[the_old_crowd] John the Baptist?

[Aberforth's Goat]

Hi Steve!

Steve wrote,

> Yes, it's real. [....] 
> She said basically that she's glad not too many people ask 
> about her faith because if she talked too much about it, 
> people would be able to figure out how the whole thing ends.

Amazing. Do you know - off the top of you head - when this interview
took place? It is reminiscient of a GoF interview with Evan Solomon
where she says, in response to questions about God, that he should "come
back when I've written book seven."

And was there really something about John the Baptist??

> I'm sorry to hear that you're in the middle of it we regards 
> to HP. I suffered similarly a few years ago, as you might 
> remember, and it, well, sucks. If there's any way I can help, 
> let me know. 

Thanks Steve - and yes, I do remember. I prayed for you then, and I've
thought of you on occasion over the last month or so. What happened to
you, anyway?

BTW, the article in question was arguing for the point you mention later
in your post: if you read JRK the way she wants to be read, and if you
agree with her, you'll end up thinking about yourself and the world in
deeply Christian terms. 

I also argued that the best way to encourage people - especially
teenagers - to derive an anti-Christian message from the books is to run
around screaming that they're Satanic. People who think they are eating
forbidden fruit aren't usually very rational about it. People have an
odd propensity for finding what they're looking for ...

Anyway, my arguments aren't really the point just now, since everyone
concerned has stated that they don't want to hear them, aren't
interested, sorry pleaese just stop. They're willing to accept that I do
weird Pottery things in private, but they feel that I crossed the line
by publishing a serious article that implicitly brought HP into
connection with my/their/our church. Some of their friends who have read
the article (or read the title, at least, or read the blurb next to
somebody else's article that misquoted mine ... ) were shocked, and they
feel that I've given all of us a bad reputation.

The whole thing spiraled out of control a week or so back ... At the
moment, I don't actually know what they want to do about it. What I do
know is that I simply can't lead a church like this. The issues are
important to me, and I'm not ready to wear a muzzle or give seminars
wearing a false mustache just to make sure that no one gets the
impression that my church might actually condone or even (gasp!) be
proud of my beliefs. 

<sigh>

> I'm reading an advance copy of John Granger's 
> new book, coming out in June from Tyndale, and while he goes 
> off on a few tangents I don't like (Harry Potter as heir of 
> the Potter, as in God) he does have a good handle on why 
> these books are not just okay but actually triumphantly Christian. 

I don't have his book - I'll need to pick it up at some point. I did
read - well, no, skim - an article on a catholic website in which he
argues for the "alchemical structure" of the series, and my eyebrows got
cramped into a pretty skeptical arch. I'll give him another short, if
you say he's good.
 
* * * * 

BTW, are any of you folks planning on attending this conference? It's a
wee bit on the conservative Catholic side for my tastes - but if it
weren't so expensive I'd be there. There should be a couple of HP
related presentations - and the folks running the con are generally
pro-HP (and anti Pullman, by the by).

Info:

Landscapes with Angels: Fantasy, Children's Literature and the Spiritual
Role of the Imagination
http://www.secondspring.co.uk/fantasy/conference.htm

* * * *

Also BTW: where *do* you folks hang out these days? Hopefully, I'm not
talking to an empty house. I don't really feel like spilling my guts
about the church situation on OT Chat, though ...

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray) 
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, 
so that may not have been bravery...."