Comments on: Tough Questions 2008: Should a Christian Read Harry Potter?

By: Harry Potter and the Diversity Culture « Your Hope

Harry Potter and the Diversity Culture « Your Hope — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:15:52 +0000

[...] my blog Tritone Life is some version of, “Should Christians read Harry Potter?” Readers land on an old post on that [...]

By: mraley

mraley — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:05:01 +0000

Anonymous, I think you may have misjudged my post. I agree with you completely! Thanks for your comment!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:20:19 +0000

Dear Sir,
I have to completely disagree with you on this. I would like to start out that, One. Two or three yrs ago, i would have completely and totally agreed. Two. I am a teenager, so this should be fun. I think the thing MOST christians haven`t realized about the H.P. books, (and i am a christian, but guess what? They are my favorite books) is one, reading the complete series helps, and two…its not witchcraft. The ‘spells’ are latin words (you can plainly see it when reading the books) the ‘potions’ are mythical objects…as are the animals. There is no difference between this and the works of the great C.S. Lewis or J.R.R Tolkien. I think you also should know that like these authors, J.K. Rowling is a christian, and if you read the series you will find parrelells to the Bible. Example: In the final installment of the book, Harry has to sacrafice himself for his friends and family, as they are fighting a battle that is slowly getting them all killed. Voldemort (which is plainly the interpretation of the devil, snakes, and so forth) kills Harry. Harry dies. somewhat (i cannot explain it all now, but J.K. does not make harry Jesus, but like C.S. uses a metaphor to represent if you will, but harry is a human and imperfect character) He comes back, and Voldemort can no longer harm anyone, because Harry sacrificing himself was a sacrifice of love, and in the books, Love concers all evil. Get it yet? No! Oh my!! There are wonderful parrelels that as a christian i find lovely to read about. And no, sir, i am not ‘decieved’ by the devil! Now, I strayed from these books in earlier days because i believed as you, that they are BAD. Why? a friend of mine thought H.P. was her brother and Voldemort was after her. In later yrs, i realized, Where was her mother and father? Who are devout Catholics, who knew of this, Who bought her spell books, REAL spell books? THESE kind of children should NOT read any fantasy, because they dig to deeply adn believe it. But I prayed about it, I am not easily influenced, and a smart, mature person can easily say it is fantasy as C.S. Lewis or Cinderella. They are well written and should be applauded as a christian book for OUR generation. Some quotes are Bible verses, (refreshing!) and J.K. herself has said she wanted to make parrellels to the Bible to show the stance of the book, but could not reveal it as it would completely RUIN the last book! So i invite you to read them, really read them, and also look up the work of John Granger, a wonderful christian man, (homeschooler also, to boot!) who has written many books on Potter and why it is good!
P.S. A tip for parents: If your child read The lion witch and wardrobe and tried to find a magical land in a closet, i recommend they do not read any fantasty books for awhile.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:07:56 +0000

Harry potter is no different from spiderman except that their superpowers are magic instead of spidey senses. If you let your kids watch spiderman, let them watch Harry potter. If you don’t let tem watch spiderman then your way too overprotective.

By: Flabbergasted

Flabbergasted — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:59:40 +0000

The question itself shows the pitiful way of thinking of extremists who dare to call themselves Christians. How paranoid can people be, to take a wonderful children’s book and consider it a threat to their way of life? Do they really believe that the devil made JK Rowling write these books to poison their children’s minds?? Some people should be barred from becoming parents.

By: Harry Potter and the Diversity Culture « Tritone Life

Harry Potter and the Diversity Culture « Tritone Life — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:52:14 +0000

[...] Tritone Life is some version of, “Should Christians read Harry Potter?” Readers land on a post from my Tough Questions series last [...]

By: Some Hacker Hit OEFC’s Site « MER Christianity

Some Hacker Hit OEFC’s Site « MER Christianity — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:55:47 +0000

[...] file on this blog. I have put the audio for the first four sermons in their respective posts here, here, here, and here. I’ll continue to do so until the church puts up a new site. Thanks for your [...]

By: mraley

mraley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:36:20 +0000

Well put on both points. I think people should read things that challenge their points of view, especially when their views are strongly held. I also think Christians should walk with their kids through an exploration of the world, rather than trying to shelter them.

Thanks for dropping by!

By: shadowfirebird

shadowfirebird — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:46:34 +0000

I confess that I’m a non-christian that was drawn here by your interesting headline, so feel free to ignore my opinion.

Q: Should a Christian read Harry Potter?
A: Why not? Because they will disagree with some of it’s underpinnings, namely, the use of magic? What sort of person only reads things that completely conform to their worldview? Isn’t a good idea for a person to read things that challenge him?

But in fact, that wasn’t the question you asked in the text.

Q: Should I let my child read Harry Potter?
A: Why not? Because you think that if they read about magic that will somehow draw them away from Christianity? Isn’t this a question that they will have to deal with for themselves? If they never have the opportunity to deal with those questions — if, in effect, they are Christians because you’ve told them to be — do they have any real christian faith at all?

My 10c.