The Cultic Nature of Harry Potter
Is he really necessary? Not really.
Is
Harry Potter Really Necessary?
by
Dr. C. Matthew McMahon
What would the Puritans think about Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone? This
is a more intricate and complex question than many hard core
“Puritan-heads” may care to admit.
I would imagine that most Puritan-heads of the 21st
century would quickly manipulate the 17th century puritan
mindset to cast Harry Potter into the very depths of hell itself.
I suppose we could imagine that if J. K. Rowling ever lived in 17th
century puritan England, or early Colonial America, and wrote such books
in those times, she would be thoroughly scourged, placed in the stock or
jailed, fined an enormous amount of pounds, and her Harry Potter
books would have been burned in the public square.
Even after such a statement I can hear the puritan crowds cheering
me on, right? I am not so sure.
Over the past two years the
popularity of the Harry Potter books have escalated as the top
money-grossing children’s books of all time; or so they say.
Parents and children alike both scuttle off to the neighborhood
bookstore to buy the latest version of Harry Potter when it arrives.
Harry Potter is the likable young “wizard to be” of J. K.
Rowling’s children’s books. However,
I am always leery to accept anything the American populous, much less the
whole world in general, finds trendy.
When secular society finds something equally entertaining and
acceptable “en mass” the Christian eyebrow should rise up as
high as Mr. Spock’s. I have
known little about Harry Potter since he arrived on the scene of
children’s literature, and so, in desiring to speak intelligibly about
the controversy behind the stories, I viewed the current movie based on
these books. My intentions
were study based, and I desired to gain some knowledge of the current
controversy by obtaining my information straight from the horse’s mouth
without having to wade through 7 children’s books.
First, allow me to critique the
movie by its material standards. In
not so many words, it was a thoroughly entertaining 3-hour movie, very
well made from beginning to end, casted perfectly in its characters, and
the special effects will knock your socks off.
Is that a plea for the movie?
Not really. Some of
the worst movies imaginable have all been down those lanes before.
However, overall as a movie, I can certainly see why the masses are
attracted to this Hollywood blockbuster.
Yet, we must keep in mind, that the secular world is always
attracted most to those concepts and ideas which are utterly secular
– things devoid of the holiness of Christ.
My desire is to take on this subject through Puritan eyes (I equate
most of what the Puritans believed to be thoroughly biblical
theologically, so I believe I stand on good ground in asking the question
in this manner.). In what
ways would the puritans have approached critiquing this movie?
If the puritans were alive today (Love, Perkins, Owen, Watson,
Henry, etc) would they have bothered to see Harry Potter?
I think they would have, as much as they would have read Darwin’s
“The Origins of Species…” Why?
Is it because I did and I desire to justify my actions?
That is not the reason at all.
I personally would never listen to anyone’s opinion about
anything that they have no idea about.
And it is not enough to have biblical principles when the knowledge
to apply them is simply the sterile environment of the mind instead of the
active matrix of the world we live in.
To know what the Bible says in contrast to the principles that the
Harry Potter series propagates is not enough to engage the mother at work,
or the child in the classroom. As a matter of fact, just this past week I listened to a
Jewish mother confront a professing Christian on this topic. She wondered whether he would take his children to see Harry
Potter as she had done. The
Christian immediately answered with “I try to stay away from things that
are occultic or dark.” Really? He
had no problem bringing his children out on Halloween.
Suffice it to say, the Jewish mother won the conversation, nicely,
but tactfully. This does not
mean we should view pornography to know that pornography is wrong. That is a given. Why
then is Harry Potter not a given?
Because it’s subject matter is not new, and is not necessarily
evil in and of itself. This
we will see in a moment.
We
need to put on our thinking caps, ready our “Ramean logic,” and keep
our Bibles open as Puritan-heads. Let
me begin by stating and explaining what I am not going to talk
about. The proposition at
hand is not about whether Harry Potter and its occultic influences
are bad for Christians. The Bible is filled with occultic influences, witches,
dragons, Satan and the like. Their
presence in the Bible does not prompt us to throw the Bible away. Harry Potter is filled with occultic imagery, but that should
not, in and of itself, cause us to throw away the movie.
