Is Harry Potter the Son of God?

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 178071

> Magpie:
> My impression of the article when I read it earlier was that 
> by "Christian" she seems to mean life after death, which is a bit 
more 
> universal. If you're not linking everylasting afterlife to God and 
> Jesus, I don't see how it's all that explicitly Christian. Her 
beliefs 
> seem to be more about a struggle with believing in life after 
death 
> with the book obviously showing that when you die you go on 
living, so 
> you can appear to Harry in that one scene, for instance.


lizzyben:

Well, it seems like she views that as Christian. It seems like her 
views on religion have a lot to do with the afterlife, etc. and not 
so much on the ethical or moral aspects. Just IMO. But it's more 
than just Death - JKR is saying that Christianity played a large 
role in the creation of the potterverse & the planned end of the 
series. So this explains lots of other things - for example, Harry 
as "the Chosen One", the symbols of Slytherin, "Lily" as a name for 
the Virgin Mary, the Potters as the Holy Family, seeing the Potters' 
statue & tombstone on Christmas, etc. etc. There's a ton of 
religious imagery in DH that has nothing to do with death. 

Magpie:
 I recognize 
> some Christian ideas in the glimpses we get of the afterlife (why 
does 
> Voldemort wind up a squawling, tormented baby because he didn't 
> repent? I'm not sure within the reality of the series, but he 
does).
> 
> I did laugh when I read the article, though, because wow, was I 
off 
> the mark in everything I thought was connected to Christianity 
(even 
> if that stuff, too, was pretty universal)! I'm surprised I even 
got 
> the names right! I seem to not share any of her specific anxieties 
> about death at all, and while she seems to have been writing to 
deal 
> with exactly that to me the book doesn't say anything much about 
death 
> at all, either in terms of being the one who dies or the one who 
lives 
> on. 

lizzyben:

Well, totally agree here. I just don't understand why she wrote a 
seven-book series about death, without having an ultimate meaningful 
message on the topic. And I also don't share her sense of daily 
struggle or fears about dying. Guess that makes me a Master of 
Death. *shrug* Don't most people accept that they have to 
die? How is that a huge message?

Other people have mentioned the lack of realistic mourning or 
grieving for the dead - and why would you grieve, look how happy & 
smiling they are! It seems almost... naive. Everyone who dies is 
just like they were alive, they're in portraits & ghosts & 
Resurrection Stones, and death doesn't hurt a bit. Harry, Ron & 
Hermione don't have to die, and the Mauraders come back to life. So 
at the same time that the book is talking about how great accepting 
death is, the main character doesn't have to accept death at all. 
Harry gets to escape death through his resurrection, see the dead 
again through the Stone, and keeps the Cloak that allows its owner 
to hide from death. In the end, the series seems to be less 
about accepting & dealing with death, and more about escaping, 
avoiding, ignoring or overcoming death. Which is what Voldemort was 
all about, right?

This quote was interesting: "On any given moment if you asked me 
[if] I believe in life after death, I think if you polled me 
regularly through the week, I think I would come down on the side of 
yes — that I do believe in life after death. [But] it's something 
that I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think 
that's very obvious within the books." It sure is! 

lizzyben