[HPforGrownups] Re: Magic in the Bible

[dragonsbloodmoon at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18683

In a message dated 5/3/2001 8:04:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
koinonia02 at yahoo.com writes:

<< The Bible condemns all forms of the occult-divination, magic/sorcery, 
 and spiritism-in numberous passages throughout both the Old and New 
 Testaments.  For instance, in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 God's view of 
 occultism is clearly expressed:  "let no one be found among you who 
 sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination 
 or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in withcraft, or casts spell, 
 or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.  Anyone who 
 does these things is detestable to the LORD. >>

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the list moderator, I must chime in 
here. The Bible is a set of moral, religious, and ethical guidelines for 
those who wish to follow a Judeo-Christian religion. Those of us who are not 
Christian are not obligated to follow those rules. It's awfully arrogant of 
Christians to assume that their God is the only God, and that their religion 
is the only valid religion. 

This topic always comes up in discussions about Harry Potter. My question is 
"why"? Do Christians feel they need to justify the pleasure they get from 
reading the books? Do they need to rationalize it to the point where they 
don't feel like they are "sinning" because they enjoy a book about magic? Why 
is it so hard just to enjoy a work of fantasy?

Toby