Eh - just tell them to bring popcorn. 
Posted on 03/10/2005 9:55:31 PM PST by Coleus
Good heavens, Mrs. Meade. Remember yourself!
My family's helping me fly back home for the next book because we read them aloud together. We also read Bible stories together. Thing is, we know the difference between real and make-believe because my parents carefully taught us what was right and what was wrong from day one. My brothers have all figured out that magic isn't real, after all, no matter how many times they jump off the roof on a broomstick, they haven't managed to fly yet.
If you tell them to keep trying, perhaps they'll achieve "greatness" ... or else, they might just end up like this guy, a "practicing wiccan":
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1383757/posts
Harry Potter has given me countless opportunities to talk to people about Christianity. I was proud to welcome my dear friend home after two years of conversations inspired by our mutual interest in Harry Potter.
I saw a picture of that poor soul with the revolting makeup on. His visage cries out for "School Uniforms" and dress codes. Big time.
When I was in high school (early 60s) boys could not wear tee shirts or jeans, and girls had to wear skirts not above the knee, and of course no pants or shorts.
School uniforms would be a good start. Some might think it's a bandaid, but even bandaids help.
It's threads like this that keep me form inviting all my friends to FR.
Nevertheless, I love FR.
Heh, you too?
Uniforms might do something, but then you have to get the kids to wear them. In our area, they would have more students on suspension than they would in class. I think it's deeper than reading material or dress code. It goes to what we believe in our hearts. In our modern age corruption of the heart is practically a given. Diabolical disorientation has become the rule of the day.
The only answer to this problem is divine assistance. It is simply too big for mortal man.
If you can make your interest in Harry Potter do some good, that's your business. Are you going to use your mutual interest in tarot cards and ouiji boards to do some good too? Where does a friendship based on the occult lead? You can do what you like. Who am I to interfere? Just remember how you might plan to answer Jesus at your final judgment (friendly words intended).
Keep in mind: it could be your final gasp of clean air, among other things.
Another surprise for me: people really think they can read fiction all they want without the risk that they will start to believe what the material contains. I would compare that to swimming in sewage, confident that your intact skin will protect you from cholera, etc.
The recent popularity of the Da Vinci Code is a typical case in point. "But it's FICTION!" they retort. Nevermind that the first page claims that all references to monuments and rites are factual. The reader goes away thinking that he knows the real scoop now, practically forgeting it was supposed to be "fiction."
We were warned that people with "itching ears" would believe "fables" and forget the truth of God. Harry Potter books don't soothe the itch. They make it more anxious for a good scratch. Here comes a new volume, just in time!!
I fully agree with you. There are many ideas that would help; and if I were in any position to try to help the public screwel system, I would try to implement them. But really, I consider it way too FUBAR to salvage. The distorted textbooks, the leftist teachers, the savage clothing and ornamentation, the sex-ed, the vicious mind distorting entertainment that most kids are saturated with, the broken families, the anti-God atmosphere that permeates the culture - some kind of divine intervention is needed.
The more people who realize this, pray a lot, and try to help their own corner of the world - what more can be done?
It's interesting that so many consider the vilest fiction "harmless". Anything a person absorbs through their senses - sights on TV and movies, sounds, reading - it all colors the mind and heart, either for good or ill.
People who know this avoid content which defiles or pollutes. Currently, much of what is considered culturally acceptable is spiritually toxic.
It's good for us to make this point in public, and thank goodness we still can: one of the things we can do is to recognize the threat to our children's souls that books like Harry Potter represent and take the time, trouble and effort to keep our own kids safe from their influence.
A few years ago, when my girls were in pre-school up to 4th grade, I had them in local parochial "Catholic" school. I went toe-to-toe with the principal, the pastor and the DRE about many things, including evolution and the denial of the historicity of Scripture. It was like fighting city hall. The local bishop (Mahony) was against me, and the pastor, while he sympathized with my concerns, was too scared to back me up. The liberals were in control and the Catholic schools were less Catholic than nearby Baptist, Lutheran and public schools!
But it was Harry Potter that was the last straw. I went to every parish school within 10 miles (in the San Fernando Valley, that's not a few!) and found they ALL were avid Harry Potter fans. I did not have my kids in so-called Catholic school to be spoon-fed wicca or worse.
Now the wiccans screech out like devils in exorcism: WICCA IS NOT WITCHCRAFT!!! Give me a break. They might as well shout that clay is not dirt, sewage is not water or gas is not air.
People will latch on to the wildest nonsense to excuse their personal sin.
>>It's interesting that so many consider the vilest fiction "harmless". Anything a person absorbs through their senses - sights on TV and movies, sounds, reading - it all colors the mind and heart, either for good or ill.
>>People who know this avoid content which defiles or pollutes. Currently, much of what is considered culturally acceptable is spiritually toxic.<<
Very, very well said!
Jen's a personal friend. I know for a fact she has no tarot cards and no Ouija board. And she has no friendships "based on the occult."
I suggest you'd do yourself a far greater service if you'd stop worrying so much about a fictional character and start worrying about your own judgmental attitude.
(friendly words intended)
People will believe anything. The Da Vinci Code is just a book, and not a very good one.
Only really stupid children will have their souls threatend by a Harry Potter book.
Now the wiccans screech out like devils in exorcism: WICCA IS NOT WITCHCRAFT!!!
Witches have traditonally been linked to devil-worship. Wiccans do not believe in the devil, so they cannot, by definition, worship him. Whatever Wiccans might be, they're not satanists.
Harry Potter's not occult. Have you read them? You remind me of the people who thought Dungeons and Dragons were going to get kids sacrificing to Satan.
I read the books first before letting my siblings read them. If they had held a trace of the occult - even a whiff - I'd have rather had a millstone hung about my neck than recommend them. There were some books I previewed for them that were evil, or occultish, or just had no redeeming values, like Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
But Harry Potter is set in a moral universe - just not ours. You've got to understand the difference between fiction and reality is that all fiction is about a world a lot like this one, with some crucial difference. In HP world, that difference is that magic works, and is not necessarily evil or forbidden. If you can't figure that out, well, then this conversation is pointless to continue.
Eh - just tell them to bring popcorn.
My family is just the worst. The week of exams is my son's birthday, so he is planning on having his party be his first D&D game. When I asked my children what they wanted to do for the summer when we aren't doing schoolwork, they said they wanted to do Hogwarts Correspondence School again. This year I need to remind my 10 year not to practice potions class before mom wakes up. Wicked homeschoolers!
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