Is Harry Potter bad, or is it part of a bigger problem?

• Chin Eng

  13 Feb 04, 15:49

  In order to understand if HP or Pokemon has an negative influence to all children that enjoy such titles, there must be sufficient evidence to prove that, yes, any children who reads HP or watches Pokemon will succumb to the influences of sorcery and witchcraft.
  
  The hypothesis is: if I am to cut myself with a sharp blade, then I will surely bleed. If, however, I cut myself with a blade and I do not bleed, then it is probably because the knife is not sharp or I am indestructible. So to draw a parallel, if a child is to read HP and does not get tempted to attempt witchcraft, either the witchcraft does not exist or the child is equipped with enough wisdom that he remains unaffected.
  
  While there is very little a parent can do to control the bombardment of the media, we can do a lot to nurture a child to discern what is good and bad, and what is right and wrong.
  When, as parents, we become the main filter for the child, the child may not be equipped with the necessary ability to fight the other wars. Meaning, we decide for them that HP and Pokemon is bad, the child may not know that Beyblade and Lego Bionicles can be a problem too.
  
  The identification of the critical issue is important. If we embark on a course of labeling everything we do not understand as satanic, we fall into the danger of oversimplifyng the world system. The temptations that the young face goes beyond seemingly satanic titles like Harry Potter. Even an overly attached emotion to a soccer team is bad. If your child has an obsession with Manchester United but does not read Harry Potter, do you think he is safe? No, because MU has become his god. The problem is not Satanism, the problem is obsession.
  
  The better option is to armed the child with the appropriate defense mechanism that even though they come in contact with these genre, their minds will remain unharmed.
  
  I have children who have read Harry Potter books, watched the movies, played Pokemon games yet remain unaffected. They also grew up watching Power Rangers, Ultraman and Justice League. Yet they probably pray more earnestly than me, behave well publicly and at home, contribute each week to their Sunday School class.
  
  Why is this so? Communicate with them daily and allow them the privilege of drawing their own conclusions. Allow them to disagree with you and let them explain why. This way you can go into their minds and see how they think. This way too, the child can mature faster.
  
  Is this a guaranteed path to successful child-raising? By all means, no! As a parent I have to constantly look at the trends in the society and understand what is happening to the world. I have to guard against the likes of Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and the influence of affluence. I have to guard against the various advertising campaigns of buy-and-buy, the Heeleys, the Playstations and mobile phones.
  
  By themselves, products are not all bad. Some are necessities and some are good to have. However, the moment something becomes an obsession for the young mind (as well as the old) it becomes a hindrance to one's Christian growth. Don't talk about Satanism, talk about materialism. That's the bigger problem...
• snk86

  13 Feb 04, 18:09

  yeah, given the right teaching, the childrens can go read the koran for all i care and end up understanding more on islam and still is a good child of god..........why am i so confident? well, i have read thru half of the koran..........my verdict? something like the bible in content, but we people here know the real diff right?
• the Bear

  13 Feb 04, 18:13

  the biggest problem is that parents do not take personal responsibility for the upbringing of their own children and look for others to blame when things go wrong...
  
  it's that simple
• Chin Eng

  13 Feb 04, 18:57

  Originally posted by snk86:

  yeah, given the right teaching, the childrens can go read the koran for all i care and end up understanding more on islam and still is a good child of god..........why am i so confident? well, i have read thru half of the koran..........my verdict? something like the bible in content, but we people here know the real diff right?

  So right. My family has an understanding that we should read as much as possible, whether we agree with whatever we read is another issue. My children are exposed to myth from the various cultures and as much as possible, we want to understand Christianity from the secular point of view.
  
  To the bear. You are very right too.... Shifting the blame has become a general mindset among parents. It is never about their fault that their children stray. It is always Satan, or the media, or their friends, or the world, but never themselves.
  
  At the age of about five, I told my elder child this: Give a man a fish and he will eat it for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat it for a lifetime. This child had never forgotten this lesson. To this day, every attempt is made to learn new skills and new concepts so that this individual is adept to survival...
• AzRaeL

  30 Mar 04, 09:17

  Originally posted by snk86:

  yeah, given the right teaching, the childrens can go read the koran for all i care and end up understanding more on islam and still is a good child of god..........why am i so confident? well, i have read thru half of the koran..........my verdict? something like the bible in content, but we people here know the real diff right?

  Try reading the OTHER Half *spoooky Music*