I must admit I've never read a Harry Potter book. I attempted to watch one of the films and nearly died of boredom (yes, it was that bad). So why on earth am I posting about Harry Potter you ask? Well I came across one of those nutty stories about a crazy Christian who is seeking to warn people about the evils of Harry Potter and it just made me laugh. As boring as I found the film, I appreciate the fact that my niece likes to read the books. If Harry Potter helps her learn to love reading, I'm all for it. Well, let me share with you the quote that made laugh. This is from Tim Todd of Tim Todd Ministries:
"The things that concern me about the Harry Potter series," the preacher and Christian publisher notes, "are things like sacrificing animals and emphasizing power, regardless of good or evil. Or offering up blood sacrifices, and things like boiling what seems to be a baby alive in a cauldron, or being possessed by demons -- these are not things that we want to have our children subjected to."
Now is it just me or isn't it a bit odd for a Bible-loving Christian to object to a book that contains things like "sacrificing animals and emphasizing power, regardless of good or evil. Or offering up blood sacrifices, and things like boiling what seems to be a baby alive in a cauldron, or being possessed by demons."? Maybe he's never bothered to read his Bible, but if he did he'd find out that all of these things, and some a great deal worse are found in that holiest of holy books.
Sacrificing animals. This is a common practice throughout the Old Testament. There are numerous instances of god's chosen people sacrificing animals. In Genesis 22:13 we have a good example:
Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son
Yeah, instead of his son. Initially god wanted Abraham to sacrifice his own son. Pretty gross stuff, right? Well what's a ram here or a ram there? Oh it gets much worse. In 1 Kings 8:5 reads:
King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
Now that sounds pretty bloody. Try to keep track here: animal sacrifice in Harry Potter books is EVIL; animal sacrifice in the Bible is GOOD!
The next thing Tim Todd mentions is that the Potter books emphasize power regardless of good or evil. Oddly enough this is exactly the type of morality found throughout the Bible. God is right simply because he is the most powerful being in the universe. When he instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son, he is ordering Abraham to do a good and noble thing. Why is it good? Because god said so. This idea of might makes right is best conveyed in the book of Job.
For those of you who are not familiar with the story, Job was a good and righteous guy. He did all the right things. God loved him. Everybody loved Job. He was just a regular good guy. Well Satan tells God that the only reason Job is so good is because God protects him. To show us what a nice guy he is and to prove Satan wrong, God allows all sorts of bad things to happen to Job: his kids are killed, his farm destroyed, his body is covered in sores, and he basically loses everything he had. Through it all Job remains true to God, yet he keeps asking, "Why? Why are you doing this to me?" In chapter 38 God finally responds to Job's pleading with a long-winded diatribe that basically amounts to, "Can you do what I can do?" In chapter 41:1 he basically sums it up:
Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord? (Leviathan is not an ordinary crododile, but the sea-monster that personifies chaos)
Job never really does get an answer. God just basically rests his case on the fact that he's more powerful than Job--something Job never denies. Thus we have the epitome of emphasizing power regardless of good or evil.
Next we have Todd's objection to blood sacrifices. Again the Bible is full of such tales. Leviticus 1:5 reads:
The bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD; and Aaron's sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
And let's not forget that Christianity rests upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Every Sunday millions of Christians around the world celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. They call it communion. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says:
We have redemption through his blood. (Ephesians 1:7)
Blood sacrifices are crucial to Christianity. The very salvific significance of Jesus is his blood sacrifice. So why on earth is a blood sacrifice bad?
Next we have a tough one: a baby being boiled alive in a cauldron. I must admit from the outset that I cannot think of a Biblical verse in which a child is boiled alive in a cauldron. But we can find a number of Biblical verses that who God has no problem killing babies. Exodus 12:29 reads
At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
Wow! Mr. Todd objects to what appears to be a baby boiling alive in a cauldron, and yet here we have his God murdering every firstborn child in Egypt, including the livestock! He not only killed their kids, he killed their pets kids! That's tough stuff. Sadly, it gets worse. It was actually customary to offer up all firstborn as an offering to God. Exodus 13:1:
The LORD said to Moses: Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals is mine.
Leviticus 27:28-29 reads
Nothing that a person owns that has been devoted to destruction for the LORD, be it human or animal, or inherited landholding, may be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD. No human beings who have been devoted to destruction can be ransomed; they shall be put to death.
Let's throw in two more for good measure
Hosea 13:16: Samaria shall become desolate: for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up", and Isa. 13:16-18 "Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.... Theirbows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the first of the womb; their eyes will not pity children".
Yes, the Bible is filled with savage acts against children. But somehow such acts are only 'bad' when they are found outside the Bible.
Finally, we have demon possession. The Bible is, of course, filled with tales of demon possession, too. Jesus spent much of his ministry freeing people of demons. In Matthew 17:18 Jesus rebukes a demon from a child and cures him. In his epistles Paul often warns of the negative influence of demons:
I do not want you to be partners with demons (1 Corinithians 10:20)
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to decietful spirits and teachings of demons...(1 Timothy 4:1).
This superstitous belief is still with us today. There are a great number of Christians who still believe that we get possessed by demons. Why this should upset Mr. Todd is a bit mysterious.
It seems a bit hypocritical to object to these things found in a kids book when the same and even more ghastly things are found within the very pages of the Bible. Can't these people just leave Harry Potter, Spongebob, and the rest of us alone? Do we really need a crusade against Harry Potter? It's a huge success. Kids love it. There are a lot of adults who read the books. Mr. Todd and his band of right-wing nuts need to step down of their soap box. I just might have to buy a copy of this new book.
