Harry Potter vs. Jesus
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!!
Many Christians have issues with Harry Potter, primarily because the movie focuses on magic & witchcraft, which is forbidden according to God’s Word:
[Manasseh] practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft... He did much that was evil in the LORD’s sight. (2 Chronicles 33:6 NLT)
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery... (Galatians 5:19-20 NLT)
However, if you replace “magic” with “spiritual warfare” – and remember that God is able to accomplish supernatural things like raising Christ from the dead – the movies actually start to illustrate some important truths of Christianity.
Harry’s Mother, Lily Potter
When Voldemort returns in Goblet of Fire, he explains how Harry survived and he was defeated: it was through Lily’s self-sacrifice to save her child that simultaneously saved Harry and vanquished Voldemort.
This is all the more pointed when Voldemort, while talking to Harry, refers to her as, “your Muggle mother.” You can almost feel the disdain he has for her, similar to what was prophesied about Christ:
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. (Isaiah 53:2-3 NLT)
In the Gospel, it is Christ’s blood (provided through his self-sacrifice) that both saves us from eternal destruction and secures Satan’s defeat at the end of this world:
People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. (Romans 3:25 NLT)
This great dragon – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world – was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. ... For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth – the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb... (Revelation 12:9-11 NLT)
Harry & Ginny
In Half-Blood Prince, relationships kick into high gear, and Harry ends up realizing his feelings for Ginny while Hermione becomes aware she likes Ron. However, while this is going on, Ron is being swayed via a love potion Lavender has given him, and Ginny is dating another guy.
When Ron and Lavender first hook up, Hermione leaves the room and starts crying, and Harry follows her. As she ends up crying on his shoulder, she asks him what he feels when he sees Ginny and her boyfriend kissing. “A lot like this,” is his response, referring to the twisting pain in her gut when someone sees the person they’re in love with being romantic with someone else.
I imagine that this is how God feels when we run after other things to give us life instead of him. You see, when God talks about idolatry in Hosea 2, he refers to it as “lovers” (KJV):
...and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD. (Hosea 2:13)
This is the romantic nature of the Gospel: God has likened the relationship that Christ has with his people to the way a man and woman join together when making love:
As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. (Ephesians 5:31-32 NLT)
Because God has likened Christ’s relationship with his people to the way a man is with a woman, then idolatry becomes spiritual adultery. (For more on this, see John Eldredge’s book, The Sacred Romance.)
So is Harry Potter Okay or Not?
That is for each person to decide:
I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. (Romans 14:14 NLT)
And although this particular translation of the Bible deals with “food” that is “wrong to eat,” the original language simply means “there is no thing that is, in and of itself, wrong.”
Personally, I have been on both sides of the fence. While I used to be against Harry Potter because of the use of magic, I have found that my heart enjoys a good story – particularly when it’s the epic story of good vs. evil.
Jason Brightwell is a fitness enthusiast and special education teacher from Glen Allen, VA. He attends Commonwealth Chapel and the Far West End Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
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