There is an issue that has been troubling me over the past year and I thought someone might enlighten me in understanding its significance.

In November of last year, America was struggling to find an escape from reality. Reality, for most of us, was still a lot to swallow. The threat of war. The threat of terror. As mentioned, we wanted an escape that didn't remotely reflect the situations going on in real life.

Hence, the movie "Harry Potter" came into theaters and received rave reviews. At the time, I did not see it because it didn't interest me. Then, as the weeks went forward, I began to hear of how much the "Christian world" despised Harry Potter. Seemed the entire movie, book, and story were "of the devil." During that time, my (pre)wife went to see it without knowing of all the controversy. She found it cute. She termed it, "A childhood story of good vs. evil."

So in December, I had still not seen "Harry Potter," but I was aware of the large controversy in the Christian public. Regardless of my personal perspective toward everyone else's out-and-out determination AGAINST Harry Potter, I didn't care.

Then December came. "The Lord of the Rings" entered theaters. The numbers that Harry Potter had put up were blown away by "Rings." The themes were similar, but one was a bit more "adult" in nature. "Rings" was full of magic, wizardry, and evil. "Harry" was full of magic, wizardry, and evil. But both also had the theme of "good vs. evil."

At this point, none of the controversy bothered me in the slightest. I thought it somewhat odd that parents were fighting to have Harry Potter removed from bookshelves, etc, but I didn't really think it my concern. Then I went into a local Christian Bookstore. Guess what I saw.

Toward the front of the store was an entire section devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings." Not only was the first book available, but movie scripts, toys, and the entire trilogy. In the coming months, I went to other Christian bookstores in other areas of the country and found the EXACT same thing going on. Apparentely, a phenomenon was going on in which "The Lord of the Rings" represented some sort of replica of religious passion. Oddly, I don't recall this happenening when "Star Wars" came out in the 70's.

I assumed that my next step should be asking the customer service lady in the Christian Bookstore, "Where is your Harry Potter section?"

Although I never asked the question, it has lingered in my mind. Upon my first notice of the "Rings" section, I saw a little boy asking his mother if he could have one of the books. Typical. But how odd. Why the controversy between two similar stories that both effect children?

I assure you, having now seen them both twice, "Lord of the Rings" is a much more frightening movie for children to watch than "Harry Potter." And truly, I would assert that the use of "magic and sorcery" is much more noticable in "Rings."

Anyone have an answer?

People that spout that movies are "evil" are often the same ones that burn books. I've never understood book burning and never will. Seems stupid to me. So in short no.

jtw

JTW,

Kind of reminds me of the movie "Footloose" in the 80s. The city that was determined to stop everything evil from entering into the city because it might corrupt the town. Eventually the pastor said, "When does it stop? And who decides what to burn and what to keep?"

Mercy

Exactly.


jtw

MercyBreeze,

Thank you for sharing your story and perspective. I have read all the Harry Potter books and I loved them! But when I learned of some of the arguements from Christians... I felt bad as I thought I wasn't following Phil. 4:8.

And I knew that the Lord of the Rings is by some, seen as a Christian analogy. So I appreciated your perspective of both movies having magic, wizardry, and evil.

My guess, is that if everyone realized that both have the same theme of "good vs. evil" and include witchcraft... some might change their opinion. I don't really have an answer to your question, so I'm sorry I couldn't help out... but thank you for posting this!

God bless!

------------------
People use duct tape to fix things... God chose nails!

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1 Corinthians 16:24)

Godis,

Thanks for posting. I tend to believe that the issue wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the "elevation" of "Rings" by those within Christian fellowships. Were the "Lord of the Rings" to be categorized in Barnes & Nobles as another Sci-Fi or Classic Fiction trilogy, while many Christians enjoyed it, I wouldn't be disturbed. It just shakes the core of common sense when I see it elevated as though it were written to be FOR Christians. Perhaps it goes back to my original question that never was presented to the customer service section at the Christian Bookstore...

"Hi, mam. I noticed your section on Lord of the Rings. Would you please point me in the direction of the Star Wars religion section? Oh, nevermind. Just point me in the direction of Harry Potter. That would be fine."

Mercy

I just found this quote:

"As a student at Oxford, he struck up a friendship with C. S. Lewis, who was later to be a fellow professor at Oxford, and with whom he shared his thoughts about myths, languages, and storytelling. Lewis said, “Myths are lies even though lies breathed through silver.” “No,” said Tolkien, “they are not.” They discussed such matters extensively over the years, for when Tolkien married and he and his wife had children, he found that, like Lewis, he had a gift for storytelling."

Perhaps this is the "Christian reasoning" for elevating the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. C.S. Lewis is a cherished writer within many Christian circles for his "Chronicles of Narnia" imagery. Lewis favored mythology and storytelling as much as the next great storyteller.

What concerns me about choosing to elevate a work like "Lord of the Rings" as a "Christian fiction" book is that there is no implication, focus, or attempt to point toward Christ Jesus. The focus within Lord of the Rings is a religious one, but not a Christian one. The focus implies that even "the smallest person can make a difference." That's a religious point of view, but within a Christian mentality, we are NOTHING without Christ. Even the smallest man is NOTHING without Christ.

I agree with Godis with regards to Philippians 4:8. But perhaps the only true response to such a passage as this is the removal of our television sets from the living room. Neither of my grandmothers have televisions and they are quite content in the finer things of life. They have excluded things that tend to lean toward impurity. No one can deny that even daytime television is quite awful (Jerry Springer, MTV, Maury Povich). But we still turn on our televisions.

So as JTW implied, where do we draw the line? And at what point do we choose to elevate one story as "Christian" (when it was never meant to be) and lower another story as "Satanic" (when it was never meant to be)? Perhaps this question has no answer.

Just food for thought the next time you guys walk into your Christian bookstore and notice the "Lord of the Rings" section. Maybe some will think twice before "picketing Harry Potter" this year when it comes out around Thanksgiving. Seems the same "picketers" will be buying early tickets to see "Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers." Ironic, huh?

Mercy

I think the biggest part of the controversy was the fact that Harry potters author based her book on facts she reserched from satanism and witchcraft.She claims this movie to be based on true facts.It also glorifies being a witch.While Rings is soley fictional.A fanticy written by a christian.With no evil intented.I have no desire to see this movie "junk in junk out".


GBU
Spirit

Spirit,

Agreed. JunkinJunkout is a common place understanding for the negative things we put in our minds. Only problem is, I'm curious as to whether or not you could verify that the author of Harry Potter was attempting to teach "true satanism and witchcraft" while the author of Rings was indeed "a Christian." Perhaps that's where I'm misunderstanding your attempt to verify your approval of one vs. the other.

If you are correct in asserting that J.R.R. Tolkien was "a Christian," the question would indeed be, are there not other "Christian" people who have written "non-Christian" books? Why would we allow something like "Lord of the Rings" to be placed into the Christian Bookstore as though it was pointing us toward Christ? Why not leave it in Barnes & Nobles?

Mercy

Another quote by a Tolkien (author of "Lord of the Rings") fan:

"The Big Bang, dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the ice age struck, Moses parted the Red Sea, Tolkien was born. This was quite a significant era in the history of the world."

That's awesome! So the true fans of the author support a "Big Bang" theory just prior to the birth of Tolkien becoming a historically significant time in history. Please, I can't wait to see how much better this gets.