In censorship, Christians often have a habit of censoring what they
do not like rather than censoring things logically and biblically based.
Christians simply do not go as far as they should.
Should they ever support movie theaters that would
play such things? Should they
ever contribute to Hollywood in any sense and watch TV, buy
videos or DVDs, etc? At this
point a better question may be “How hypocritical will Christians really
be in condemning Harry Potter at the outset because of the elements
it contains?” It is one
thing to appeal to your own conscience, quite another to set a standard
for all Christians. If you do
not like Harry Potter, and believe it is sin to view the movie or read the
books, then by all means do not do either.
But have a reason why this is so.
For instance, most Christians have little problem justifying their
viewing pleasure before some movies like the Star Wars series and
its Buddhist principles, Cast Away and its thoroughly atheistic
philosophy, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with its magic and
sorcery, not to mention Aladdin with its thieving main character, Hercules
and it pagan mythology, and the Wizard of Oz and its “good”
witch and magic slippers. What
shall we say of the Chronicles of Narnia with its magic wardrobe,
white witch, griffins, werewolves, satyrs, demons, spirit trees, goblins,
trolls, talking animals, or any of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and the like?
“All of that is different,” says the Christian.
I say “why?”
There are some “hard core” fundamental Christians who simply
throw out the window all of “Hollywood,” as well as the Narnia books,
because they mix up the idea of content and message.
I can say that because very early in my own Christian walk I said
the same thing; we should not read the Chronicles of Narnia because
it contains witches, demons and the like.
But if I am going to throw it all out, then I really need to take
another look at the Scriptures themselves.
The Bible chronicles the activities of witches, demons, spirits,
dragons, beasts with multiple heads, scorpion-like creatures which torment
men, cannibalism, horrible and cruel deaths by hanging, sword, boiling in
oil, tearing apart by lions and a host of other atrocious thoughts and
actions. It details the work
of the devil graphically, and records warfare of all shapes and sizes,
including spiritual warfare. It
speaks to every human and demonic calamity in striking, and sometimes,
grotesque detail (be reminded of young David chopping off the head of the
evil giant Goliath.) It often
leaves nothing to the imagination.
“Wait one minute,” says the reader, “in no way can you
compare the Bible with Harry Potter.
You must be mad in making such assertions!
The message of the Bible is much different than Harry Potter!
Its God’s word to us! It
is in a class all its own!” My
response to that would be, “I thought we were talking first about content,
not message?” Harry
Potter contains elements of the occult: witches, wizards, potions,
dragons, unicorns, flying broomsticks, and the like.
Well, so does the Bible in many instances, but no one would ever
think about throwing it out simply because of content.
In the KJV of the Bible, in Numbers 23:22, 24:8, Deuteronomy 33:17,
Job 39:9-10, Psalm 29:6, Psalm 92:10, and Isa 34:7, we find references to
unicorns. In Exodus 22:18,
Deut. 18:10, 1 Samuel 15:23, 2 Kings 9:22, 2 Chr. 33:6, Micah 5:12, Nah.
3:4, and Gal. 5:20 we find references to witchcraft and witches.
In Acts 13 we find sorcerers.
In Ezekiel 13:6-7, 21:21-22 and Acts 16 we find divination.
In Psalm 91:13, Isa. 27:1, 51:9, Jer. 51:34, and through the book
of Revelation, we find dragons galore.
Shall I go on? Does content itself dictate what we shall keep and throw
away? Certainly not.
Take
a breather, step back, and think about it.
If content alone, without the primacy of the message, is the rule
and guide for our viewing or reading pleasure, then the Revelation of John
(the last book in the New Testament) is just as offensive as the Harry
Potter movie. Talk about
a book with imagery! Remember,
we are speaking about imagery and content in this instance, not the
message of the book. But, we should
be thinking about the message and meaning behind the content, and
the use of the content as our key.
I understand that certain limits on this should be set.
No Christian should be reading the pornographic romance novels, or
watching the lewd and outwardly offensive soap operas.
