No just kidding. I love the books and the movies and think that they are quite nicely wirtten with a great message. also, i'm not exactly a christian, so te title of this post is just craziness.
see, you put kittens in one end and poptarts come out the other end. we're gonna be rich.
hah! great signature, great webcomic.
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Clever. I am a Christian, but I think outside the box and can come up with some odd explanations to common questions; here's my latest one for magic:
"Witches", which I think were also called psychics, were originally known for bringing up dead (spirits) from communicating with demons. Even fortune-telling was caused by possession. I guess today you'd call that a necromancer - or maybe that's the type of witch (they now all fall into the categories under "witch") who revives the dead to life, sometimes to exploit them, instead of summoning spirits. They've been around since Biblical times, and were seen as sinners. I'm not sure whether their supposedly cursing people to cause misfortunes or destruction was a belief back then or in the 1600s. It was definitely around then because of the accusations leveled against the Salem residents during the Witch Trials. That was a big point where the church's goals really missed its mark. Later, witches were thought of as hags or crones who wore black capes and cone-hats and flew on broomsticks. I can see why that's a popular Halloween costume! As for male witches, they're now known mostly as warlocks or wizards, but oddly enough warlock means a male version of a witch while wizard is thought of as an elderly man wearing colorful deccorated robes and cap who more often than not is good.
Lately, magicians have been known to appear in cult-favorite books and now movies. I do feel guilty about reading these (really I occasionally feel guilty about reading much besides religious works; I told you my ideas were out there!), but I try to ignore that so it won't spoil the fun - most of these books do have morals. I've been told that The Lord of the Rings was Toliken's allegory for the quest for morality or Christianity (Look on his page under trivia to see who or what Gandalf was modeled after). Narnia, which involved myth creatures in a foreign world, and 2 witches (yeah, so they were evil) is a dead giveaway that it's a Christ allegory - at least the lst, 2nd, 5th, and 7th are; the others don't have messages clear to me. The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane do show different creatures having different stories which show the Lone Power (obviously a universal-name for the counterpart of the Devil) seccumbing a group into death but with one's help (the counterpart of Christ), It is kept at bay, unable to cause emotional death or despair. It's a pain they throw Atlantis in, but it's well-balanced with all the stories of how It's responsible for environmental ruin. I'm not sure if Harry Potter has any hints to drop in it, I just know that these critics should lay off - these guys aren't athiest wizards; how often do the books mention how they celebrate Christmas and Easter, or Halloween? (I wish they'd throw religion in, but these aren't the only books to overlook that part of the holidays so I can't say I care that much.) Magic really does make great reads and the best part is morals or even prarables and allegories caa be thrown in. The book I'm working on now does involve a world which is a counterpart/once a part of Earth, with little magic aside from the modernized island where one Earthling goes to communicate with people from this medieval place, or the water that transports him and restores a former brute's memories. I've worked a few lessons (morality, values, indifference) in it.
I guess, in short: I find nothing wrong with fantasy, per se; it's OK and can be better than OK, if the book/movie's enjoyable and if the writers work in something besides false tales.
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Oh, boy. You're on of those Catholic Kids who doesn't know the first thing about Christianity, let alone God, Jesus or the Bible. And you're only a "non-Christian" because it pisses your parents off, not because of any true convictions. Grats on proving your complete and utter ignorance of the topic at hand.
The Bible that the majority of Biblical Scholors believe in has been translated ONCE - not 'thousands of times through various languages' in fact, most biblical scholors learn Konine Greek And Ancient Hebrew in order to read and understand the Bible in it's original Context. Also, most of the Priests/Pastors/Preachers out there who have a Master's Degree in Divinity (the common degree to become a preacher) know at least one of these ancient languages, if not both, fluently.
'Magic'in Harry Potter is harmless fantasy - no different than CS Lewis' useage of the word in his Narnia Novels.
The "Magic" that 'real' witches use is offensive to God for a single reason - the desire to assert control over things that only God has control of. That is - every thing from future events to the spiritual realm. The Witches and Mediums of the Bible who were put to death were just such people. Miracles on the other hand are divine actions from God. The person in question has such faith and conviction that God knows said person is doing good - and thus demonstrates his power through the actions of that individual. Heck, sometimes God does miracles through people who don't give a rat's ass about him. The reason why Miracles happen and Magic does not is due to God's presence behind it.
