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Moose
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 72
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 Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:36 pm Post subject: What do people think about Harry Potter? :) |
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I am a big fan of Harry but I have a Christian friend (Pentecostal) who disagrees with the books and thinks they are a bad influence on children. I've encountered other Christians who feel like that too but the majority don't seem to disapprove of the books :). Are there any fans here and if so, anyone want to discuss the series with me? *grins hopefully*
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jtheb
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
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Location: second childhood
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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I like them even if they are kids books.
I can see the objections but think they are making mountains out of mole hills.
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crystal
Joined: 04 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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I have seen both sides of this argument, personally we have seen all the films and our children have read the books. As far as I am concerned it is a story and a work of fiction. We also watched the Da Vinci Code, and again as a story i enjoyed the film although I understand that the book is a bit different.
The trouble with banning Harry Potter is either the children will go elsewhere to see it or you have the precident set to have to vet all films. So if Harry potter is not allowed due to witchcraft they do you ban fairy tales as well. Should Shrek be banned because there is magic in there, or Narnia as that also has magic in it? Or is Narna acceptable because the witch is bad and not good? Then we have to ban The Wizard of Oz for the same reason. |
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Sisyphus
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 2142
Location: United Kingdom, Not Europe....
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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You're spot on Crystal. It's the biggest lack in our education system; a degree of common sense.
I think the potter books are great, and whether they are meant for children or not they kept me entertained. (laying myself open for comments there I think)...
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bobbyc
Joined: 23 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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The Potter books will never rank in the higher echelons of literature but that doesn't stop them from being interesting reading. This topic has come up before on Christian forums and with the final book imminent I have no doubt it will do so again. Indeed this thread is an early symptom that potteritis is rife. The criticisms usually fall into two camps. One is that Christians ought not to expose themselves (or their children) to anything to do with witchcraft and magic but crystal has adequately demolished that straw man. The other is that HP actively encourages children (Christian or not) to dabble in things they do not understand. Quite frankly I think that argument is nothing but hogwash (pun intended  ) and it does a gross disservice to the common sense of the vast majority of youngsters.
It's some time since I read the earlier volumes Moose but if you want to open a thread about some aspect of Harry Potter in the Media Centre I'll see if I can chip in the odd contribution or two. |
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moderator
moderator
Joined: 10 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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This thread has been moved into the media forum to give it more room as it were, as it develops, which I'm sure it will.
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Sisyphus
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
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Location: United Kingdom, Not Europe....
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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It seemed at first Harry Potter was under attack by many Christians, the popular argument against them being that Witchcraft should never be seen as good.
Recently however, there have been suggestions that the Harry Potter series does in fact have some very direct Christian Themes.
Rowling herself has implied that the Harry Potter books have a Christian theme:
| Quote: | | I am Christian and this seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I had said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said, 'yes,' because I do. But no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that and, I have to say that does suit me...If I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader -- whether 10 or 60 -- will be able to guess what is coming in the following books. |
And here is a publisher's blurb from a book by John Granger:
| Quote: | | Despite the controversy that surrounds them, millions of Christian kids are reading the phenomenally best-selling Harry Potter books and watching the Harry Potter movies. In Finding God in Harry Potter, author John Granger, a devout Christian, literature teacher and father of seven home-schooled children, gives parents and teachers a roadmap for using the Harry Potter books to teach children Christian truth. Finding God in Harry Potter explores the surprising reasons J.K. Rowling's fiction is so popular and examines what the author believes are strong Christian themes in the Potter books. Along the way, Granger contends that Rowling is writing in the tradition of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and reveals the three tests of great fiction. Finding God in Harry Potter is for Christians who want substantive answers, and for Potter fans who will devour the book to see it they agree with Granger. |
And here's a link to an article about Rowling's use of Christian symbolism:
http://tmatt.gospelcom.net/column/2003/06/18/
This link is quite interesting and worth the read although I’m not sure if it is not a case of being able to read what you want to read into virtually anything…..
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monty
Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 184
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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Often the very Chrisatians who complain about Harry Potter are the same ones who go out and buy Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer books!  I know which books contain the most mumbo jumbo! |
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angel
Joined: 28 Jun 2006
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Location: essex
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 7:52 am Post subject: |
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I have never Read any HP Books, [I cant read big words] but the films are Good.  |
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crystal
Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 308
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 8:00 am Post subject: |
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You have a point Monty I have been given in the past some "Christian" books, not by the people you mentioned and they have been awful.
Just go into a christian bookshop and you can find books aimed at the same age group that Harry Potter is aimed at. I was looking a couple of years ago for books for my children and was surprised to see a series of books about a boy who changed into a dragon, seemed his father was a dragon as well. But because this book was written by a "christian author" then it was deemed acceptable. Needless to say I did not buy it.
I have been told that Philip Pullman's books are anti christian, does anyone know if this is true? |
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monty
Joined: 18 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| Most definitely! |
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jtheb
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 1451
Location: second childhood
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:17 am Post subject: |
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I am unhappy with the Stephen Lawhead books. What do others feel?
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monty
Joined: 18 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:45 am Post subject: |
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| jtheb wrote: | | I am unhappy with the Stephen Lawhead books. What do others feel? |
The guy's name is enough to put me off! |
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Isthmian
Joined: 12 May 2007
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:47 am Post subject: |
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From the Terry Mattingley link:
| Quote: | | "What we are seeing is a religious phenomenon taking place in a profoundly secular, profane culture," said Granger. "J.K. Rowling is pouring living water into a desert. ... She is mounting a head-on attack on a materialistic world that denies the existence of the supernatural and, so far, she is getting away with it." |
I'm not sure I would go along with such lofty claims on the part of Rowling, but it is interesting that people are now claiming the same sort of Religious analogies historically attributed to Lewis.
If I'm honest I find many of the claimed Christian analogies of Lewis tenuous at best and I suspect if I read Rowling again with these analogies in mind I would find the same in her works.
Interesting though never the less, and if it does make children and adults contemplate Christianity, then more power to her elbow.
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Isthmian
Joined: 12 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:52 am Post subject: |
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| jtheb wrote: | | I am unhappy with the Stephen Lawhead books. What do others feel? |
In what way are you unhappy? The guy is just one of thousands of fiction writers in the world is he not. I wasn't aware that he was claiming any significance in his writings pertaining to Christianity or religion over all.
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