In the same way, young children should not be exposed to reading
the cannibalistic aspects of the Bible, or possibly some of the suicide
passages (Ahithophel, Judas, etc.). Parents
should be discerning when and how they introduce difficult, or disturbing
themes to their children, even when they come from the Scriptures. (Rabbi’s still keep their children from reading the Song of
Solomon because of its graphic sexuality until they are old enough to
handle such information maturely.) The
Bible is full of difficult and disturbing themes.
Content wise, this is equally true of the Harry Potter movie.
But we must look to the message, and not just the content/imagery.
I
believe the 17th century puritan would equally agree that the
logic should go something like this: I need to understand the message
behind Harry Potter and not just the content of Harry Potter,
as much as I need to know the message behind John’s Apocalypse.
I should know what the book of Revelation conveys in its message
and scope, why it was written, who stands behind its authority; not just
the facts concerning the presence of the devil, the false prophet, beasts
with multiple heads, beasts covered with eyes, flying dragons, four
horsemen who come to ravage the earth and its people, etc. etc.
Would John’s apocalypse be thrown out for its content based on
content alone? As a matter of
fact, for the very reason of those elements just mentioned, the book of
Revelation was one of the very last books to be accepted into the canon.
I am thankful that God wisely and providentially helped those men
to see passed the mere content and look to the message of the book. I think it is more vivid and fantastic than Harry Potter
by a long shot in content/imagery. But
because of the message, and the authority behind the message, I
will never part with it, much less the entirety of the Bible no matter how
graphic or disturbing the Bible may be.
Now that we have lain to rest
what may have confused us, let us move to what does matter: the message of
Harry Potter. On this
point, in certain respects, the puritans would have a field day with
Potter’s confusing message. I
am unable to comment on any of the further adventures of Harry and his
wizard friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the books
on the market. I can tell you
that the message of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is far
different than I thought it would be before the movie began.
I had been ready to cast Harry and his friends into the pit of
hell, as any good 21st century Puritan-head would have liked to
do. But after the movie was
over, my opinion changed somewhat (and I say somewhat).
A bold-faced message was almost non-existent; at least in this
movie. On this point alone it
ought to be withheld from children altogether.
Children’s stories, even when moral, should be blatantly obvious
(Like Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but be discerning here.)
Harry Potter’s message was not obvious in the least.
It was more of an amalgamation of moral ideas combined together
under the setting of this young wizard, his two friends, and the school of
witchcraft and wizardry. The
movie taught bravery, self-sacrifice, courage, friendship, respect,
loyalty, and other virtues. It
also taught children to rely on lying, cheating, killing, revenge,
hypocrisy, and the power of witchcraft (which is really a Greek term for
“manipulation”); some very sinful practices.
Harry and his friends not only learned to be kind and friendly, but
they used whatever means they could, including wizardry and witchcraft, to
attain their goals. It was a
blatant display of relativistic ideology and situational ethics; the old
“means justifies the end” scenario. But mainly, and forthrightly, the movie taught that people
should decide whether they want to be good or evil.
How one comes to define this is another thing altogether.
The evil wizard in the movie said that there was no good or
evil, only power. (Buddhist?
New Age?) Is this what Harry
believes? Is it true?
The movie never tells us whether this is right or wrong.
It leaves us to decide. It
leaves children to decide. In
Harry’s world it seems that this is the norm.
The movie also has an element
that points the finger and shakes the fist at anyone who would oppose the
means of magic and witchcraft. (Convenient?) Harry
is told that people who dislike these things are called “muggle.”
If this theme is carried into the books, I believe it is a very
harmful, intolerant way of setting the books overt opinions of those who
may think the books, or the movie, to be unacceptable for children.
Please do not misunderstand me – I am of the utmost opinion that
Harry Potter is not for children in any way, shape or form.
(More on that later.) But
the wide acceptance of this character and his blatant opposition to
mugglers is an important note to keep in mind when Christians consciously
reject the books and movie, and are labeled mugglers by those children who
are reading them. (What is this message?)
Since the Potter movie seems to
be a conglomeration of good and evil ideas, emotions, thoughts and
intentions, should children be exposed to it?
Maybe some questions are in order.
I already answered the question as to whether Harry Potter should
be thrown away because the movie contains representations of occultism.
