MessyChristian.com is a blog which I have stumbled upon, and delve into from time to time. Recently I read a post there about this very subject. ‘Why do some Christians have a problem with fantasy books?‘ is a fairly self explanatory title but one that has been on my mind recently following a planning weekend for a CYFA venture which I am a leader on this summer. We decided to include a talk in our programme about the dangers of this fantasy world; especially Harry Potter and Tolkien as they are both culturally relevant at the moment.
Let me state right now that I am a big fantasy fan. From a young age I read both the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, along with the Jackson & Livingstone series of role playing books. Until very recently I was a regular player of the Dungeons & Dragons based PC game Neverwinter Nights (I stopped more due to time constraints than anything else) although I confess to have never read or seen anything of the Potter series mainly because it was all anybody else could talk about. (That’s the non-conformist rebel in me.) My point is that I am not coming at this as a witch bashing, right wing evangelical. That of course is not to say that I don’t think that witchcraft and the occult are very real and dangerous things. (I think that’s all my bases covered.)
Depending on who you talk too; including people that have been / are currently heavily involved with the occult and those who know absolutely nothing about it, you will hear a different message about these things. It ranges from such fictions being very accurate in their use of rituals and incantations to them being completely made up nonsense. That is not really relevant to what I am about to say. (Although I have a feeling that the blood rituals in the most recent Potter film might be a little close to the mark!)
The standard argument says that these stories are a battle between good and evil (pseudo-Christian in the case of LOTR and Narnia) where good wins and everything turns out all right in the end. A good wholesome message. And with that I cannot disagree. However, I believe, and this is an opinion shareed by my fellow leaders on the above mentioned planning weekend, that the means in these cases does not justify the end.
The Bible carries very stern warnings about witchcraft, sorcery, and the black arts. These are things which are evil. They are very real, carry great power (power which of course cannot overcome that of the Lords), but evil all the same and not to be messed with. So the use of evil to overcome evil is not a good thing. And this is the main point which is so often overlooked.
I am not saying, do no read these books or watch these movies or play these games. That is for your own judgement and for discussion between you and God. But be very aware that they are supporting the use of evil things; things we are told to never go near, even for the ‘greater good’.
There is a lot of mis-education out there. Do not fall into the trap of believing its lies.
