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I have written this column long enough to have a
fair idea of which opinions draw what kind of mail, and which get you pegged as
on the fringe. So it is with eyes open that I choose as today’s topic Harry
Potter.
You don’t need children in the house to know who Harry Potter is. The creation
of previously unpublished author J.K. Rowling, the character is a teenage boy
who discovers that his deceased parents were actually a witch and a warlock. He
enters the family business via Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
around which many of his adventures are set.
He is also a
phenomenon. Over 5 million copies of the latest novel in the series, released
July 8 at the witching hour, have been printed in the United States and
Britain. The book became e-tailing’s biggest seller even before its release
with nearly 800,000 advance orders to the two largest online booksellers. On
the day the new book arrived, each of the previous three held spots on The New
York Times’ top 15 list.
Children,
parents, and the media were enthralled. You could hardly turn on the TV or read
a newspaper without stories of long lines of tired kids and parents, awaiting
the book’s midnight release. Despite its heft (at over 700 pages) Harry Potter
is reported to have children reading like nothing in recent memory. Who could
rain on such a parade?
Well, me. Many
Christians object to the witchcraft that is the series’ central theme, generally
to public derision. Others have bought the books, finding Harry’s brand of
sorcery harmless.
Folks can believe and follow the Bible or not as they freely choose; this is
addressed to those who do. You most likely realize that the path you have
chosen is not always popular. Stating what you know can draw misunderstanding
at best, so it’s easy to understand why some decide to keep their thoughts to
themselves, maybe even compromise a little. Not to fit in, exactly, but perhaps
to be a bit smaller target.
Besides, the argument goes, Harry’s isn’t evil magic. He gets kids to read,
which is a good thing. And it’s a different era than when the Bible was
written; people have changed and times are different. The Bible has some good
principles, but what of independent thought? Isn’t it better to make up your
own mind than to blindly follow an ancient book, no matter how well intended?
In other words, if you would just think for yourself you’d do what everyone else
is doing.
Harry is just the latest, most visible symptom of a broader condition, though
worthy of comment. Perhaps Paul was most direct when he wrote to the Galatians
that “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage,
selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the
like.” That’s pretty unsettling company for an outwardly innocent lad like
Harry, but just as the Good Book makes no exceptions for nice orgies, there is
no harmless witchcraft. Sugarcoated or not, it’s the same bitter pill.
By today’s standards the bigger sin is preaching, a tag many fear. The mere
expression of Christian knowledge gets you accused of forcing religion on
people, which cannot really be done in any meaningful sense. Even simple
discernment draws cries of “Judge not!” from folks with no idea of what Biblical
judgement means. In any event, if all of us preached from every corner at the
top of our lungs we would still be but a whisper against society’s tireless
drumbeat.
I
suggest you not worry about these things, but decide for yourself by the
knowledge that is yours. Paul says in Romans “Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
“Then,” he wrote, “you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his
good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Let that be our
standard, not the passing pressures of this time.
© 1997 – 2002 Brent Morrison
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