I think that is non-issue once the Biblical record comes into play.
No one is going to see Harry Potter in order to consult a medium or
channel spirits. But the
message of Harry Potter, or the occultic and evil subtleties that it
propagates and teaches children is another matter.
We might ask, “Does Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
teach and propagate sinful actions? Or,
“Does Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone contain a
sufficient amount of unbiblical immorality and wickedness to cause
spiritual and moral damage to anyone watching it?
The answer is “yes” to these two questions when it comes to
children, and even some simple-minded Christian adults.
(I mean no disrespect here.) Children
are far too impressionable and teachable in the things of the flesh to add
to the flesh in any way. They
should be shielded from such teachings of relativism, occultism and sinful
behavior. We do not have to
teach children to be wicked, why should we fill their heads with more
occultic ideologies which will further cause them to desire the lifestyle
of Harry Potter? Would it not
be “cool” to have the power of Harry?
Certainly children think this way, and certainly Potter is going to
leave them with an indelible impression of attempting to attain what they
can in real life through this fantasy figure.
If
we strip away all of the fantasy (the unicorns, wizards, magic wands,
werewolves, flying broomsticks and the like) we must deal with the message
that is left. It is a subtly confusing message. On the one hand it is difficult to pin down what the Harry
Potter movie is blatantly teaching.
On the other hand it is ingeniously introducing occultic and
demonic ideas to the populous. When
we leave the theater, does Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
make us hate witchcraft and demonic activity, as we should?
Or does it leave us with a warm fuzzy feeling that we have enjoyed
a good movie? Are we
discerning enough to know that a warm fuzzy feeling is not the feeling
that Christians should have after being exposed to the real life occultic
ideologies of astrology, divination, necromancy and the like?
Oftentimes
the subtleties for children in such fantasy movies and books results from
a continual desensitizing to the ideas presented.
The ideologies in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
are those which stimulate the emotions and bypass the scrutiny of a
biblically based rational mind – something that children of our
generation have little of in the first place.
When a movie like this one is placed before the desensitized child,
the fast-paced visually exciting story will easily capture his or her
heart immediately – especially with the blend of the lovable characters
and their relationships. This causes them to by pass the subtle messages and enjoy the
adventure.
What
do we do with God in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?
God, well, where is God in all of this?
Actually, the only mention I heard of God was using the Lord’s
name profanely by a groundskeeper who worked the castle yard.
Other than that, God is out of the picture all together.
What does this teach? It
teaches that Harry and his friends can have a good time flirting with evil
and calling it good, without ever knowing what the standard for good is,
except by their own relativism. Nor
do they have to worry about a judgment in the life hereafter.
Actually, we did see a number of ghosts in the movie which suggest
that the afterlife is not something bound to ultimate issues.
There seemed to be no hell or heaven, no judgment, and no
consequences for your actions (except, possibly, what happens in the here
and now).
Many
people see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as a depiction
of good verses evil. This is
the plea usually used to say the movie is “OK.”
But, is it really a movie about good and evil?
No, not really. It is
a movie about the struggle for power.
It is a movie about an evil wizard fighting against Harry Potter -
an evil wizard. How is Harry
evil? Well, we know from the Bible that all witchcraft is
abominable to God. If this
were the case how can we rightly call Harry good?
Harry is a male witch! It
is this kind of confusing blend of imagery that desensitizes the evilness
of witchcraft and occultic ideas. Children
are apt to come away with the idea that the occult is acceptable and not
in blatant opposition to the character of God’s holiness.
After
stating all of this, my “take” on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone stands in two arenas. First,
biblically, there is no justification, at any time, to give a “Christian
OK” to occultic activities. Fantasy
is one thing, but glorifying real-life occultism is wholly another. In this respect the Bible has much to say in condemning all
these kinds of demonic activities (Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10; 1
Samuel 15:23; 1 Chronicles 33:6; Micah 5:12; Galatian 5:19-20). Here children should be thoroughly shielded from the
influences of such occultic ideologies.
They should not be exposed to Harry Potter at all.
