Harry Potter books?

[missmuffet]

28 minutes ago, ladypeartree said:

Ok so I have my body armour on now and will wade into this for once. 

Most of the replies appear to think that Lord of the rings is a classic and ok 

It has wizards in it throwing magic about … the wizard that is supposedly a good wizard cant actually be told apart from the most evil wizard until you see the colour of his robes 

It has giant man eating spiders

It has weird creatures from other realms ( oh and it has other realms as well as the elves are off to live there ) 

It is a supposed fight between good and evil and shows how all are tempted to evil to serve their own desires ( look how the ring affects even the great Bilbo baggins )

The end is not a great everyone is happy ever after ...indeed most are not as they have to come to terms with all the losses 

BUT Harry potter is NOT ok as it 

has a wizard in it throwing magic about 

It has a giant man eating snake

It has weird creatures ( like dobby ) in it

It doesn't have another realm unless you count the train station that Harry dreams of as heaven ??

It is supposed to be a fight about good against evil ( another ring is involved and affects even the great dumbledor ) 

The end is NOT a great everyone happy ever after  indeed most of them have to come to terms with all the losses 

 

One of my grandchildren read all of the books with me ( NEVER ON HER OWN ) she was about 9 years old when we started them but she was a very advanced reader and critical thinker ( at 16 now she has just started the first of her university courses almost 3 years early and is reading Law, politics and philosophy ) She and I read each book a few chapters at a time and stopped whenever there was a good place to teach/learn about things like consequences, friendships, hatred , survivors guilt, death, loneliness, jealousy, after life , good and evil , even if magic exists and what the bible says about witches We talked about things like expecting everyone to fight even if they should be  being protected by adults, how everyone has their own personal "demons" to contend with , about unrealistic expectations from ourselves and others …. it took 3 times the time to talk than to read   

She was NOT allowed to see the films until she had finished the books and she herself came to the conclusion that they were NOT following the book in intent or script and were made to be much darker for the "wow" factor and dramatic license  unlike the lor books that were actually toned down for the film 

 

Is it to everyone's taste ? NO  would I read it with all my 11 grandchildren ?  NO but neither would I expect to have such bitter and adamant declarations of " its all evil " from those who have by their own admission not even read the books and either just watched the film or got carried away with the hype or " key words "

 

 

You are right it is not a Christian themed series. 

[Henry_iain]

I come from a  bookish family and we have always enjoyed books of many different kinds. Fantasy has always been a favourite. It was inevitable that I would eventually be introduced to this. Even as a young child I knew none of it was real. When I became a Christian I was warned about Harry Potter. That was the first time I had heard of it, probably because there were so many other books to focus on at the time. So for a while I would have agreed that this was to be avoided.  But eventually, after debating it with my family, I realised I could not really criticise it without reading at least some of it. So I read it. And soon I realised that it was not half as bad as it was out to be. It was so obviously fantasy just like any other in the genre. I must say, though I found it interesting, I didn't think it was a patch on the others. I admit that sensitive and very young  children would find it scary. It was not written with them in mind. 

The bottom line is this (and I'm repeating myself). If you don't like a particular book for whatever reason, you are free to avoid and not allow your children to read it either. But others are allowed to disagree with you and decide different. There is no point in having many debates about this, because in the end you will do what you feel is right anyway and this is not a essential issue. 

[LadyKay]

The thing about some books and movies is a "monster" isn't always a "monster".  In some stories the "monster" is representing an oppressing government , or the take over the the industrial age.  But for some people. All they see is the "monster" and can not understand what the "monster"  represents.  The story isn't really about a scary monster eating people. It is about pollution, or war, that sort of thing. I think books like Harry Potter are like this.  You have to look at the meaning.  

[GandalfTheWise]

A part of this debate seems to be that some people like art and some people do not like art.   Some people look at a picture and only see what it is.  Other people look at a picture and see what it can represent.  Some people comfortably communicate via imagery and symbols whereas others prefer clearly stated words.  Write a poem or hymn expressing your feelings toward God using symbolism of any sort and there will probably be someone who condemns it for not being theologically accurate enough.  There will be some who are moved and inspired by the beauty of such expression and others who are appalled at the lack of precision and ambiguity.

Some people enjoy reading fantasy books and see ideas and concepts which give them things to meditate on and learn from.  Other people dislike reading fantasy books because they are not realistic and it seems pointless to read such things.   From what I can tell, that is much of what I'm seeing on this thread.  Some Christians look at Harry Potter and see something that is not literally real expressing such themes as friendship and courage so they have little problem with it.  Some Christians look at Harry Potter and see a concrete promotion of the occult and have great concern over it.

 

[simplejeff]

23 minutes ago, GandalfTheWise said:

A part of this debate seems to be that some people like art and some people do not like art.   Some people look at a picture and only see what it is.  Other people look at a picture and see what it can represent.  

When the origin of something is the devil,   the fruit of it is the devil's.   No debate required about that.   

[simplejeff]

On 9/12/2019 at 4:58 AM, Melinda12 said:

Would you ban your children from reading them? 

I would. Spells, sorcery. Not what Christians should ever have anything to do with. The Influences on young minds is bad news in my view. 

Good OP,  except the question really shouldn't even ever need to be asked IN A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS.

God says not to have anything to do with such things.

Corrupt men everywhere don't listen.