Am I unique?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 171248

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Kas wrote:

> (My first post - please be gentle :)  I've been thinking about this a while, 
> and I fall squarely on the "Harry will live" team - for several reasons. 

Geoff:
Welcome to the IWHTLC (I want Harry to live Club)!!

Kas:
> While it's true that a Harry sacrifice might illustrate the power of love 
> for others, and would make sense to those looking for overt Christian 
> symbolism in the finale, I believe it will do more harm than good.
> 
> JKR set out of make a children's story.  However rich, layered, and detailed 
> they are, at their core the books detail the battle of good and evil. 
> Harry, as human as he is, is JKR's symbol for good.  And I can't believe 
> that she would have evil triumph over good - not in a children's story.
> 
> I realize that the Lion sacrifices himself to save the children in the 
> Chronicles of Narnia.  But I see his role as different from Harry's.  And I 
> admit I never read the books - knowing they were a Christian allegory, I 
> wasn't interested...  Others may see him differently...

Geoff:
We have touched on this question  several times before and, usually, 
three authors come into the frame – JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien and CS 
Lewis. However, these authors further subdivide into two groups, 
The first two authors as one and Lewis in the other.

Both JKR and JRRT are Christians but choose to let their view of life 
speak subliminally rather than overtly. The stories do not demand 
that a Christian message takes centre stage; there is also room for 
people who hold different views to identify with the characters which 
they have created.

CSL, on the other hand, quite openly wrote "The Lion, the Witch and 
the Wardrobe" as a vehicle to teach children about the central truths 
of the Christian faith. In it, Aslan represents Jesus Christ. He is a 
heavenly being and, in fact, is referred to as the son of the Great 
Emperor over Sea – God as he is seen in Narnia.

IN the context of the HP books, I have said in the past that I do 
not believe that Harry can ever be considered a Christ figure. To 
a Christian, Jesus is God in human form. He is sinless which is why 
he can go to the Cross and carry the punishment for the wrongdoing 
of humans and rise from the dead to prove that. No human can do
that. Harry – and the rest of us also – are not divine; we are not sinless.

Harry can  be considered an Everyman. Like anyone, he does things 
wrong, either deliberately or by accident; he gets angry; he gets 
revengeful. But he also shows courage, sympathy, altruism.He 
/cannot/ make a sacrifice for love which "would make sense to 
those looking for overt Christian symbolism in the finale" because, 
although folk do make that sort of decision in the real world, it 
does not equate to the burden carried by Christ. 

Turning to another matter, the following is quoted from 
message 171243:

Cassy Ferris wrote:
> > this thing always nugged me about Narnia - that Aslan KNEW 
> > beforehand that he will come back to life.
> > Not much of a sacrifice, was it?

Eggplant:
> That is a VERY good point! It is also part of the absurdity behind
> the entire antiquated Christian belief system.

Geoff:
Eggplant, I know from what you have posted in the past that you 
are something of a maverick and an iconoclast since you have, 
inter alia, expressed a wish for there to be blood, mayhem and 
bodies strewn across Book 7 for it to satisfy you.

But, I must take issue with over the sentence quoted above.

I am a Christian, one of many millions throughout the world. 
Real Christians believe that they have experienced the presence 
of God and that the risen Christ lives in their lives. Even today 
on 04/07/07, somewhere in the world, believers will be imprisoned, 
discriminated against, even killed because of their belief. So it is 
more than an antiquated system


I quite accept that you are not a Christian. You have every right to 
that view; that is your privilege, But... What you have said in your 
comment above is, at least, insensitive and, at worst, insulting.