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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Did you wait line for the recent Harry Potter Book?

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coops
Member



Joined: 2004/6/28
Posts: 141


 Re:

At the risk of my end point being drowned out by my raving... Im not ANTI-HARRY-POTTER as such, in fact until i started this post I was very un-opinionated. I just had 2 verses to quote... anyway my brother was really into them at the start and has grown up a bit and just doesnt have time to read the next...
I havent ready any, and I tried to watch one of the movies twice, but fell asleep both times! So please excuse me if I say something without understanding it all fully:

If this is now, what next? If high school prayer is banned and harry potter is in, are we going down the wrong road? If our children love magic-based-fiction as a child, what will the read as they hit their mid teens? What will they do for excitement and to be different, or when things go wrong? We might not just have gothics, we could have more warlocks too! And when they hit their adulthood: horoscopes. OK a little doomsdayish and possibly over-reactive, :-) but honestly one thing leads to another and we all know it will happen to at least some of our youth. :-(

I like what was said eariler: it doesnt lead us to Christ... It made me ask myself, "Are we trying to justify the importance of reading it, or the importance of not reading it, or something in between?"

Anyway the two verses that come to mind with Harry Potter (and much more) are these...

I wont say "Harry Potter is evil" or "Harry Potter is good", but for those who say that its ok... [b]"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive.[/b]
1 Corinthians 10:23

To be honest I couldnt find a way to twist this next verse to mean something else, so I'm going to have to take it very literally...

Let it be our rule of thumb:

[b]Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.[/b] Philippians 4:8

Does it fit our criteria? :-)


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Coops

 2005/7/27 8:13Profile
RobertW
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Joined: 2004/2/12
Posts: 4636
St. Joseph, Missouri

 Re:

Quote:
Lewis and Tolkein both use 'magic' and fulfillment of ancient prophecy as their narrative tools too.



Yes. I know that Tolkein said there were no allegories, etc. to scripture. But I do notice frequently his use of names that are "spin-offs" from Hebrew and Greek. His use of "im" is one that comes to mind right off. Tolkein was a veteran of WWI and lost several of his friends in that war. It was not until I visited the Liberty Memorial WWI museum that I really came to appreciate why he seemed to press the issue of how industry had revolutionized war. The stories, if nothing else, are reminders of how man has become callous in dealing death. Mass production of weaponry, etc. I have been to Gettysburg and Liberty and can tell you that man had come a long ways in mechanized warfare. At the end of the day I read Tolkein and its wonderous adventures as books essentially about death. Maybe that is a shortsided view, but the lengths to which man will go for the lust for power. We have a saying here among my friends, "their smoked out on 'the ring'." It means that something has captured their heart. I have never seen a better depiction and chronicle of lust than Peter Jackson's work with Frodo and the one ring.

As a side not to all this I once read where Jack Hayford tried to describe the beauty of "spiritual language" (tongues, 'glossolalia'). He used Tolkeins description of the Elven tongues in his analogy.






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Robert Wurtz II

 2005/7/27 8:39Profile
philologos
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Joined: 2003/7/18
Posts: 6566
Reading, UK

 Re:

Quote:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8


I do not intend to weaken this statement. I only comment that if it is imposed, literally, on every possible occasion it means that Christians must never read anything but the Bible, and even some parts of that might come under its ban. The literal imposition of Paul's words means the end of newspapers, the internet, and almost every form of human communication.


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Ron Bailey

 2005/7/27 9:03Profile
philologos
Member



Joined: 2003/7/18
Posts: 6566
Reading, UK

 Re:

Jim Elliot could recite Robert Service's poems and delighted his fellow bible college friends with renderings of The Face on the Bar-room floor'. He read widely. Tolkein's 'bible' for his saga is the Silmerilian. It provides a compendium of 'legends and ancient wisdom' as is the theology behind his Middle Earth narratives. It is sheer fiction and no conscious derivative but I would encourage folk to read the part relating to the original rebellion of his 'fallen angel'. It is not bible, but as with Lewis and the Voyage to Venus you will hear notes which would not be out of harmony with the biblical revelation.

I note that Paul quoted from poets in Acts 17. Their words were not derived from biblcal revelation but somehow the poet can sometimes touch a reality. We need to return constantly to the scriptures to adjust such 'revelations' but as Paul showed in Acts 17 they can sometimes carry a revelation of truth.


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Ron Bailey

 2005/7/27 9:12Profile
coops
Member



Joined: 2004/6/28
Posts: 141


 Re:

Quote:
I do not intend to weaken this statement. I only comment that if it is imposed, literally, on every possible occasion it means that Christians must never read anything but the Bible, and even some parts of that might come under its ban. The literal imposition of Paul's words means the end of newspapers, the internet, and almost every form of human communication.



thats a good point, philogos... i hadn't thought of it that way... i wonder how ti can be interpreted, but i guess this probably isnt the thread for that.... :-)


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Coops

 2005/7/27 18:59Profile
yblek
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Joined: 2004/7/2
Posts: 35


 Re: Lot of Responses to This Question

It is interesting all of the viewpoints that have come out with this question. It is also amazing the number of books that this women has sold using the means of fantasy. Thank God He is REAL!


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Kelby

 2005/7/30 4:58Profile
modivarch
Member



Joined: 2005/4/21
Posts: 21


 Re: Did you wait line for the recent Harry Potter Book?

Isn't this kind of like the food discussion in 1 Cor 8?

 2005/7/30 8:09Profile
coops
Member



Joined: 2004/6/28
Posts: 141


 Re:

it could well be...

what parallels can you draw?


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Coops

 2005/7/30 8:41Profile





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