Harry Potter

[Tenebrae]

as a former witch...lemme just say one thing:

as a former I also concur

 

[Tenebrae]

I'm a student in religious studies, and took a course last year on the bible in modern culture, focusing on it's use in film. In the term paper I did for that class I wrote on Christus Victor style atonement in three movies: The Matrix, Constantine, and Harry Potter. If you can't see the biblical influences then you're blind.

The Order of the Phoenix (Followers of the thing that rises from death) are engaged in a drawn out struggle to defend the world from a being of ultimate evil symbolized by a snake. One of their foremost members was killed when he was betrayed by a close friend, but his son (and this is what I argued in my paper) is granted a special power by this death which allows him to oversome death and defeat evil.

If you weren't so busy being caught up in reactionary fervor and took the time to sit down and think then maybe you'd come up with more than "Herry Potter is teh evil because it's witchcraft!!11!!" and see what's really going on.

One of the common themes I see, that is common for christians. often harry has the choice of doing whats right, and doing whats easy

 

[Gwenyfur]

More often than not he chooses what's right...

Some Christians can't even claim that...

 

[Tenebrae]

Well, we shouldn't be so quick to assume that it isn't edifying. Certainly for some people in here it isn't, but there are those who have not participated in the thread except to read what has been written who very well may have been edified.

The biggest problem that I see with this thread is a lack of ability on the part of those who favor HP to see the big picture, which is what I tried to emphasize in post #26.

The fact that such stories promote world views that are not in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ should be an immediate red flag for any Christian. Unfortunately, the devilish world views that HP promotes are either being ignored, or favored just as much as the story itself.

It really is a shame that people could be so closed minded as to only see the surface of the issue, but not the root of the problem.

So because I disagree with you, I'm close minded. Ok dear if that makes you feel better, you keep telling yourself that

I have seeen a far bigger picture than you will ever know, and I still cant see the point in banning kids to read something because banning generally makes it more enticing,

 

[Tenebrae]

1) Every good fictional story has some basis of fact of history, time, places, etc. It is called the setting.

2) Nicolas Flamel also agrees at the end of the 1st story to destroy the Elixir so no one will have the ability to be immortal.

.

Nicolas flammel and the philosphers stone, it is use of the stone that produces the elixer of life

 

[Motherof3]

Nicolas flammel and the philosphers stone, it is use of the stone that produces the elixer of life

You are correct. Sorry about that. This is what I meant & I guess I was in a hurry to post it. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Tenebrae]

You are correct. Sorry about that. This is what I meant & I guess I was in a hurry to post it. Thanks for the correction.

no probs, I actually dont think it was yo who posted the error initially, but after 19 pages, its alot to scroll back through and find out who did post it

 

[Loukuss]

Demons could be used metephorically.

What part of the text indicates that we should read it metaphorically?

No, from Introduction to Logic by Copi: "In attempting to make up one's mind about some difficult or complicated question, it is entirely reasonable to be guided by the judgement of an acknowledged expert. When we argue that a given conclusion is correct on the ground that an expert authority has come to that judgement, we commit no fallacy....The fallacy ad verecundiam arises when the appeal is made to parties having no legitamate claim to authority in the matter at hand."

I appealed to scientists which are known experts in their field of biology and anthropology; hence, not a fallacy.

Ok. Hmmmm....

A common variation of the typical Appeal to Authority fallacy is an Appeal to an Unnamed Authority. This fallacy is also known as an Appeal to an Unidentified Authority.
This fallacy is committed when a person asserts that a claim is true because an expert or authority makes the claim and the person does not actually identify the expert. Since the expert is not named or identified, there is no way to tell if the person is actually an expert. Unless the person is identified and has his expertise established, there is no reason to accept the claim. This sort of reasoning is not unusual. Typically, the person making the argument will say things like "I have a book that says...", or "they say...", or "the experts say...", or "scientists believe that...", or "I read in the paper.." or "I saw on TV..." or some similar statement. in such cases the person is often hoping that the listener(s) will simply accept the unidentified source as a legitimate authority and believe the claim being made. If a person accepts the claim simply because they accept the unidentified source as an expert (without good reason to do so), he has fallen prey to this fallacy.
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html

Sure you want to stick with what you said? You can retract now.

