While not all Christian protests against the blanket of "magic(k)" really know WHY they are protesting, there's a basic theory to it:
1) Faith requires you to wait on God and believe HE will take care of the situation.
2) Magic is using your will to take care of the situation on your own.
Hence, at least the informed Christian's problem with "magic" is that it is the precise opposite of "faith" by that definition. You either believe God will do as He's said He will, or you will do it yourself. It's one of those "...submitting your will to God..." things.
Magic is subtle manipulation beneath the surface rules of the 'game', so to speak. I don't think when God 'does a miracle' it's actually 'magic' in that He's the Rulemaker. However, I can see where miracles could be viewed as magic.
I think the Christian reaction against Harry Potter would have been lessened if J.K.Rowling had not used some real stuff in there, like the name "Nicholas Flamel". A child researching that would discover the man was real--and a curious child would begin to search further. That's the sort of thing that hooked me as a child. I got into magic at age 8 and by age 11 I was fervently into the Aleister Crowley/Hermetic/Thelemic system and stayed with it for over years. All because I saw references in things that led to real people and real books on magic (albeit years before Harry Potter was a twinkle in Ms. Rowling's eye).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-29 09:11 pm (UTC)While not all Christian protests against the blanket of "magic(k)" really know WHY they are protesting, there's a basic theory to it:
1) Faith requires you to wait on God and believe HE will take care of the situation.
2) Magic is using your will to take care of the situation on your own.
Hence, at least the informed Christian's problem with "magic" is that it is the precise opposite of "faith" by that definition. You either believe God will do as He's said He will, or you will do it yourself. It's one of those "...submitting your will to God..." things.
Magic is subtle manipulation beneath the surface rules of the 'game', so to speak. I don't think when God 'does a miracle' it's actually 'magic' in that He's the Rulemaker. However, I can see where miracles could be viewed as magic.
I think the Christian reaction against Harry Potter would have been lessened if J.K.Rowling had not used some real stuff in there, like the name "Nicholas Flamel". A child researching that would discover the man was real--and a curious child would begin to search further. That's the sort of thing that hooked me as a child. I got into magic at age 8 and by age 11 I was fervently into the Aleister Crowley/Hermetic/Thelemic system and stayed with it for over years. All because I saw references in things that led to real people and real books on magic (albeit years before Harry Potter was a twinkle in Ms. Rowling's eye).
I'm just sayin'... *laughs*
Nechtan :)