Subject: On Harry Potter? |
Bible Note: No, Tim, I don't. I don't think it excludes any and all secular literature from a Christian's reading list. I think that approach is much too strained and narrow. One's reading list should, I'd think, take a number of factors into consideration, including but not necessariy limited to questions such as these: How mature is the Christian, as a person and as a Christian? For what purpose is the book to be examined? I think there are perfectly legitimate reasons for mature, well-grounded Christians to read the works of Darwin, for example, or the Koran, in order to be able to understand more about these points of view that are clearly antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. It is both unrealistic and undesirable for Christians to attempt to sequester themselves in a spiritual and intellectual cave. That hardly permits them to go into all the world and preach the gospel of Christ. Yet we are under the command of Scripture to be in the world and not of the world. This can be a tight-wire journey in our complex world, but it can be done with help from above. I believe, Tim, that usually the Christian knows when he is crossing the line and spending too much time and effort in reading things that do him no real good and may in fact be harming him. As a case in point, some years ago someone gave me a copy of one of Stephen King's books. I was at the time quite unfamiliar with this writer. After reading some 50 pages of the book (Tommyknockers I think the name was) I decided it was trash and wanted no more of it, so I tossed it among other items of its genre -- in the trash can where it belonged. --Hank |