Most Wicca would probably be a mite insulted by your attitude that there is no overarching god figure - most wicca acknowledge the mother goddess, or the trio of fate and the old god of the forest, Kuranos. They also believe that they do not actively *control* nature, but that they have a deeper understanding of it than others (thus a Wiccan wouldn't try to make it rain, when it wasn't going to rain, but would be in tune enough to know when it is going to rain - and perhaps predict the start of it more accurately than others). Many wicca wannabes like yourself out there are just mad at the religion of their parents and they don't fully understand the idea behind most Wiccan beliefs, and thus delve into the dark matters far too fast (according to Wiccans). The rule of thumb is "Do what you like so long as you harm no one" - and too many new Wiccans who are out to get someone disobey this cardnal rule almost immediately.
Of course, if you don't want to believe in God, you can say "delightful happenstance" instead of Miracle. But if you don't believe in God, you certainly CAN'T believe in Magic.
Satan comes from the Hebrew word Ha'satan. It means "The Accuser" - denoting Satan's original job, that of pointing out the flaws in humanity and testing them to make sure that they follow God's standards. That is to say that Satan is not doing anything evil in and of himself. People who say "the devil made me do it" aren't getting that they're supposed to be resisting what the devil is suggesting we should do.
Any Satanist out there would also disagree about your "divided opinion on beliefs" - Satanism is all about living a life of worldly pleasure. They follow the rules that if they feel like something could be fun, they might as well do it. They defy God's laws only when God's laws some in direct conflict of what they feel like doing that day. Of course, the more spiteful Satanists take this to even higher extremes, trying to talk to demons and control their future, simply because they know that God despises this. It is a firm counter culture to Christianity - which is a life of restrictions and set values. They have no wishywashyness about them.
What it sounds like is that you're a grumpy little emo kid who is only attempting to get attention here AND at home. Go read a book or two, and then come back, because you really just sound foolish.
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To Christians who can't deal with Harry Potter, I chalenge you to consider this - if a young child who develops a rudimentry belief in God is raised by brutalistic atheist parents who keep him locked in a closet and treat him like a slave on behalf of his beliefs, wouldn't you want to see that child be rescued from that situation and become a strong warrior of God?
That is the essense of Harry Potter. 'Magic' is merely a vechicle that JK uses to push her story forward. She could have just as easily used Christianity. Many, many, MANY of Christian Childrens books in a Fantasy setting use the word "magic" instead of God. Harry Potter is no different.
"But what about the EVIL magic that the bad guys use" you say? The Evil Magic has nothing to do with God!
You remember the White Witch from the Narnia Series? Where her magic caused it to be always winter and never Christmas? That was Magic too. In fact she and Aalan get into a fairly deep conversation about the deep magics of the world, both those that work in his favor and those that work in hers.
If witches are people who "revive the dead" what does that make Jesus?!?! That has NOTHING to do with the Wiccan religion!
sharePeople can burn as many books as they want...the bottom is this, Wicca is just as "real" a religion as thiers. It's protected by the same laws by the US Government. Deal with it.
shareCalling up spirits is punishable by death because only God (sometimes through prophets) has this power. Only God is permitted to do this as Creator and 1 way some Jewish religious leaders stopped (and others started) trying to persecute him was he caused the dead to live again, proving that he was God by defeating death. Jesus' reserrection, you're most likely aware, had its reasons.
sharewell, even if you do go ahead and assume its all real. In this case, "The Stupid Opinion" , how does say, Moses and Aarons war with egypt fit in to that ? I seem to recall rather alot of a book of the bible bieng used to describe the brothers using a magic staff to inflict on egypt :plagues, rivers of blood and eventually an otherworldy creature which is commanded to kill all egyptian first born children. I seem to recall a magic totem in the shape of a snake that cured everyone who looked at it, and also something about parting a sea.
Is your position that witchcraft is only good when the killing is done by Christians?
Lets not forget the Oracle at Delphi either, that shaped all of westren culture for millenia.
And lets of course never forget that it's all a load of complete *beep* witches are just people who've figured out which plants , when eaten, let you see really wild *beep* This has been true throughout all of history for all witches and most prophets. ( the others just listened to the voices in thier *beep* heads.)
