Faith Stuff: Coming to Terms With Harry Potter

Phil Baker’s Blog has possibly reached its record number of posts via its topic on Harry Potter and the Church.

Having family Members actively involved in the Occult and being exposed to its reality has had me thinking and trying to form a position on where I should stand on this matter.

I have always taken the approach that involvement in Occult practices are actively condemned in scriptures. I don’t profess to be an expert in Church history but from what I have read the early Church regarded familiarity with the Occult as anathema, in fact the didache which reads as an early Church manual clearly states:

Didiche 2:2 Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not corrupt boys, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou
shalt not deal in magic, thou shalt do no sorcery, thou shalt not murder a child
by abortion nor kill them when born, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors
goods.

Didiche 5:1 But the way of death is this. First of all, it is evil and
full of a curse; murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries,
magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies,
doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul
- speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness.

Admittedly I am a fan of LOR and CS Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. The fantasy story of Harry Potter is attractive and admittedly I have only seen a small amount of the first movie – my son asked us to turn it off as it was “too scary” but he was five at the time.
What does scare me is the fact that it is a story of one Boy’s learning journey into the Occult. All Occults branches are progressive learning journey’s where hidden knowledge and power is revealed as the student learns and progresses (eg. Freemasonry, Anthroposophy, Witchcraft etc) .

Because the story is make-believe - I would very cautiously let my own kids watch and read the books with a level of supervision as I do believe there is a fine line between the fantasy and the entry point at which one enters the Occult of which we need to be careful.

Because HP is really pushing the envelope with regard to the Occult themes (more so than any other Children’s tales) we need to be really diligent and responsible over the things that we let into our minds and that of our children - and also what we are seen to be endorsing.

Our children and non-Christian friends often see us as the benchmark of what is right and wrong. (If you don’t believe me – just let a few swear words rip in front of your non Christian friends and just watch their reaction).