I'll stick with it. There will be no retraction.

Prove it!

That God has hands or that God is outside of time and space?

From post 100 you wrote:

Apparently logic escapes you quite easily.
It makes perfect sense that the devil would train his sights on children. A child is very impressionable, and everything they hear, see and read (if they can do so) affects their upbringing and their life later down the road. Why wouldnt the devil attack them at thsi stage in their life? Its not knowing the devil's secret plan. Its just using simple logic.
Your arrogance is quite unbecoming and not appreciated.

I replied to this in 142.

The science of logic has to do with truth functional statements and tautologies. What "makes perfect sense" is not an argument for a number of reasons. First, it is in the eye of beholder. The theory of evolution is obvious to me, but not to many christians[...]Second, what's obvious is not always true; for example, at a point in time it may have seemed obvious that the earth was flat[...]The point is, saying something is true simply on the basis that it seems obvious to you, is fallacious.

So it seems to me that you don't know what logic is says you think that "if something makes sense to me, then it must be true." But I provided counter examples to show this is not always the case.

Apologies. I obviously built up my opinion higher than I should have. I stand corrected.

The question was about ouiji boards possessing inherent magical properties that make them a gateway to demons over other objects. For the record, do you believe ouiji boards possessing inherent magical properties that make them a gateway to demons over other objects?

Got me.

Care to give reasoning?

Sure.

Weak Anaology -logical fallacy
A is like B.
B has property P.
Therefore, A has property P.
(Where the analogy between A and B is weak.)
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/wanalogy.html

What do purple unicorns and demons have in common? That they are both invisble. That's it.

I wrote:

It turns out that what many thought were demons in old times, were probably really just mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
The "many" refers to people in the old times that believed when someone was acting crazy they were posessed.

Do you have literature or proof that this is what people back then beleived?


Lucas

 

[tulc]

It turns out that what many thought were demons in old times, were probably really just mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
The "many" refers to people in the old times that believed when someone was acting crazy they were

Do you have literature or proof that this is what people back then beleived?

well really the idea of Demon posessen wasn't confind to the Jews many others also saw it that way or disease as Gods judgement on someone. Been here?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_medicine
or here?
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Ancient.html#Medicine
which brings up another interesting thought: Jesus healing people would almost make that whole "disease as Gods Judgement" thing pretty un-biblical.
tulc(sorry, didn't mean to go off topic, it's just there actually is a LOT of info on what the ancients believed medically out there!)

 

[Dannager]

Familiar: A spirit who takes an animal form and becomes the companion of a practicing witch.

The only "familiar" in the HP stories is the caretaker's cat whom he calls "Mrs. Norris" & he is portrayed as an evil character.

Actually, Mrs. Norris isn't a familiar as far as I'm aware - she's just a really disturbing cat. The caretaker himself is incapable of using magic (he's a rare sort of person, born into a wizarding family but lacking in any magical ability whatsoever). It would be impossible for him to communicate with any spirit. Mrs. Norris is, to him, just a cherished pet (albeit a creepy one).

 

[Gwenyfur]

My daughter has a theory that Mrs Norris is an animagus LOL

 

[meh]

My daughter has a theory that Mrs Norris is an animagus LOL

That. Just. Blew. My. Mind.

I will now obsess over this. Thanks

 

[Dannager]

My daughter has a theory that Mrs Norris is an animagus LOL

Holy moly. If there's nothing in the story to contradict this, it should happen. It's too awesome a possibility for Rowling to ignore.

 

[Gwenyfur]

Well...think about it...none of the other animals were frozen in Chamber of Secrets...only humans....and yet, Mrs Norris was frozen...

 

[kiwimac]

Dang,

You're right!

Oh my Goodness me!

 

[Tenebrae]

That. Just. Blew. My. Mind.

I will now obsess over this. Thanks

Rons rat was an animagus

anything is possible

 

[kiwimac]

Well that certainly seems to have killed the thread.

 

[Gwenyfur]

Think they're off researching the theory or did the HP haters just give up? LOL

 

[Mandrake]

Sorry, but JKR has confirmed that it is not so.

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/rumours_view.cfm?id=40