Christianity in HP

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 128407

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, ReturnOfTheMutt at a... wrote:
>  
> "Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about using  human traditions on how 
to worship God....
(Snipped Mark 7:7-9)
> "God does not want people to honor Christ by following the 
traditions and customs of men." 
> Simply put, if it's derived from a pagan tradition, it's pagan.  
In Harry Potter all mentions of religious holidays  seem to be 
focused on tradition rather than actual religious celebration.  


Tonks:
(Oh I am going to have to find a way to pull this one back on topic 
by the end.)

The quote from Mark is taken out of context. Jesus is talking about 
God's laws and the ritual customs of the Jews.  His disciples were 
criticized for not doing the rituals before they ate.  They are not 
following the traditions of the temple elders.  He goes on to say 
that they are justifying going against the commandments of God, 
because of the laws of their tradition.  It has nothing to do with 
paganism.  Paganism isn't even the subject here.  Jesus, a Jew, is 
talking to others Jews about the ritual traditions of their 
religion. And the Jewish religion is not a pagan religion. 

As to HP.  Yes, JKR could well be using the Christian religious 
celebrations of Christmas and Easter in a secular way, just as they 
are observed in secular society by folks that are not Christian.  I 
agree that is a possibility.  I have never said that Harry or any of 
the WW or MW folks are Christian.  What I have said it that JKR is 
using Christian symbolism in the books to teach what is basically a 
Christian story.  You can all buy me a butterbeer at the end of book 
7, when you say "ya, Tonks, you were right."

Tonks_op