SOunds to me like something that is being told to people by the anti HP brigade and people are swallowing it whole. I'll eat my keyboard if Lee has read the entire series, and I'll eat a couple of letters if he's read even one of the books and come to that conclusion for himself.

[lee_merrill]

[jo]

[lee_merrill]

[jo]

[Karen]

[jo]

[tangent]

I saw a film once from a Dennis Wheatley novel that was definitely a celebration of witchcraft. Such films and books do exist. Moreover, having seen it, I would not recommend it to Christians simply because it did celebrate witchcraft. It seems a bit harsh to insist that my Christian friends must see the film or read the book before recommending to their friends that they should not see the film. Indeed, the requirement that you read a book before placing it on a do-not-read list only has the effect of everyone reading it to make sure they mustn't read it.

But Dennis Wheatley's film celebrates witchcraft and yet uses the same magic that occurs in all the books mentioned so far, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter books. Should we therefore ban all books that contain magic, and Star Trek's telepathic aliens for good measure?

The magic in the Harry Potter books is presented as entertainment, not to be taken seriously, whilst Dennis Wheatley is presented as a fictional example of what could happen in real life. The adult reader is not in any doubt that the Harry Potter magic is unreal and does not relate to the real world. Nor is it JK Rowley's intention to indoctrinate children with magic and encourage them to take it up. The same cannot be said of Dennis Wheatley. One comes away fearing the witchcraft that occurs in the film and wondering how much of it goes on in the real world.

I would say that it is sensible for Christian groups to question whether HP is harmful, and it is a responsible attitude to take, but to my mind it easily passes the test. We don't know until someone reviews it whether it is of the same ilk as Dennis Wheatley. It is only by examining the nature and purpose of witchcraft in any one book that can we come to a decision.

[alecto]

The "magic" used in Harry Potter doesn't seem to be at all an issue to me, vis a vis Scripture or Christianity, because the only charactistic it has in common with the magic described in the Bible is that it is called "magic" and some of the people who use it are called "witches". In addition to being fiction, the relationships it bears to the rest of its fictional world are completely different than those of magic in ancient cultures. Most importantly, it is kind of a psychic energy, that some people (called "wizards", not "psychics") use by their own power, rather than spiritual power derived from gods inimical to YHWH. If, for example, Harry got his power because he sacrificed cute furry animals to Baal, or if Hermione got hers by praying to Asherah and attending the proper priestly sexual functions, then we'd be talking about the witchcraft and wizardry of Scripture. Calling a spade a Wolkswagen doesn't make it a Wolkswagen. HP magic is not a particularly Christian issue because it isn't ever mentioned in the Bible, by the Saints, or by anyone else most churches consider authoritative.

Jerry Falwell doesn't count.

Now one can get into trouble in other ways - for example, if someone started believing that you can really cast spells. But this is not a problem because it's "magic". You could get into trouble in the same way be reading Scripture and becoming convinced you can walk on water without the necessary Grace.

[lee_merrill]