A friend on Facebook, who is a Christian author, updated his status and said that he was going to see the new Harry Potter movie. One of his friends commented back on how terrible this was! "These books/movies are occultic and the author is being used by our greatest enemy. Deuteronomy 18 condemns witchcraft, sorcery and spiritism. In ministry and counseling, I pray for people to be delivered from exposure to these spirits. Why would anyone want to willingly engage in witchcraft? ... If the Lord rejected Samuel as king for 'rebellion being like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry' why would Christian's [sic] choose to indulge in the 'real' portrayal of witchcraft?"

*shakes head and sighs* I'm going to say it again... there is nothing wrong with getting kids to read books, especially books that teach kids about friendship and being a good person and going to school. If you don't want kids reading these books or seeing these movies, then fine. But you better come up with a better way to make the Bible more appealing to 7-year-olds. Or how about you write a book for kids that will rival J.K. Rowling's books? Does Harry Potter turn people into witches and warlocks? NO. Is it an entertaining story with a good message? YES. Have you read any of these books or seen these movies, aside from trailers? Probably not. Should you in order to know what's really in them? Couldn't hurt. We're supposed to be "of this world" in order to reach the people in it, right?

When will some Christians stop representing the rest of us with hatred and boycotting and start representing Christianity with love and kindness? I'm pretty sure that Jesus would have been friends with Harry Potter and the rest of the "demon" witches. Why? Because that's what Jesus did. Even if he thought that the witches and warlocks were bad, he still would have befriended them because that was his way. He was all about the outsiders, the others. And come to think of it, didn't Jesus perform magical feats, too? So it's okay when Jesus does it because it's a "miracle" but it's not okay when a fictional character in a fantasy land does it because it's devil's magic?

Now I'm just being devil's advocatey (oooo better watch out!) but come on, folks. I know plenty of Christians who enjoy Harry Potter and that doesn't make them horrible people who are spreading filth and lies to innocent children (ahemAdvertisingahem). And even if God does think Harry Potter of all things is a sin, folks, there are TONS of other things that each and every one of us do ALL DAY LONG that are sins. Don't go off on other people without taking a good look at yourself and some of the stuff you like to do/see/read/etc. None of us are perfect. Not even Harry Potter—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, anyone?

Alright, off my soap box.

Oh and p.s., the Harry Potter issue came up during a high school choir trip to Florida. Our choir director wouldn't let us watch a Harry Potter movie on the bus, but we were allowed to watch Bring it On, with its blatant sexual innuendos and questionable language (I love that movie!). Oh, really now?