[HPforGrownups] Re: _Harry Potter and the Bible_

[Simon]

No: HPFGUIDX 17522

Richard: <<<First, I'd like to just say that insults and personal attacks
will get us all nowhere. So, please, lets' keep the tone civil and mature.
After all, this is supposed to be a board for ADULTS.>>>

As Richard mentions this is a board for adults and so we should all be able
to discuss this in a mature way.


I have not read the book and am not in the position to do so at the moment.
So I will only comment on one issue that does not, I think, need knowledge
of HPB.

__________________BEGIN


In one post, a Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
>Just to give you an example, he claims that Harry's
>actions in the Second Task were *not* courageous
>but selfish.  (*Real* Christian courage would have been
>if Snape or Malfoy or someone else Harry hates had
>been down there and Harry had saved *them*.)

Richard replied:
<snip>On page 135, I discuss how
> Harry's actions were not really all THAT extraordinary in the
> "CHRISTIAN PARADIGM" because according to Christian belief,
> sacrificing for a friend or for someone that loves you is
> NATURAL. It is basic instinct for a person to want to love those
> and help those who love and help them. We, as Christians,
> strive to go beyond this concept by loving and reaching out to
> those whom we would consider our enemies, even at cost to us
> (Luke 6:32-33; Rom. 5:7-8). Is this really such a horrible
> concept??? I then go on to simply state that it seems biased to
> attribute exceptional moral fiber to Harry for one specific deed,
> which is in reality, quite a natural response.
> I then go on to simply state that it seems biased to
> attribute exceptional moral fiber to Harry for one specific deed,
> which is in reality, quite a natural response. It is especially
> one-sided when taking into account his many other moral
> failings. I agree he did a great thing, but this natural response to
> save friends is hardly exceptional, when the same person
> behaves in a most unethical way faced with other scenarios.


The point of the second task is not that Harry saves a friend. It is that
he saves someone he does not know. He rescues Gabrielle (Fleur's sister)
and would have, if allowed, rescued everyone down there (how he would have
got them back to the surface is a different matter).

The second incident to mention in conjunction with this is from PoA. In
this he allows Peter to live, even though he has just found out the truth
about what had happened to his parents. He does it for the benefit of
Sirius and Remus, but the end result is that he has rescued Peter.



Simon
--
Dominus Illuminatio Mea ...
"The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"
Psalm 27
---------------------------------------------------------------------------