And stop pointing blindly at the bible you *beep* Muslims do that *beep* to, thats the problem with the Abrahamic religions, they parrot the stupid *beep* book around to justify any vile little thing.
"The Bible that the majority of Biblical Scholors believe in has been translated ONCE - not 'thousands of times through various languages' in fact"
Three words, Council of Nicea. Really google that you will learn some truths about how our modern bible was created. A little sad how few people really read about this subject, i guess because it is so troubling to "ones faith." But it is still reality.
Now back to Harry Potter. It is an enjoyable serious of varied characters dealing with situations. To make it more enticing, the variable of magic is added. If it offends some, fine. Read through once, if you do not like it, give your book to the Library.
Not to be inflammatory or anything, but Moses didn't have a magic staff. He didn't do incantations or call upon the spirits of the dead or have a magic crystal at the end of it. It was a focus of God's power. A physical thing for Moses to use, a tool. This is not magic. This is God. There's a vast difference. Magic bad, God good. Harry Potter, not a big deal because it's a story. Now if some kid went around saying he could do what Harry Potter does and pretends to be doing miracles, I'd have to be against that. But Harry Potter isn't real. So I don't worry about it. It'd be nice though if people would stop comparing smoke and mirrors to the power of a god. They're no where near each other on any kind of level.
Holding a grudge is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
In case you didn't know: The Jews were slaves for centuries, they were killed by the Egyptians during the whole time. When the seven plagues came upon Egypt: they all had a choice and a way of saving themselves. With the first born sons, everyone was told that they should stay in later that night and put the blood of a lamb on their door frame. There were some Jews who didn't believe it and didn't do this, their eldest sons in the family died as well that night. There were also Egyptians who took the warning and put the blood over their door frame, and their first born sons lived. In every situation they were warned, and ultimately it was to test their faith in God. And it applied to everyone.
The clearest distinction between witchcraft and miracles is that witchcraft is preformed for human purposes by humans, whereas the miracles are really works of God for His glory.
Constantly throughout the Bible, it states clearly that all of the prophets that preformed these miracles and saw visions did not see them or preform them on their own; but rather because God gave them those abilities and provided them. It's not their own, it was God's.
Also, I don't know how you get away with saying that Christians were killing people and it was alright, when every time they were fighting for their own freedom or the freedom of someone else. You need to take a good look at history again, because these things aren't just told by the Bible (if you don't believe in anything it says): there's historical evidence that no true historian would be able to deny. It's fact, weather you believe in God and the Bible or not. There's historical evidence that these things happened and these people existed: even if you somehow choose to believe that God doesn't exist.
To me there's a clear distinction between witchcraft (where no matter how powerful they themselves may seam, they are summoning the powers that are set against God: somehow thinking that all of this time it was them doing it and not a demon), and the miracles God does to save people. And the thing about the Bible and Christianity is, it's not all about the Jews or the Christians. It's there for everyone to choose at any time to believe and be saved. I believe that the Bible states this quite openly and constantly. Everyone has a choice. Without God there would only be death, with God there is salvation for those of whom choose.
At least for me, I like Harry Potter. I think it illustrates the constant battle between good and evil. I do believe that there's witches and warlocks in the real world, however they aren't like the one's they show in Harry Potter. It's quite obvious that JK Rowling was simply wanting to tell a true story and illustrate some amazing, very real life, human struggles, by means of a fantastical back drop. Weather it's alagorey of the Bible or not, I'm not sure you can be certain or prove that! But it is an amazing story, and it is about a person I have grown a great fondness for; because I think it's easy to relate to it.
Yes, I do think that she could have just as easily made it about Christians in the same setting. I really do think that would have made an even better story. But it's quite obvious that by setting it in a made-up wizard world with magic that she wasn't wanting to get into debates about religeous beliefs that would distract from the point of the plot and story and might keep people like you from reading it.
see, you put kittens in one end and poptarts come out the other end. we're gonna be rich.
Wow, for a minute I thought the title was serious. Nice signature too.
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You blasphemous fool. The aardvark is a false idol. The Invisible Pink Unicorn (blessed be her holy hooves) is the true way to salvation!
http://www.invisiblepinkunicorn.com/
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