Christian Parents should be mature enough to understand that their
children ought to be safeguarded from occultic ideas as much as is humanly
possible (this includes Disney movies, even some of Grimm’s Fairy Tales,
many Saturday morning cartoons, and other children’s stories which
glorify such things. Let us
not simply stop at Harry Potter, but be discerning with all
children’s books and movies.)
Children
should also be protected from the blatant use of lying, cheating,
stealing, and the like which Harry Potter and his friends utilize as a
means to their goals in this movie. Situational
ethics is already bred into the souls of children at birth.
Children already know how to be bad children.
They are born sinners (Psalm 51:4). Rather, instead of setting these sins in the midst of
something that would make them attracted to it (like a movie), they should
be taught to abhor it. This
may also include The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series of C.S.
Lewis, until the children are at an age where they can responsibly and
biblically discern the reality of such things in comparison to the fantasy
of such things. So to
sum up this first censor against the movie, children should not be exposed
to any occultic activities no matter how innocent they may be portrayed
(yes, that may include cartoons like the Disney movies.
Remember, let us never be hypocrites about all of this!)
I would opt for keeping children away from Harry Potter for
those reasons mentioned, and the use of subtle occultic ideas which can
make magic trendy and acceptable in this fashion.
Secondly,
what do we do with adults? Can
Christian adults see the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?
Might I pose the question this way: did I sin when I saw this
Harry Potter movie? I
would answer with a rock-solid “No.”
As a responsible and mature Christian adult I am able to discern
the biblical right from the demonic wrong.
I understand the subtle differences of fantasy and reality –
something children cannot do. I
am able to tell what is real and what is not.
I know when Harry and his friends blatantly disobey their
authorities; I am able to tell where they are utilizing evil means or
situational ethic to obtain their goals, etc. etc.
I do not believe I sinned when I saw this movie, as much I do not
believe I sinned when I watched Star Wars, or Beauty and the
Beast, or The Chronicles of Narnia, or when I ate the cereal Lucky
Charms. I am able to
distinguish fantasy from reality. I
am able to discern the message and meaning of the movie and then assess
its affects on me, even from a harmless breakfast cereal like Lucky
Charms or Boo Berry. In
this case of viewing Harry Potter, I came out more aware of the
subtleties of the occult, and how J. K. Rowling is weaving them into the
lives of the American populous. I
was equally aware of this same tactic when a children’s show called
“The Smurfs” was broadcasted some years ago (magic, trolls, wizards,
etc. – more of the same.) I
am able to discern these things, to eat the meat, and throw away the
bones. I am able to find the
moral of the story and to pitch away the offensive.
However, if I used to be into occultic activities in my past,
seeing Harry Potter may stir up my soul to wrong thoughts and wrong
actions, attempting to awaken what Christ is mortifying in me.
That would be sin. Here
we exercise the liberty of conscience and say with the apostle, “All
things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things
are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
(1 Cor. 6:12) Christian
adults must make up their minds as to what they will allow in their minds
and why. Can Harry
Potter be a means of entertainment for the Christian adult?
I think it can. Can it
also be a means to hurt undiscerning or weak-minded Christians? Yes, this is also true.
If there is ever any doubt one way or the other, then the Christian
takes up the plea “whatever is not of faith is sin,” and they do
without.
Thirdly,
I believe there is a much more important point to be made.
It is this: is Harry Potter really necessary? J. K. Rowling has created a lovable and exciting character to
watch. But does the world need
Harry Potter to teach them the few scattered moral ideas that accompany
the movie? I do not think so. If I were to teach a child the meaning of right and wrong, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would not be a first choice to
achieve my end. There are far
better, just as exciting, considerably more fantastic, significantly more
precise and practical children’s stories to teach children right from
wrong. Simply from the
standpoint of an appeal to the Potter movie to help children
discern good from evil is a mute point.
Pick up a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or watch some of
those silly Veggie Tale shows. They
are much quicker to the point and practically blatant when it comes to
teaching children certain ideas and certain morals.
Better yet, we should encourage fathers to take the time to study
their bible’s, digest the material in the bible, and teach their
children as the head of the home. Maybe
we would have fewer trips to the movies, or to the video stores, if this
were so. |
|
Back to the
Christian Walk
|
