Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Narnia - dangerous to children?

Fantasy or serious stuff? (Harry Potter, LOTR, Narnia)

  • All purely fantasy, should be taken at face value

    Votes: 21 48.8%

  • Narnia's symbolism should be taken seriously, not the others

    Votes: 6 14.0%

  • Harry Potter is dangerous and the others aren't

    Votes: 10 23.3%

  • other (if so please specify in a reply)

    Votes: 6 14.0%
  • Total voters
    43
Auctully, I haven't read HP, but I know what it's basicly about. I have read Narnia, and therefore I know what it's about. I have no idea what LOTR is about exept mabe somebody who has control of magical rings?
 
tootsila said:
Harry Potter is evil because the magic in it is bad and is said to be OK. Chronicles of Narnia, the books at least, are good because the GOOD magic is said to be GOOD, and the BAD magic is said to be BAD. I don't know about Lord of the Rings beacase I've never read it.
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What do you mean, in HP the magic is bad and said to be OK? In HP, the magic is neutral or good, and some bad wizards use it for bad purposes. The same could be said for the magic in LOTR, used for good by Gandalf and bad by Saruman. Even in LWW, the magic is divided by Deep Magic and Deeper Magic, both are assumed to be good, one is assumed to be excellent or superior. I am not getting your point here ...
 
It's SO funny but VERY irritating that my friend Ashley isn't allowed to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because it has monsters! She's NOT a baby!
And another friend Kaila isn't allowed to read it because there's a witch...
 
inkspot said:
What do you mean, in HP the magic is bad and said to be OK? In HP, the magic is neutral or good, and some bad wizards use it for bad purposes. The same could be said for the magic in LOTR, used for good by Gandalf and bad by Saruman. Even in LWW, the magic is divided by Deep Magic and Deeper Magic, both are assumed to be good, one is assumed to be excellent or superior. I am not getting your point here ...
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OK, OK, so I admit I might not know what I'm talking about... that's just what I heard.
 
for me, all of the three books are great, i love it.
that's just me, i don't care if others don't like harry potter, i like the books. and im excited to read the last book of HP!!:D
 
Chakal said:
CASE TWO: There was a strange man in our neighborhood that every year would post a sign of a demon dressed in a red suit. "SATAN CLAUS!" it said. He was certain that believing in Jolly old Saint Nick was equivalent to taking Christ out of Christmas. Forget for the moment that Saint Nicholas was canonized by the Pope for his real life generosity, or that the Santa Claus we tell children about spends his whole life giving away things on the night of Christ's birth.
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This reminds me of the dyslexic occultist who sold his soul to Santa. :D
 
Or the dyslexic agnostic insomniac that laid awake nights wondering if there is a Dog...
 
tootsila said:
OK, OK, so I admit I might not know what I'm talking about... that's just what I heard.
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No I am sure you know what you are talking about, I am not sure I understand what you are talking about.

I heard the same thing from Christians before I ever read HP, which is that HP magic is wrong because it being practiced by humans and taught to children ... but when you read the books, you see the people who can do magic are different than regular humans, and nowhere is Satan worship encouraged or anything like this. They're just fantasy stories.
 
Why don't we use the Jesus Scale. Which is that you judge a tree by the fruit it bears. Narnia awakened a great deal of interest in Christianity. Harry Potter did not. They can't be equated, at least not on the Jesus Scale.

For a good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but shall ye gain figs from thistles?
 
Give the whole series a chance ... I think HP book 7 may make a dramatic Christian point which will bring all the books into focus! (This is my dream, really.)

But also consider ... LWW is required reading in many schools in Great Britain, but many, many youngsters who read it in school never get the Christian symbolism today, because they are not being reared in Christian homes. They do not know the story of Christ, and so cannot see it in LWW.

So, can we really say CON generates interest in Jesus among children who have not already been exposed to the story of Jesus? I don't think so ...

LOTR's symbolism is even more deeply hidden than CON's, and many of its readers and fans do not even realize how it points to Christ.

And finally ... CS Lewis adored fantasy literature because, he said, it breathed an otherworldly joy on him -- like a breeze from another world! Its very other-worldliness made him seek for the source of the breezes, outside our own material world.

So in a sense, any fantasy work which inspires us to look beyond this physical reality for our hope, for something more, can point us to Christ.
 
