“The sweetest woman in the world
Could be the meanest woman in the world
If you make her that way
You keep hurting her
She’ll keep being quiet
She might be holding something inside
That’ll really, really hurt you one day”
—Thin Line Between Love and Hate
(Source: pretenders.org)
think.
The Harry Potter series has rocked the world of fiction for over a decade, and continues to win millions of fans even after the last installment of the film. Although the medium through which this work of literature delivers its message – witchcraft – is quite questionable in the Biblical sense, there are some things that strongly relate to theological doctrine in one way or another.
I will address just one of the many other Biblical similarities in the Harry Potter series, and this one is very hard to miss.
In the last installment of the film series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, we see memories of Severus Snape in the pensieve. Here we find out about Snape’s true loyalties, and Dumbledore’s underlying motive for adopting Harry into Hogwarts. Snape then remarks, “You’ve kept him alive so he could die at the proper moment.”
To many who love Dumbledore, this line might seem a bit off and could even break away several pieces of his reputation as a kindhearted, trustworthy old man, and the greatest wizard of all time. To think that he would take a baby into his care and feed him everything that would make him the greatest he could ever be, just to fulfill his mission to die at the hands of the Dark Lord, would be a pretty cruel thing indeed.
Jesus was put in the same fate. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Herod the Great heard about the news of a King born in Bethlehem and plotted to kill him. He had ordered for all the boys below 2 years of age to be killed, but an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to leave with Mary and the baby to Egypt, where they should stay until they were told to return (Matthew 2:13-15). As all Christians may very well know, Jesus was God and man, born into the world to save it from sin by dying on the cross. In this scenario, we see that God the Father had saved Jesus from the wrath of Herod, “so he could die at the proper moment” – on the cross in Calvary some thirty years later.
Interpreting Harry Potter in the Biblical sense might bring a clash of opinions, since the Bible clearly states that God hates witchcraft (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). The fact remains, though, that there are certain elements in the story of this wizard boy that put reference to Scripture, one way or another.
(Source: webupon.com)
it is what it is after all…
when you think you’ve had enough
and the world keeps crashing down,
when the road is always rough
tell one friend you’re leaving town.
when the load is never light
and escape’s the only way
do not wander in the night
tell one friend to make you stay
if you cannot walk the mile
and your legs scream only pain
try to linger for a while,
tell one friend to bring the cane
when it’s blowing up inside
there’s no other way to vent
tell one friend the things you hide
and relief is heaven sent.
Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, is waging a campaign against the increasing popularity of yoga in sports and church halls throughout the United States, warning that it is ‘pagan’ in its roots.
Genesis 3:23-24 states:
“So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden and made them cultivate the soil from which they had been formed. Then at the east side of the garden he put living creatures and a flaming sword which turned in all directions. This was to keep anyone from coming near the tree that gives life.”
THOUGHTS FROM THE TURNING POINT:
Man, in his fallen nature at this point in creation, cannot eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life without condemning himself to be eternally apart from God; to live forever as a dead spirit. Thus God sends them away, not as an act of punishment but an act of love, so that in time, death may be a blessing. Because in death, man will be born again and he will be saved and brought back into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we are banished from the point we stand because we can better serve God away from it. Sometimes we are driven away from our very own “garden” because God knows that if we stay in it we will surely drown in sin. Not all painful occurrences in life are meant to be punishments. They are simply the hand of God fixing us up and getting rid of the thorns that bind us from serving Him the best way we can.
“There are seven things that the Lord hates and cannot tolerate:
A proud look,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill innocent people,
a mind that thinks up wicked plans,
feet that hurry off to do evil,
a witness who tells one lie after another,
and someone who stirs up trouble among friends.”
- Proverbs 6:16-19
