* Acts 13:11: Paul strikes sorcerer blind - hey Jesus struck Paul blind too!
* Acts 16: earthquake releases Paul & Silas from jail - now that is one very vibrationally focused earthquake!
To a child, the only real difference between the events in Harry Potter and the events in the Bible is that each is confined to their own book. The wizardry appears to be the same and thus Papal disapproval or Pastoral condemnation to anyone with even a Sunday School education does not wash. Of course, since it is the Bible, that makes it somehow different, yet it is not. Appeals to heavenly authority fall on deaf ears when one sees that wizardry is wizardry no matter where it occurs.
From the raising of the bronze serpent in the wilderness by Moses to save the snake bitten brethren, to it's worship by the people, storage in the ark and finally it's destruction by Hezekiah, who didn't like it, it's all wizardry. What's with the snake for healing routine? Back then it was "If any is sick among you, let him look upon the bronze serpent, and the look of faith will save the sick." I guess it was homeopathic. Like cures like.
To a child and perhaps even a thinking adult, the book of Revelation also with its signs and wonders, wars, plagues and heavenly hosts attacking the powers of evil and the powers of evil blasting back, is no different from the wizardry of Harry Potter. The symbolism and characters certainly can seem so. Make a movie on Revelation and what's the difference with Harry Potter? Different evils overcome by different powers in the same way it seems.
This is a biblically literate audience. We know the stories and even many profoundly religious types would swear they never read it in the Bible. I had a client who denied tooth and toenail that there is a story in the NT about Mary and Jesus' brothers coming to get Jesus because he was "out of his mind." It's there nevertheless, as we know. (Mark 3:20-35).
With Harry Potter coming again into the public forum with its magic, wizardry and sorcery and now the Pope even lending his disapproval (that no doubt made Ms. Rowling another gabillion bucks), the attacks by fundamentalists against that which seems to threaten the Church and the Bible will intensify. But beware! Sometimes we just have to ask ourselves, what really IS the difference between the Wizardry of Harry and that of Moses and the prophets, priests, and kings of the Bible? I am sure there are excellent apologetics, some of which this may set off, but in truth, the answer is not much.
Born to annoy...
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