My Social Media-less Life

A conversation I had with a friend earlier today prompted this blog, so we’ll see if I can remain on task.

A lot of people in the Christian “world” struggle with what is acceptable to expose their children to and at what age would a thing be appropriate.

For instance, (hot button topic incoming)
Harry Potter.

About 12 years ago, I met a great group of people through Ted Dekker’s books on Facebook and we were all VERY active on this particular page called “Authors for Elyon.” One of the issues that came up throughout the course of us all getting to know each other was Harry Potter, naturally. Most of us were adults and not all of us had the same views on the series.

At the time, I concocted a well-written dissertation on why I believed Harry Potter was not great for Christians to read, having never read it myself.

Needless to say, there was a LOT of discussion on the whole thing. And surprisingly, I found myself in the minority. Since something as simple as a series of books does not make or break my relationships with people, eventually the whole conversation died and we all agreed to disagree.

I developed a closer friendship with one of the people who was not an adult at the time I posted said dissertation and after about a year and a half, he asked if I would read the first Harry Potter book if he sent it to me. Grudgingly, I said yes.

It took me almost another year before I even sat down to read it. Since the first book is not all that long, I had it finished within a day.

Funnily enough, I still believed most of what I wrote about the Harry Potter books that day, but the rest of it, I soon discovered sounded an awful lot like something I’d hear a Christian “leader/influencer” say and not something I had experienced for myself.

That’s not to say that those leaders were wrong. I one hundred percent agree that anything that develops a “cult-like following” should probably be given a wide berth by most Christians. Especially if you aren’t completely sure of your identity in God.

We could keep going on and on about that, but let’s leave it there for now and skip ahead a few years to where I finished the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.

I read the last three books in two weeks’ time and I would just have to say, that is not advisable when you’re an adult with jobs and things to do. Plus, I didn’t really get to mourn some characters’ deaths because I was just trying to figure out how the story was going to end.

By the time I got to the end of the seventh book, however, I told my roommate, “It’s a great story and I’ll probably go through it again, but I don’t think anyone under the age of 16– who isn’t already fully grounded in who they are in Jesus— should be reading these books.”

“What do you mean by that, Erica?”

Well, I mean just that. There’s actually not a whole lot of nuance to my statement… but if you haven’t read the books, you’ll completely miss Harry’s literal vitriol for some of the teachers and caretakers in his life (warranted or not, that is not Biblical behavior), the blasé way he disregards school rules and then is awarded for that disregard, and the overall rebellion that is ever-present in Harry’s life.

Can you imagine what that kind of overt rebellion would do to young and impressionable children? I can, because we have a whole generation of people (now mostly my age) who just don’t care for… anything.

And I’m not saying Harry Potter is the only reason for that. That’s silly and ridiculous (“This class is ridiculous.”), and there’s never just one thing that causes a generation to grow up disregarding authority or just not caring about the consequences of their actions. But if Christians can do one thing to change their world, maybe reevaluating what your children are reading is a good start.

Pivoting the topic a bit, there are some positive things that I’ve seen come out of Harry Potter… at least in my life.

For instance, I rediscovered my love of writing by reading J.K. Rowling’s books. I read those last three Harry Potter books during a two-week break from ministry school and when I graduated the following year, I did my first NaNoWriMo.

The Harry Potter series is one of the best, well-rounded series’ I’ve ever read. Very few stones were left unturned (I have a beef about what happened to the Dursley’s but that’s for another time) and all characters felt well-developed; even the minor ones. As a reader, you feel as if you’re going to school with these people and learning with them.

One of the arguments my mom still uses for why the books are bad is that they use “actual spells.” And she’s not wrong. There is ONE actual spell in there. To restore Voldemort to a body. It wasn’t used for good, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s not good.

So I said all of this to say… just pay attention to what your children are ingesting through their eyes and ears. Even read books with them! I had a couple friends whose mom read the Harry Potter books to them growing up and, you know what? I’m not opposed to that. Because then if the kids have a question, they know they can ask you right then and there. (“Is this a kissing book?”)

So the age-old question of, “should my kids read or not read, watch or not watch, listen to or not listen to, something” is between you and God and should be dependent on your child’s foundation in Jesus. But don’t just let them go out into the world all willy-nilly and make these hard decisions by themselves. They’re not old enough for that. That’s why you’re their parent. Train them up. At some point, they’ll learn what’s right and wrong on their own from your example.

** bonus points to anyone who can accurately guess the parenthetical quoted references… note, they are not from the same thing, but one of them is a Harry Potter reference. 😉