Have You Learned To Fly A Broomstick?

We got home last evening…

[Approaching Potton, here in England. Photo by me, June 22, 2019.]

…from church, and I made the mistake of scrolling Twitter which I rarely do any longer saw this on Twitter:

Harry Potter? Why would Christians read, write, tweet, or retweet about witchcraft? Is it okay because it is fiction or pretend? Would it then be okay for me to write hard-core porn? After all, that too is only fiction or pretend. The church burned this kind of garbage in Acts!

— Lee W. Brainard (@soothkeep) June 21, 2019

And I thought this might be an appropriate post for a Sunday.

As you know, I have never read Harry Potter because I’m just not interested in the story. My first question on having seen that tweet above, though, before we even get to Potter… while remembering Potter has been subjected to that sort of a “critique” almost from the day of its publication: Does Our Lord happen to perceive any difference whatsoever between, uh, “hard-core” and, err, “soft”? I would have thought that, well, p*rn is p*rn? And what about p*rn engaged in privately between a heterosexual couple after having been joined in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony within the even the Catholic church? Hmm…

[Sigh.] Some appear so determined always to find reasons in the Bible to burn “modern” stuff. Yet given what is all over Twitter, why are those such as that gentleman even using that social media site in the first place? Is it not full of lascivious images and other non-Christian vices seeking to corrupt and even to convert him?

[Photo by me, 2018.]

Now, on that burning. The New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles 19: 18-19 according at least to my papist Roman Catholic version if that’s a Christian enough version to cite here reads this:

[Acts 19: 18-19, in the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible. Photo by me, 2019.]

I do not purport to be a biblical expert by any means, but I think I can read. Those passages are NOT about tossing literature into the flames, but describe rather Christians demonstrating they are renouncing adherence to “unChristian” beliefs and practices. Meaning they burned what were apparently instruction manuals on spells and similar whatnot and then they totaled up the cash value of what they had burned.

I don’t know any Harry Potter fan who believes that author J.K. Rowling considers her fiction and entertainment-meant writings of magic wands, flying broomsticks, and quidditch competitions, as aiming at teaching and converting them as readers to her sect of “witches.” Or maybe I’m wrong? Are you Potter fans holding one of her books in your left hand, reading how “Harry” does it, and with your right holding a broomstick between your legs while jumping out of windows? I sure as heck hope not.

Incidentally, while we are here, click here for a list (published by the Daily Beast in 2016) of behaviors that are noted in the Bible as capital offenses. One example:

1. Disobeying one’s parents. According to Deuteronomy, if a man disobeys his parents they should take him to the elders of the city, denounce him as a glutton and a drunkard, and then everyone should stone him to death.

Got that? Remember that the next time your parents tell you to clean your room… and you don’t.

Also, when it comes to pre-Christian tales and the pre-Christian “supernatural,” how about pre-Christian Greek myths? For instance, there is some really “risqué” stuff going on in one myth between a married Aphrodite and (not married to her) Ares. Wikipedia:

Though married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had an affair with Ares, the god of war. Eventually, Hephaestus discovered Aphrodite’s affair through Helios, the all-seeing Sun, and planned a trap during one of their trysts…

Go on. Admit it. If you are unfamiliar with it, you are going to search for the rest of that myth now. 😉

Is it okay for us as Christians to read that Greek myth that comes to us from long before Christ? Or, while we are burning Harry Potter, should we also burn all such pre-Christian lore too? Much as the Afghan Taliban blew up the pre-Islamic Bamiyan Buddhas in early 2001?

After all, uh, what “good Christian” in 2019 would not want to mimic the Taliban, right?

Have a good Sunday, wherever you are. 🙂