Tag Archive - Review

Why Jesus and Harry Potter can be friends (part 4)

July 19, 2011 in Cultural Connection with 0 Comments

We live in a world where, sadly, many people are more attracted to Harry Potter than they are to Christ. I think this occurs because people have the wrong idea about who Jesus is. What is even more interesting is that many of the things people love about Harry Potter are based on the qualities of Jesus. I have posted on this before, but this last similarity is perhaps the strongest parallel and it takes place in the final chapters of the last book. I know many people ($164 million worth of people) saw it this past weekend, so now is the time to discuss.

The Final book of J.K. Rowling's series

Towards the end of his story, Harry comes to find out that the only possible way to defeat Lord Voldemort is by freely offering himself to die. Although he is fearful, he chooses to submit himself to death and goes out into the Forbidden Forest alone, ready to face his fate. He finds Voldemort, and allows himself to killed. After the Killing Curse is used on him, he has an afterlife experience where he meets his old Headmaster, Dumbledore.

Dumbledore tells him that Harry has a choice: he can either move on into the afterlife, or return to the land of the living and help defeat Voldemort once and for all. Harry chooses to return to life, and returns with the power, ability, and knowledge to defeat Voldemort.

Harry gives himself up in the forest

Most people will recognize the surface of this parallel. Harry, like Jesus, died for those he loves and then returned to life. But the parallels go far deeper. First, and perhaps most importantly, he was a willing sacrifice. No one took his life, he gave it. Christ did the same thing for us (John 10:18). His death was no accident! He gave himself freely so that we might have life. It is important to make this distinction because it demonstrates the love these two people had for the rest of the world. Not only that, but the fact that the sacrifice was freely given made all the difference.

For Harry, his sacrifice had the same effect that his mother’s did 17 years before. Although the movie does not mention it, Harry points this out to Voldemort in the book, “I’ve done what my mother did. They’re protected from you. Haven’t you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can’t torture them. You can’t touch them. You don’t learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?”

Harry fighting Voldemort, post sacrifice

This is so cool! Harry’s blood is now covering all the people he died for. They are all safe from the enemy; Voldemort has been stripped of his power, even before he was completely destroyed. Because Harry gave himself willingly, all the people he died for were saved and protected from death.

Sound familiar?

2,000 years ago, Jesus gave himself up to die for the people he loved. His enemies called for his death. When he gave it, they believed they had triumphed. They celebrated their victory and mocked him, but they were mistaken. Jesus returned to life, and by his wounds we are healed. Through his death, we too have been saved and no longer have to die. Through his blood, we are protected from judgment. The enemy has no power to accuse, and though he is furious with wrath, his time will soon come to an end.

I love the way Revelation 12 describes this: “For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night,  has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

The ending of Harry Potter should inspire us. The life of Jesus should inspire us even more. Why? Because he was not a fictional character, and he did not die for wizards, he died for you.

 

Why Jesus and Harry Potter Can Be Friends (part 1)

December 2, 2010 in Cultural Connection, Favorite Posts with 7 Comments

Morgan and I recently saw the newest Harry Potter flick and really enjoyed it. Morgan decided to reread the books because she was a bit foggy on remembering some of the story, and I have been doing a little bit of rereading myself. As I looked back at the story, I was amazed at how well connected everything is. For instance, the character Dumbledore uses his “deluminator” in the first chapter of the first book. This device is not seen again until the last book, but it plays a rather pivotal role for the character named Ron.

Being a curious/wannabe writer myself, I decided to investigate how JK Rowling, the author of the series, wrote the story. As it turns out, she did have much of it planned out. In fact, the final chapter of the last book was written seventeen years ago. That was pretty impressive! During my search, however, something else caught my attention: Rowling’s spiritual beliefs. When asked about it, she said the following (according to Wikipedia):

“I was officially raised in the Church of England, but I was actually more of a freak in my family. We didn’t talk about religion in our home. My father didn’t believe in anything, neither did my sister. My mother would incidentally visit the church, but mostly during Christmas. And I was immensely curious. From when I was 13, 14 I went to church alone. I found it very interesting what was being said there, and I believed in it. When I went to university, I became more critical. I got more annoyed with the smugness of religious people and I went to church less and less. Now I’m at the point where I started: yes, I believe. And yes, I go to the church. A protestant church here in Edinburgh. My husband is also raised protestant, but he comes from a very strict Scottish group. One where they couldn’t sing and talk.”

