I have noticed a rather perplexing parental phenomenon. There is a segment of my extended Christian family whom possess a bizarre and irrational hang-up with the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling and the their spin-off movies. A small segment of that group go even further and have an utterly irrational hang-up with The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel The Hobbit all by J.R.R. Tolkien and their spin-off movies.
The Hobbit movie is in production right now. Most of these same people have no problem with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and their spin-off movies.
This strikes me as arbitrary, legalistic and a sterling example of the concept Christ so perfectly defines in Matthew 23:24: "You blind guides, who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." What Christ is criticizing is the tendency by those in the sin of legalism to arbitrarily have a conniption about things that are small and irrelevant while utterly ignoring much more important issues that really are worthy of consideration and concern. Either ALL of those harmless fictional works are okay or they are ALL not okay. A rather onerous burden of proof rests on the shoulders of anybody trying to make the spurious argument that there is something inherently wicked and spiritually subversive about ANY of those fictional works.
If your kid is going to get into witchcraft as a result of reading any of those books or watching any of those movies then you already failed as a Believer and as a parent long before your kid got into witchcraft. Don't you dare deprive your kid of their own Agency (Free Will) in their own lives as if they will become brain-washed and controlled. Every one of us (including children) make choices because aside from the other amazing gifts we have been given by God such as Grace and Wisdom we have also been given Agency. We all make choices and must live with the consequences of those choices. Oh how I am learning the truth of this now!
If your Christian life is beautiful and real as manifested in the lives of your kids and you fill your kids lives full of the goodness and richness of GENUINE Christian life then I guarantee none of them will get into witchcraft as a result of reading any of those books or watching any of those movies. Any such involvements ONLY come as a result of other more fundamental problems for which this is merely a superficial symptom. So for those of you parental units who read this and for whom this writing is directed please get a grip, stop the madness, reevaluate your positions on these matters and formulate better polices on these matters and consider this a bit of Christian tough-love .
Fini
Bravo! Well said. I really like that word, "agency." I'm going to steal it, in fact. Just so you know. And from now on, I'm going to call you the Christian Realist. I like that. :-)
ReplyDeleteI borrowed "agency" from Dennis Judd my history teacher at Cuesta College and he borrowed it from somewhere else no doubt so have at it.
ReplyDeleteI try to be a realist without compromising either the basic underlying principles nor the specific commands.
This requires a constant balancing act and I don't claim to always find the correct balance.
I think that it is imporatnt that people realize that the term "witch" and "witchcraft" have something like 19 very different meanings, some of which are mutually exclusive.
ReplyDeleteThe Witchcraft of Harry Potter is pure fantasy. The Witchcraft which is called Wicca -- a Neo-Pagan religion -- is an Earth-based gentle, spiritual faith followed by people who are quite concerned with the environment. Please don't confuse the two.