Book Reviews
Fiction writers use imagination. Obviously we are to use it in ways that please God. A large proportion of children's stories in all cultures involve fantasy and some level of magic.
I think we cannot solely judge such stories strictly by Levitical regulations for people as I've seen many blindly quoting in the case of Harry Potter.
People think please! If we eliminate any sin reference in stories there would be no stories at all! It would beyond madness beyond any political correctness! Obviously there have to be boundaries, but these are the same as for any writing..but I feel that fantasy use of magic is rather harshly dealt to by some Christians because of the recent success of Harry Potter movies. I feel that a lot of the heat of the anti HP lobby is due to a lack of appreciation of what fantasy stories are about. Prominent in the fantasy genre are the writings of two Christians , CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, both of whom used magical charcters in their stories.
I don't consider using magic or the term "wizard" etc in a fantasy story itself to mean what the Bible prohibits. It is merely using labels that average reader will connect to a fantasy world .. most unsaved people are very sceptical about real magical powers, but are quite happy to accept it in a story.
I would suggest that the fanatsy realm is a neutral zone for imaginary spiritual/magical conflict.
If you think HP is just about witchcraft, then you havent read it properly: it's about magic!
REAL witchcraft is ALWAYS about power, especially to CONTROL or ATTACK other people.
THAT is evil, satanic, anti-christian. Any literature that PROMOTES this as good is therefor promoting evil, satanic, anti-christian practices. No question about it.
BUT In the context of story-telling:
Is majic the same as witchcraft? I would say an emphatic NO!
Magic is the imaginary world's 'technology' - funnily enough in HP muggles are commented on as ' people who manage without magic'.
That is a key statement in understanding the HP world.
I think a writer may 'have to' use culturally recognisable figures such as wizards etc to speak about 'magical/spiritual power' to a spiritually ignorant culture as we have in the West these days.
In fantasy magic is often resident in a person, you might say it is "genetic", as in the HP. If you can't understand, or more likely, wont accept that, then you ought not to read fantasy. But be honest enough to say you dont like it rather than blindly slamming it as evil. Some of you will already like fantasy genre, some wont. There is no biblical moral superiority to either view.
How real is HP to witchcraft? How many real witches play quidditch or fly on broomsticks? Fly on magic trains or cars to school? Have wands? Have invisibility cloaks? Or marauders maps? Have potions to turn you into someone else?
This is kiddy stuff. The spells are entry level latin words: does that mean we shouldn't read Latin? It is interesting that Divination/prophecy is basically debunked in HP, which is one of the major occult things that scripture prohibits!
HP does not portray any satanic rituals/worship or occult incantations, no muttering prayers over cauldrons. In fact there is no calling on any dieties or supernatural entities. But you can find all that stuff in some Disney movies!
I n my reading there is virtually a complete absence of any spiritual references in the 5 HP books. Christmas, Easter, Halloween are portrayed as mere holidays. The books show that even in a world where everyone has magic, you will still have pressure, problem and violence - so much for escapist literarture! I find the violence in HP to be more disturbing than the magic.
In HP, majic can be used for good or evil. So can technology, words, even scripture...so if Moses duelled against Pharaoh's magicians, actually transforming objects into animals, changing water to blood, so does that make him a magician too?
What about the "Screwtape Letters" by CS Lewis? Demon correspondance over ensaring a christian that easily takes you into the 'dark side' more deeply than anything HP does. And what about Frank Peretti's books? Demonic characters and activity are prominent described. I've read books on spiritual warfare that compare to a Stephen King novel;some are just as incredible and I wouldnt even advise other adults to read them for fear on what impact it would have on them.
Hysterical anti-JK Rowling ravings such as I've seen on some web sites do not help Christian cause and remind me of Nazi anti-Jewish ravings. I don't recall Jesus or his apostles indulging in the personal attacks that some believers feel they are free to do. And having read the books, the most vicious attacks make these people (and unfortunately by inference, Christians in general) look unintelligent, if not intellectually dishonest.
However all this was not meant as a defense of Harry Potter so much as to say we need Christian writers who can take up the power of the fantasy genre in a fresh way. We have had two Christians giants in JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis who towered over this genre in the last century, have been read by millions in the last 50 years, and I ask where are their successors today? Let's not leave it to JK Rowling to take the lead! I look at the HP books and think of the potential it shows to get our spiritual message across, and I would suggest that a fantasy story will be the way to do it, especially to reach the youth of today.
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well said! I think it's interesting that samuel in the OT was called a sorcerer by people who were on the outside looking in at the Israelites and their religion. If we as Christians try to do away with fantastical references in our fiction, then we render ourselves ineffective and discredit ourselves in the eyes of the world.
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