By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor of Movieguide®, with Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher

HOLLYWOOD, CA — By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor of Movieguide®, with Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher Some pundits and critics are snidely noting that the seventh Harry Potter book, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, contains some positive, redemptive references to Jesus Christ, Christianity and the Bible.

For example, Harry finally visits the gravesite of his murdered parents. Marking the gravesite is a New Testament Bible verse from 1 Cor. 15:26, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Also, an important scene near the end of the book takes place in King’s Cross Station, a reference to Jesus Christ’s vicarious atonement on the Cross. Finally, in the end, it becomes clear that it is sacrifice and love that actually defeats Lord Voldemort, the evil villain in the book. Harry thus becomes a kind of Christ figure who is willing to passively surrender his life in order to effectively accomplish this task.

These references are indeed laudable, and they help make the seventh book the most exciting, poignant and profound in the whole series. The references are vague, however, and lack any solid context. In fact, the hero, Harry Potter, doesn’t even understand the marking on his parents’ grave since there is no Bible verse cited. Also, the fact remains that, in the epilogue to the book, the remaining main characters are still taking their children to the Hogwarts school to learn about witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and other occult practices. Thus, at best, the HARRY POTTER series has a syncretistic, confused pagan worldview encouraging witchcraft and the occult.

The God of the Christian Bible (and of the Hebrew Scriptures for that matter) is opposed to the use of witchcraft and occultism. Thus, in Deuteronomy 18:10-13, God says to the Hebrews, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in [a] the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.” Also, in Rev. 21:8 and 22:15, Jesus Christ tells the Apostle John that all people who practice sorcery or witchcraft will be sent to Hell. Thus, the God of the Bible, including Jesus Christ, and the faiths of both Christianity and Judaism are completely opposed to the practice of witchcraft.

Perhaps Rowling will come up with a more Christian explanation for this problem when she writes her encyclopedia and background stories to Harry Potter (as Tolkien explained more of his Christian worldview in the background volumes to LORD OF THE RINGS). Even so, she still has to deal with the fact that the HARRY POTTER characters practice witchcraft and show no signs of believing in God or Jesus Christ. In fact, Harry himself is puzzled by the two biblical inscriptions on the two gravesites in the book, so he (and his friend Hermione who also sees them) clearly is unfamiliar with their Christian, biblical roots.

The story in Harry Potter occurs after Jesus Christ death and resurrection, but the stories in Tolkien’s universe occur before Jesus Christ’s first coming. As such, the religious ideas in Tolkien’s universe are based on the language and mythology of the elves and hobbits in Tolkien’s world. Consequently, the worldview of the elves and hobbits reflects a primitive form of ethical monotheism that looks forward to the first coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the afterlife. In contrast, the language and mythology of HARRY POTTER are based on a strange mixture of modern humanism, Gnosticism and pagan/occult ideas about the benefits of witchcraft. As such, it seems deliberately far removed from any kind of monotheism, and certainly from a Christocentric biblical worldview. Even though the author of HARRY POTTER professes Christianity, she lives in a truly post-Christian society, the United Kingdom, where pagan syncretism is the norm and where any public mention of Jesus Christ is avoided.

Consequently, when, in the seventh and final novel in the HARRY POTTER, her story suddenly contains strong Christian references and metaphors, the context of the references is totally missing. No wonder her own main character, Harry Potter, is confused by the words on his parents’ tomb and returns to the pagan/occult witchcraft he has been practicing before he defeated the evil Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Ironically, therefore, despite the Christian symbolism in the final Harry Potter book, the real Person-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in HARRY POTTER is not Voldemort but Jesus Christ, the One who died for our sins and delivers us from the awful slavery with which witchcraft and other evils has shackled the Heart of Man.

If her own main character is confused by the Christian elements in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, then what must the average Non-Christian reader think ?

Furthermore, despite the inclusion of some biblical references and Christian symbolism, we doubt if that will make the publisher of the HARRY POTTER series and the producers of the HARRY POTTER movies from encouraging children who come to their HARRY POTTER websites to create spells, cast incantations, use witchcraft and sorcery, practice divination, and worship false pagan gods.

God tells King Cyrus in Isaiah 45:5 of the Hebrew Scriptures, “I am the LORD, and there is no other ; apart from me there is no God.”

Don’t be fooled, therefore, by anyone who promotes witchcraft and sorcery. The person who does this is preaching a false god promoting evil rebellion against the One True and Only God who gave His life for us so that, though we may perish, yet shall we live (John 3:16 and 11:25,26).

(c) Baehr, 2007

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