[CS-FSLUG] OT: Potter, Halloween and Philipians 4:8

[Eduardo Sanchez]

On Wednesday 08 March 2006 23.58, doc wrote:
> Ahh, were it so.
>
> Show me the evidence that even 1/10 of 1% of all of
> the children who read and/or view Harry Potter are
> participating in any genuine discussion such as you
> have described and there might be a shadow of an
> argument that what Satan has meant for evil God is
> turning to good.  (Though it would be meaningless
> to the 99.9% who are being led astray with the
> affirmation of adults who should know better.)

I can only describe my experience. My parents had many shortcomings, but 
I can count with the fingers of a hand the books they banned in my 
home, out of a library that had over a thousand books. They encouraged 
me and anyone to read voraciously everything, and if possible, to talk 
about what I've read.
>
> We know it is not happening in the government
> (public) schools because Jesus is persona non
> grata.

Well, that's right; but more so, what it is being persona non grata at 
the U.S. public schools (and those of many other countries) is 
intellectual freedom and respect for a person's belief system, 
autonomy, and intimacy.
>
> Where is it happening?

It happened at home, for instance.
>
> In the real world Satan is winning and winning and
> winning because Christians keep talking and not
> acting, keep drawing lines in the sand and then when
> challenged they move them backwards, and instead of
> calling witchcraft witchcraft make excuses that would
> bring Jesus to verbal if not physical violence.
>
> It is beyond me why any Christian would volunteer
> to be an apologist for Harry Potter.

It's beyond me, too. If you though that I've been apologizing Potter, I 
am afraid that you're gravely mistaken. My position was not for or 
against Potter; it was in favor of our calling as Christians to be 
pilgrims and strangers in this world, and how we should translate this 
Biblical directive in the selection of our children's reading.

>
> I just returned from church where I spent time with
> high school students who are seriously seeking out
> the Word of God for authority in life and then I
> come home to more Christian endorsements of Harry
> Potter and his witches.  Talk about cognitive
> dissonance.
>
> I must be hearing this discussion with "different
> ears" than some others.

Maybe. There is not cognitive dissonance, I think. I would not forbid my 
children to read Potter books out of the guidance I see from the Word 
of God. 

There are several elements to be considered here:

1. Children do need God as much as we do.

2. They live in this world as much as we do.

3. They deserve to be treated with respect and considered as responsible 
persons, with accomodation made for their age limitations and 
interests.

4. They are not a tabula rasa in whose insides you can put anything you 
want and the result is going to be predictably good. They are persons, 
with virtues and defects, temperament and character. A parent has the 
duty to raise their children in the ways prescribed by the Word of God, 
but the possibility that they are going to follow God's will in their 
lives should not be taken for granted.

5. Conversely, children are not robots who can be blindingly manipulated 
by extraneous forces. They should be educated in exercising 
conscientious freedom, and to take responsibility for their actions and 
their consequences. They must receive the Biblical message, and they 
*will* receive other messages from the environment. And ultimately, the 
choice whether to follow God's will or the ways of this world is 
theirs; with our guidance, of course, but theirs at last.

So, Doc, ultimately, how do you decide to raise your children is a 
function of whether you have a Biblical concept of what it is to be a 
human being, or not. And, in the end, I am afraid that your view of 
human beings is not so much Biblical as it is rather deterministic, 
materialistic and utilitarian. I hope this is not the case.

Blessings,


Eduardo

-- 
Prof. Eduardo Sanchez
Asuncion, Paraguay, South America
http://shadow.sombragris.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
 'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
 Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
   Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
 And one by one back in the Closet lays.

	-- The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
	   

--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://ofb.biz/pipermail/christiansource_ofb.biz/attachments/20060311/9428a4d2/attachment.sig>