Lillee said:
what a shame to be so narrow minded. oh well too each is own.
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Im not being narrow minded,i can say what i want your probably saying im narrowminded b/c of what i said about HP right?I understand but honestly thats how i look at it, and maybe the Christain way i was raised doesnt allow witchcraft and the stuff that HP does.
 
ok guys let me just point this out if somebody hasn't already Lord of the Rings is a Christianmovie and book depending on how you look at it same as Narnia after all Tolkien and Lewis were best friends but Harry Potter is the farthest but that doesn't mean that us Christians have to hate it actually my Mum bought Goblet of Fire the other day and it was awesome not near as good as LOTR or Narnia but Harry Potter movies are third on my fave list 1. Narnia 2. Lord of the Rings 3. Harry Potter. 3 might be Eragon soon though when that movie is released (CAN'T WAIT!!!!!) well that is just what i think oh and you can by books at your local Family Christian Store about finding Christianity in LOTR and Narnia so go read up on it before you start saying bad things
 
I chose the "other" option, and have been instructed to explain why:

Firstly, for those who claim that Harry Potter is evil are clearly either dilusionists or conservative religious fanatics. Just my opinion.

Secondly, we must keep in mind that these are stories set within fantastic realms, and so inevitably the words "sorcery" and "witchcraft" are going to show up somewhere in the text.
Also, I think that Harry Potter, despite the "witchcraft" and "sorcery" carries a very Christian message.
Afterall, we are told by Albus Dumbledore that it was the love of Harry's mother that saved him from Voldemort, not sorcery... J.K Rowling's own "Deep magic" perhaps?

And lastly, I pity anyone that denies their children the right to read these books. These books are great morality tales, teaching us to stand strong in the face of adversity, to fight for our values and beliefs and above all to love eachother and to strive to do what is best for the greater good.

If only people could see past the "witchcraft", then they would see the true worth of such books...
 
Narnia Queen said:
ok guys let me just point this out if somebody hasn't already Lord of the Rings is a Christianmovie and book depending on how you look at it same as Narnia after all Tolkien and Lewis were best friends but Harry Potter is the farthest but that doesn't mean that us Christians have to hate it
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I agree Christians don't have to hate HP, but I am curious why you say HP is the farthest from Christian lliterature? There are many ways to see Christian symbols in HP. I listed a few somewhere ... but Danny listed a good one above: Dumbledore makes clear Harry is alive because his mother sacrificed herself for him, the strongest possible magic. Doesn't thi sound like Christ's "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends?" Then there is the business of the patronus which protects Harry, in the shape of a stag. The stag is a symbol for Christ in ancient church history (St. Eustace converted when he saw the crucified Savior in the horns of a stag). Also, remember all the rejoicing of angels when Christ was born? Perhaps this compares with the rejoicing of wizards when baby Harry defeated Voldemort at the beginning of the series? Ordinary humans didn't understand the significance, but witches were hugging them on the street -- just as ordinary shepherds didn't understand the significance of Christ's birth, but angels sang to them anyway!

There is more ...
 
In Kansas now Harry Potter books are sold with a sticker inside the cover. "The Theory of Magical Powers is not scientific fact and readers are urged to carefully consider the evidence both for and against their existance." :rolleyes:
 
Some very good observations there, Inkspot. I think that if you look for it, spiritual symbolism can be found in most forms of literature.
Tolkien said that he disliked allegory, and that he did not consiously try to convey any inner meaning in his books, though subconsiously there are many parallels to the Bible in his work.
I believe that such symbolism is imbedded deep in our subconsious, and goes back to the origins of storytelling, both oral and written, and forms Man's philosophy and understanding of life.
 
Chakal said:
In Kansas now Harry Potter books are sold with a sticker inside the cover. "The Theory of Magical Powers is not scientific fact and readers are urged to carefully consider the evidence both for and against their existance." :rolleyes:
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Get out! They had better start putting such warnings on Grims Fairy Tales, too.
 
In response to the earlier comment that LOTR is a Christian movie, I guarantee everyone involved in that movie would disagree with you. Even more important, Tolkien himself would disagree. Tolkien hated the idea that people would compare LOTR to the story of Christianity and he worked very hard to keep them separate. It was another reason he didn't care for the Chronicles of Narnia. As many have said before me, the key to reading any book is discernment. Maybe I should write a book on finding God in Harry Potter. They do it for every other series. Maybe then people would realize that if you want to find God somewhere, you will, He's always there. And if you don't want to see Him, its easy enough to ignore Him. I can turn any book in the world practically into a support of Christianity and God, whether it was written that way or not.
 
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