She has also said, “I believe in God, not magic.” She never publicly referenced her spiritual beliefs because she was afraid it would give too much of the ending away. I am not sure, however, where exactly she stands. I don’t think she is sure either, she seems to have doubts that she wrestles with. In the end though, she does believe in God and the afterlife, but that could mean a lot of things.

One of the reasons this caught my attention is a conversation I had in Middle School with someone about Harry Potter who claimed that a kid read the books and because of them decided there was no God. This person also claimed that when the author found out, she said, “good! That is the point of these books!” Many other people have claimed the books promote involvement in the occult, and so to see that Rowling actually believes in God and is a member of a church was rather encouraging to me.

Again, I am not really sure where exactly she stands spiritually, and no one except for her and God really do, but I have been looking at the stories now with a slightly different lens. The first time I read through them, I never really noticed the messages of the books (mostly because I was not looking for them), but this time I have been quite engaged with her themes and some of them have been quite brilliant. I do not think she views these books at all like Narnia, which has rather overt (though brilliant) spiritual themes, but any time someone believes in something it is going to show itself in their creations.

Before getting into the fictitious truths we find in Harry Potter, I need to comment on 2 important things. The first is this: if you think Harry Potter is evil and promotes the occult because it involves magical people, then that is fine. Make sure, however, that you believe the same thing about Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. I think, however, your time would be much better spent getting angry about the things that are actually ruining our kids lives. For instance, the average age that kids are first exposed to pornography is now 11. Forget about getting angry at fantasy stories that are really fables that teach truth and start getting angry at the fantasies our culture tells kids are real.

Secondly, some people may wonder why I point out Biblical truths in things like movies or pop culture. They say, “doesn’t the Bible speak well enough for itself? Why do we need Harry to prove a point?!” To the first question, I wholeheartedly agree. The Bible speaks more than well enough for itself. It speaks so loudly, in fact, that it’s truths are believed by many people who do not even realize it. There are dozens of movies that show sacrifice or love or choosing what is right. Granted, these stories are often muddled with things that are far from the truth, but still we can see people’s appreciation for God and His Word in those stories. The only problem is, they do not realize that they are appreciating things that are from God. I talk about movies, not because they prove the value of love, but because open people’s hearts to Biblical truth without them even realizing it. For instance, imagine a conversation with a non-Christian…

I say to them, “Hey you should read the Bible because it talks a lot about love.”

They respond with, “I don’t want to read the Bible. When I grew up people at church were mean.”

This conversation can go on for a bit, but ultimately the person gets angrier and angrier because that meanness they experienced as a young person is now being projected onto me.

If, however I say the following, “What was your favorite theme in Harry Potter?”

They respond by saying, “I think it is amazing how powerful the sacrifice Harry’s mom made for him is. What an incredible picture of love! And I love that her sacrifice is what protected her from Voldemort and death”

Then I can say, “I agree! I do not think there is a more powerful picture of love than giving one’s life up for another.”

See where the conversation can go from there? Jesus actually is responsible for those words! Not only that, but he lived those words! And because of his sacrifice for us, we too can have life instead of death.

Obviously, the conversation would be a little more involved than that, but you can hopefully see the value in starting gospel conversations in something that someone is already passionate about. It opens them up to the truth and encourages them to really embrace it. There is a reason Jesus taught in parables, and when we have the chance to use them we should.

As you will notice, this is only part 1 of the Harry Potter series on fictitious truths. I already have parts 2 and 3 ready and will be posting them shortly. So if you have any interest, make sure you subscribe by clicking here and have a wonderful day!

What do you think of Harry Potter?