Harry Potter: Good or Bad?

If you ask a lot of Christian families what they think of the Harry Potter books and movies, most will likely tell you that they've never read/seen them or let their children read/see them and they probably never will.  Why?  Because for most, Harry Potter is only about magic.  Or at least that's what they perceive.  But is that true?  Is that all Harry Potter is, a whole franchise just surrounding magic?  No.  At least I certainly don't think so.  But, granted, I quite literally grew up with Harry Potter and I've spent over half my life reading and watching it.  To be honest, though, if all it was was magic, I wouldn't have spent all that time reading and watching it.  Now this certainly isn't to bash anyone who is against Harry Potter.  The majority of my closest friends have never had anything to do with it, but what I do want to do is point out the good of it and maybe put it into perspective.

Most Christian families have an issue with the magic and the wizardry and witchcraft because it does state in the Bible to stay away from witches and to not participate in any kind of magic.  I'm not going to deny that at all.  However, many of the movies and books we know and love do contain some kind of magic or wizards and witches.  Take even the Narnia books and movies.  There we have the White Witch who uses her magic to turn creatures to stone and create an eternal winter until she is defeated.  In Lord of the Rings we have both good and bad magic and wizards.  Gandalf uses his magic numerous times throughout the movies and the books to aid the Fellowship and the other free peoples of Middle Earth.  There's also Saruman who uses his magic to do evil by ensnaring others minds and in doing Sauron's evil work.  We even have a battle between him and Gandalf using their magic.  And we also have Galadriel.  Though lesser than Gandalf and Saruman in using her own form of magic, she does have it and we see her using it by speaking into the minds of the Fellowship.  She is even referred to as a witch by Gimli as they enter Lothlorien.  Finally, there's the Inheritance Cycle.  This series of books uses magic very similarly to the way its used in Harry Potter.  While these other movies and books don't have words accompanied with the spells and magic done, this series of books does minus the waving of wands.  Throughout each book the reader learns of Eragon constantly learning new words from the ancient language that allow him to do magic, powerful magic.  Yet what intrigues me with this series is that many Christian families have no problem with it despite the similar uses of magic in it to Harry Potter.

And with that, I do have a theory.  Each of these books and movies, other than parts of The Chronicles of Narnia, all take place in a fantasy realm:  Middle Earth, Narnia, Alagaesia.  Harry Potter, on the other hand, all takes place in our world, specifically in England.  And so perhaps it's this factor combined with the wands and spoken magic words that make it seem too close to home.  But like with the majority of these other books/movies, the magic is not the focal point.  Oh, yes, it is very much there perhaps slightly more so here since the majority of the movies and books take place at a school of magic, but there is so much more than just a story of a boy and his friends who can use magic.  If you ask most Harry Potter fans what they remember most about the books/movies, its not the magic, its the friendships, the sacrifices made, the bravery, and probably more than anything else the journey.  Much like Frodo on his journey to destroy the one ring to put an end to Sauron, Harry is on his own journey to destroy the most evil wizard ever born.  And as Frodo has the Fellowship to help him on his journey, so Harry has his group of friends who stick by his side through thick and thin to help him accomplish this seemingly impossible task.  We see a boy, who despite all that he's been through since his birth, is strong and courageous and we see him growing up into a great man.  In all honesty, there is much that can be learned from this story if you can look past magic because more than anything its a story of growing up.  And I think that's what I love most about it, is year after year watching the characters grow and develop, acting like teenagers, going through the emotional ups and downs of being a teenager, breaking the rules from time to time, learning from life.

If you can look past the magic, then you really will find an incredibly timeless story full of adventure and danger, sadness and triumph, good versus evil.  Maybe, just think about it.