They're friends now.
After the Pope has finally approved of the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, my mom and her brothers and sisters can now breathe a big sigh of relief that their daughters are not being brainwashed after all by J.K. Rowling's witches and wizards. Don't believe me? Read this.
If you're part of the minority group who don't know who Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, and the Catholic Church is (and the way they don't blend together like oil and water no matter how hard you try to mix them), here's a brief explanation (at least from my point of view, just correct me if I'm wrong): the Catholic Church thinks that the books lure its readers into witchcraft and sorcery thereby putting in danger their soul and their belief in God. And if you're also part of a deeply religious family who values and respects what the Catholic Church says, this is a touchy subject. My sister and I love the Harry Potter series, and we had a relatively hard time justifying with our parents (and titos and titas) that we were already "spiritually mature" to handle the books. Nevertheless, my sister still had to give away her collection of books as "compromise".
This has got me thinking... if only the Vatican had read the complete series and realize that the whole story actually highlights the power of love and family and how good will always defeat evil in the end, then they could've saved our parents from the sleepless nights worrying that their children are already resorting to magic spells and incantations to get what they want (Accio car keys!). Right? Kidding aside, I admit that the books are of course subject to all kinds of interpretation depending on the reader. And it might pose some unwanted effects if perceived in a different way. But for me, I'll go by my rule of thumb: if it compels me to demean, hurt, or offend anyone, including God, then there must be something wrong with it. It suffices to say that even after reading all seven books, I still love God, my family, and my friends :D And I love Harry Potter. (Haha, labo :p)
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2 comments:
happy to hear that meggy! ;-)i actually saw the movie last night hihi ;-) i was one of those who was a big fan of harry potter until i joined community and was 'discouraged' to read the series for fear of being brainwashed or corrupted by evil thoughts, etc. up to this day, i only read up to book 5. like twilight i battled with my conscience for reading such things esp since i have lambs who love to read ;-) what do i tell them right? anyway i think the fear comes from the fact that if our faith is not mature enough to differentiate between magic and what God can do thus ultimately leading us to relying on supernatural things and not on things of God. personally, i believe that as readers we should simply exercise caution with the books we read, the music we listen to or anything that can lead us away from our beliefs ;-) good post! ;-)
"i believe that as readers we should simply exercise caution with the books we read, the music we listen to or anything that can lead us away from our beliefs" --> my thoughts exactly ate nette! :D
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