ChapDisc - DH 16, Godric's Hollow

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 182124

 "Caius Marcius" <coriolan at ...> wrote:

> 
> 10. The second Scripture verse, upon the Potters' headstone, is from
> Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, 15:26 (the King James
> Version).  Here is the passage in its context (from the New American
> Standard Bible):
> 
> --- 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first 
fruits
> --- of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a
> --- man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam 
all
> --- die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in 
his
> --- own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are
> --- Christ's at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands 
over
> --- the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all 
rule
> --- and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has
> --- put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will
> --- be abolished is death.
> 
> "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." – Harry's initial
> reaction is that this is a Death Eater slogan.  How does this
> statement differ from the Death Eater philosophy?

Potioncat:
I've seen the other replies to this question, but try as I might, I 
can't seem to work out how to best snip. So I came back to the source 
of the question.

I disagree with Alla---I think---

Even given the one sentence, there is a big difference. I realize 
only hearing the one sentence doesn't explain either LV's philosophy 
or Paul's. I have to quickly say that I know less about what the DEs 
expected out of this. The defeating death trick seems to be limited 
to the Dark Lord---a contrast to the Christian Lord.

Tom Riddle wanted to live on Earth forever. He kept a bodily form 
alive so that he could avoid death and moving on. In some ways, he 
was like a thick ghost. (by either meaning of thick.) He was no 
longer really a living human. Christians give up the earthly life for 
a Heavenly one.

Paul's meaning is that through Christ by dying, we defeat death, 
because we have a new life in a new plane. Our body dies, but our 
soul lives. In LV's case, his body lived but his soul was almost dead.

Going beyond the one sentence, it's very likely JKR knew many of her 
readers would know the rest of the scripture. It's the sort of thing 
that you don't need to get the idea---much like Harry---but that you 
understand on a deeper level if you know it. (That's also like the 
Britishisms that some of us don't get, but it doesn't ruin the story 
that we miss it.)