What's a Christian to Do With Harry Potter?

Chapter Five WhatWouldJesus do with Harry Potter? Decide for Yourself What would Jesus do? This question, posed in the Christian classicIn His Stepsby Charles Sheldon, has become so familiar as to be reduced to WWJD? But how do we determine what Jesuswoulddo, particularly in the kind of divisive debate where well-versed Christians disagree as they do over Harry Potter? Actually, it is precisely this kind of situation in which the WWJD? question proves most useful. (To take the examination a step further, perhaps you'll consider the more pertinent questionWhat would Jesus have me do? as you read on.) In the fictional storyIn His Steps, a pastor challenges member of his church to take a pledge. For one year they agree to consider what the Bible has to say on the matter, pray about it, ask God for wisdom, seek godly counsel if necessary, them come to their own conclusion on whatthey believeJesus would do. The church members necessarily rely on dictates of conscience, because the question put to them is to be a matter of personal reflection before the Lord. They are not to poll their friends to see whattheythink Jesus would do. Nor are they to pry into their friends' business and volunteer their own opinion on another's circumstance. Once an individual gains a conscientious conviction in answer to the personal questionWhat would Jesus do'he or she pledges to do it regardless of the consequences. At one point in the story, a man who owns an establishment that sells hard liquor, wine, and beer asks the question. After prayerful consideration of many passages in the Bible that mention wine, he gains a personal conviction that Jesus would not sell hard liquor used primarily to get people drunk. He decides to discontinue the sale of hard liquor but has no such conviction over selling beer and wine. At a meeting of the people who took the pledge, he is questioned about his decision by a recovering alcoholic. To the alcoholic, beer and wine represent drunkenness, because whenever he takes even one drink he cannot stop himself until he is drunk. The store owner reminds his friend that he has followed the pledge: He prayerfully considered Scripture and came to a personal and conscientious conviction. In this case, as in many of this nature, the personal history of each individual and what the mattermeansto that person make a difference in each one's answer. It follows that each person's answer would seem the obvious one--in his or her own mind! Considerable adjustments are required to broaden one's perspective and see that another Christian might not make the same associations and would therefore come to a different decision. It would also take some maturity to see--as is most important for Christian unity--that both decisions, while different in terms of personal boundaries and conduct, could be right before God. This analogy has significant relevance to the debate about whether Christians should read or allow their children to read or see the Harry Potter stories. You may recall from chapter 3 that whether a person takes a pro or con position depends upon the mental associations that person makes. These positions often reflect the personal experience of the individual. One man even appealed to this as part of his argument, saying, "I know from personal experience that it is not okay." Who can effectively argue with that? So it is not surprising that Alan Jacobs, a professor of English at a Christian college, associates Harry Potter primarily with classic literature (see p. 21). For him, the issues are defined by his study of the history of magic and science in literature. Alison Lentini, a writer with the Spiritual Counterfeits Project who has degrees in Romance languages and literatures from Princeton University, also looked at Harry Potter books frNeal, Connie is the author of 'What's a Christian to Do With Harry Potter?', published 2001 under ISBN 9781578564712 and ISBN 1578564719.