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.
I find such concerns comical.
There is a huge difference between reading a Harry Potter book and being involved in the occult.
Thanks, a post from someone who has no logical arguments left. You sound like a liberal who’s lost any pretext for decent discussion and resorts to personal attacks. Nice job.
Why don’t you just admit you love HP no matter what anyone says about it and if we don’t like it and you can’t counter the arguments against it then you just cover your ears and start namecalling us ‘muggles’?
Female pastors=occult
It’s Fiction. Blackbird.
I never made this statement!Maybe you're doing a form of projection, taking the statement of one person to ARGUE with another.
Nothing I have said can be construed into what you quoted, unless one CHOOSES to construe it as such.
My comments have been that a parent should use discernment with a childs reading material. Questioning something is not damning or judgemental, it is DISCERNMENT. Likewise discernment is not following blindly party lines, or idealogical dogmas. When a group of christians make statements that kids shouldn't read HP, for whatever reasons, It is a parents RESPONSIBILITY to inform themselves (primarily by reading said book) and to DISCERN whether THEIR CHILD should read, or not read, said book.
If a parent does this, and in their informed discernment choose not to allow their child to read it, that is the exercising of discernment.
Should someone, maybe you, make an uniformed opinion about the parents, contrary to their decision, thats being judgemental.
Never take the statement of one you differ with and apply it to someone else whose opinion you differ with. It makes you look the fool.
He told me the opposite. I got down to say my prayers last night but he said, "Can you wait a few minutes? I'm on the last chapter of the new Harry Potter book." ;^)
Point me to your condemnations of Narnia and Lord of the Rings.
Where are the parents to teach their kids that books, video games and such are only make believe and not okay in real life?
My oldest played every shoot them up game there is and never gone out and committed a crime.
He read the Harry Potter books and didn’t join the occult.
I really don’t understand where the big Fuzz over a children’s book is coming from.
BTW,he is 19 and is very active in church.
No ill effects from playing shoot them up video games or Harry Potter books.
Sorry to interrupt your rant - but it was simple mistake of clicking the wrong reply button. I meant the reply for someone else.
I have seen some of 2 movies, but never beginning to end. Not because I'm opposed to them, simply because either I came in late, or had other things that prevented my finishing them. What I have seen in the movies, seems to me pretty entertaining.
But if I were a parent, the responsibility of raising a child with discernment "MIGHT" change my benign attitude towards the series. Unless I'm in that position, I cannot know for sure.
I have a buddy who homeschools a fairly large brood. I know what his goals are for raising his family, he limits his families exposure to books and movies to things either strictly christian or overtly moral or neutral. I have given books, videos and games as gifts, and always gear my choices toward very, very wholesome items. Because of the questions these books and movies raise, I would never give them to his family. Simply for my respect for him and his choices.
I can’t think of a single reason in the world why a Christian kid ought not read a Harry Potter book. I suppose there are some Christians who think they should only read Christian oriented material, and that’s there right. But there’s nothing unChristian about the Potter books.
Uh, you might want to review my position on the Potter books. I’m with you. It is fantasy. I support the Harry Potter books and movies.
I’ll point you back to the topic we’ve been discussing that you are conveniently and blatantly ducking.
You are correct, they do not teach the mechanics of witchcraft. What they do do for some kids is whet their appetite to learn the mechanics of spells and potions and necromancy and get involved in witchcraft.
That's really scary, considering the effectiveness of spells and witchcraft.
Your statement shows just what a high regard you have towards God’s warnings not to get involved with this kind of stuff. The fact is that in some cases these kids tap into demonic forces because that is the force behind the occult.
Why do you think real witches cast actual spells within certain circles and other drawn figures on the floor? It is for their own protection. Sometimes that protection doesn’t help them. I have seen interviews with real witches who have talked about becoming possessed by demons even with other witches around as well as other protections. Some have even called it quits after such an episode happens to them.
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