Waiting2BwithHim Posted August 12, 2011 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 248 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 373 Content Per Day: 0.08 Reputation: 113 Days Won: 5 Joined: 04/18/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/10/1963 Share Posted August 12, 2011 By Chuck Colson This month, the final Harry Potter film had the most successful opening weekend of any movie ever. Among the fans who lined up for the opening midnight showing were Christians, many of whom see striking similarities between the story of Jesus -- with its sacrificial death, burial and resurrection -- and the story of Harry Potter. But at least one atheist has also noticed these similarities, and he’s written a book about it. In the newly-released (and blasphemously-titled) Jesus Potter Harry Christ, Derek Murphy makes the case that J. K. Rowling -- the author of the Harry Potter series -- achieved her success by tapping into some of the deepest and most ancient longings of the human heart. These same longings, Murphy argues, compelled first-century pagans to construct what he calls “the Jesus myth.” Murphy writes, “Jesus and Harry Potter are both...fictional...characters which incorporate classical (pagan) spirituality and religious ideology...I start by using the similarities between Jesus and Harry to raise the question, ‘how can Jesus be historical if Harry is fictional?'" Murphey points to similarities between the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ virgin birth, His passion and His return from the grave with the myths of pagan idols like Isis, Sarapis, Horus and Apollo, Murphy hopes to convince his readers that Jesus -- just like the gods of mythology -- is fiction. In fact, he believes that Jesus is just an amalgam of history’s best myths. Well, Murphy is certainly right in recognizing a common thread through pagan religious beliefs. As C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, the heathen religions are full of “...those queer stories...about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men.” But what Murphy misses -- and Lewis got -- is the fact that the human longings for sacrifice, resurrection and redemption are stamped on our hearts for a reason: They point us straight to the God who stepped into history to fulfill them! In a letter to a friend, Lewis recounts a conversation he had with J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings -- and a close colleague of Lewis. “The story of Christ,” said Tolkien, “is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened...The Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call ‘real things.’” The fact is, Murphy appeals to the bad reasoning which skeptics of the church have used for years: that simply because cultures around the world tell stories which remind us of Christianity, Christianity itself must be just such a story. But for Lewis and Tolkien, it was this universal fascination with the savior-god myth that made Christianity so convincing. To them, the historical fact of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus rouses our deepest longings in the same way as the tales of Isis, Horus -- and even Harry Potter do. But unlike these stories, Christianity is true -- the reality to which all of the best stories of history point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayin jade Posted August 13, 2011 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 44 Topic Count: 6,182 Topics Per Day: 0.86 Content Count: 43,840 Content Per Day: 6.09 Reputation: 11,300 Days Won: 58 Joined: 01/03/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted August 13, 2011 Ug potter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enoob57 Posted August 13, 2011 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 35 Topic Count: 102 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 43,523 Content Per Day: 8.20 Reputation: 22,659 Days Won: 78 Joined: 03/13/2010 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/27/1957 Share Posted August 13, 2011 In struggling with the anger of the ungodly words rises the battle to not rejoice in the judgment of God for this... Christ gave all of what He was so this would be not be yet is! With all the evidence that is in though all the disciplines of learning this trash is propagated that Christ was not.... Gone to clean my heart with love and worship in Him! Love Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByFaithAlone Posted August 13, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 29 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 730 Content Per Day: 0.15 Reputation: 49 Days Won: 2 Joined: 07/19/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/13/1993 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Personally I am a fan of the Potter series but this is an awful comparison. Murphy writes, “Jesus and Harry Potter are both...fictional...characters which incorporate classical (pagan) spirituality and religious ideology...I start by using the similarities between Jesus and Harry to raise the question, ‘how can Jesus be historical if Harry is fictional?'" Hmm.... other than the fact that... (a) The author says HP is fiction (b) Many biblical accounts have been linked to historical events © It makes no sense for Jews such as Peter and the rest of the 12 to make up accounts of Jesus' ressurection. In their society it would be considered sacreligious. Why would they risk painful death and persecution if they did not truly believe it to be true? The list goes on and on... Murphy is obviously sadly misinformed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joi Posted August 13, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 506 Topics Per Day: 0.10 Content Count: 1,922 Content Per Day: 0.40 Reputation: 173 Days Won: 4 Joined: 06/12/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted August 13, 2011 Gal 1:6-9: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneaccords Posted August 14, 2011 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 27 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 366 Content Per Day: 0.08 Reputation: 70 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/22/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted August 14, 2011 Review on Harry Potter New Movie: Parents please don‘t take your children! Harry‘s Last Battles Film Review by Berit Kjos Kjos Ministries ―I had been encouraged by my pastor at my CHRISTIAN church to read the Harry Potter books, because even though they have references to magic and sorcery, they can teach us more about the values of Friendship and Bravery than he can…. I am no longer Christian. Somewhere along the way my beliefs changed. Days before the release of the seventh and final novel in the series, youth leaders are being told they could use the popularity of the Potter books and films as a launch pad for exploring Christian themes. In its early years, Harry Potter‘ was a litmus test of orthodoxy for some conservative Christians, who expressed concern over its portrayal of witchcraft….The hysteria has largely died down, and not many religious leaders asked their flocks to avoid the final movie….Many Christians have cheered the portrayals of loyalty, courage and love. “They practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord….” 2 Kings 17:17 I had plenty of company last Saturday morning as I hurried into the movie theater to see the final film in the Harry Potter series. 1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. Psa 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. Several families with children walked in ahead of me. Others followed. One little girl couldn‘t be more than three years old! How would she react to this scary movie? For more than two hours, the audience sat immersed in a mystical world filled with frightening shrieks, explosive sounds of death and destruction, and enticing suggestions certain to appeal to power-hungry youth already attuned to the forces of evil. If you are a parent, please don’t take your children to see this movie! By its end, it had exposed the two sides of today‘s popular evil. Like the yin-yang symbol, there is an obvious dark side and a more subtle ―light side to occult deceptions. To resist their mind-changing allure, we need to understand both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingxshadow Posted September 6, 2011 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 16 Content Per Day: 0.00 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/04/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted September 6, 2011 i am a christian and like the harry potter movies. ive never read the books because i read so much else. but they are quite good and not as sinister and some would have you to believe. the "magic" it the movies is essentially a latinized word and a peice of wood. so if you have a latin dictionary and a stick you can do magic. not. magic isnt real and its just a movie. a pretty good one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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