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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 17179
[Art/Music/lit]
Date Posted:
1/30/2007
6:00:03 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 9,563
RSS: 23,005
Comments: 16
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Potter's Morals vs. Bible's Magic
Author: Wayne Dunn Source: Capitalism Magazine (Bahamas)
Title: POTTER'S MORALS VS. BIBLE'S MAGIC
Christians have it backward. If you're worried about your child obsessing over magic, it's not Harry Potter you should guard against; it's the Bible.
Author J.K. Rowling doesn't bill her writing as anything other than fiction. Youngsters are thrilled as the courageous and incorruptible Potter overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieves his goals. The fantastical realm of magic is merely the world Rowling devised in which to depict her ideal of good triumphing over evil, just as Melville used a high-seas setting to depict the self-destructive nature of an irrational lust for revenge.
A child who reads Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or views the record-breaking movie) is no more likely to dabble in witchcraft than one who reads Moby Dick is to dabble in whaling.
But Christians tell their kids that the Bible, which is packed with more swords and sorcery than ever sprang from Rowling's active imagination, is not a work of fanciful fiction, but divinely inspired truth.
For instance, scene one of the Judeo-Christian Book of Magic treats readers to an omnipotent Being uttering the universe-sparking incantation, "Let there be light." (For such an entity, "Abracadabra" or a nose-wiggle would have worked as well.)
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Community Thoughts: There are 16 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Of Children And Stories | Jan 30th. at 11:48:08 pm EST
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Becky (Olean, Ohio) - Email Me - Web
When I was about 4, my father was surprised to find out that my "good" Christian education had some holes and told me the story of two women who went before Solomon to decide which should have custody of a baby. Solomon decided that since he doesn't know which one had the baby, he'll have a guard cut it in half and each woman can take a piece of the child home. One woman, of course, protests and agrees that the other woman can take the child as long as he's unharmed. Solomon gives her custody of the baby because she loved him more. It taught me two things:
1) Kindness is almost always the best solution.
2) The Bible is too violent for most children.
The Harry Potter stories contain fantasy violence, against and by creatures that do not (and to the best of my knowledge never) exist. They have also taught that same lesson about kindness time and again *without* making kids worry about being hacked in half at a custody hearing.
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| Bible Babble... | Jan 30th. at 6:53:41 pm EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Having read both, I'll stick with Potter. At least the stories make more sense and are more fun. After all, the bible never really says why god takes such an exception to gaining a little knowledge- among other things and why he should be so concerned about a little nudity after the apple incident when it didn't concern him before. The mythologies of others the the bible was drawn from aren't nearly as hard to understand.
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| AH-HA HA !!! | Jan 30th. at 4:41:47 pm EST
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me
is THAT why Adam and Eve got tossed from the garden???? "gawd" was afraid that we might get ahold of that second fruit? The one that bestowed immortality?
OH, MAJOR EFFING PUH-LEEZE!!!!
If THAT is what is what he was afraid of, all I can say is.... WHAT A WUSS.
Poor little goddy-woddy, afraid that someone might actually might get the time to learn that their "creator" is nothing more that a mean-spirited, spoiled brat. Wahh wahh wahh.... not to mention that what the article stated about him murdering at the drop of a hat is true.
But honestly, I learned something - I never knew about the "second" tree and fruit. I wonder how THAT one managed to escape my notice. Quite truthfully, I'll take Harry Potters magic over anything in the buy-bull any day!
Love & wisdom to all
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| Parental Guidance | Jan 30th. at 2:10:26 pm EST
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Titania (Smallville, New York) - Email Me
If parents would just take the time to talk to their children about the realities and messages behind both books, then they would be better equipped human beings. I know one little girl who did think she could concoct spells from baby powder and other toiletries, but that was because her parents let an eight-year-old determine for herself what the message was rather than discussing the deeper message. They also were split personalities in terms of being one parental unit--he being a 7th day Adventist and she being a neo-pagan, and not a very knowledgeable one at that.
Anyway, Potter is fiction and the Bible is dubious. As a Christian friend of mine puts it: "it's not God's word I doubt, just the men who wrote it."
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| No Subject | Jan 30th. at 1:40:22 pm EST
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Llunmere (Germantown Hills, Illinois) - Email Me
Kind of mean, but so are the fundies. Two wrongs don't make a right, but at least it was entertaining and might get somebody to think.
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| Wonderful! | Jan 30th. at 1:18:31 pm EST
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Ursyl (Murrysville, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
My husband has been saying similar about the Bible for decades.
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| Priceless! | Jan 30th. at 12:15:03 pm EST
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Morgan Ravenwood (Lake Havasu City, Arizona) - Email Me
And SO true! I wouldn't let my kids read the bible till they were in their early teens for just such a reason.
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| Giggle... | Jan 30th. at 7:39:32 am EST
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Cúglas Hiberniae (New Brunswick, New Jersey) - Email Me
ZING!!
Can I start flyering this article? Please?
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| Yup... | Jan 30th. at 7:20:34 am EST
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Son of Pan (Huntington Beach, California) - Email Me
.... he's right i think
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