What lies were you told that could have been debunked by the Internet?

[Katerpillar]

(03-13-2011 09:53 AM)Jenni Wrote:  

(03-05-2011 02:04 PM)supernova8610 Wrote:  I was (and still am) a Harry Potter fan; in high school, when a couple IFBx friends found that out, they proceeded to inform me that JK Rowling gave an interview once, where she said that given the choice, she would draw a picture with Jesus bowing down to Harry Potter. I informed them that I had read every interview with JKR and not once did I see her mention anything about that (I skimmed through them again when I got home that day...didn't see anything). They got mad at me..

Greg Locke preached at a summer camp that I worked at one year - he told the kids in junior camp week that reading Harry Potter would cause them to worship Satan - and he showed pictures of kids doing that very thing - pentagram on the ground, "avada kedavra" written on the wall, the whole nine yards. A ton of kids got very scared.

So I went home and googled his source material. He used an article from The Onion. My respect level for him hit the floor at that moment.

Wow, that is SAD! I don't like Harry Potter (and would never let my kids read it... witchcraft should never be viewed as a "good" thing), but wow....

the Onion is great parody... but I can see how some IFBs would take it seriously.

[supernova8610]

(03-13-2011 10:51 PM)Katerpillar Wrote:  

(03-13-2011 09:53 AM)Jenni Wrote:  Greg Locke preached at a summer camp that I worked at one year - he told the kids in junior camp week that reading Harry Potter would cause them to worship Satan - and he showed pictures of kids doing that very thing - pentagram on the ground, "avada kedavra" written on the wall, the whole nine yards. A ton of kids got very scared.

So I went home and googled his source material. He used an article from The Onion. My respect level for him hit the floor at that moment.

Wow, that is SAD! I don't like Harry Potter (and would never let my kids read it... witchcraft should never be viewed as a "good" thing), but wow....

the Onion is great parody... but I can see how some IFBs would take it seriously.

That makes me wonder if my friend's source was The Onion...

[Historian]

And, now that I have recovered from laughing, I should say that my problem with Harry Potter has nothing to do with the magic. I don't like how the children are permitted to decide for themselves whether they will choose to respect and obey an authority based entirely on either: A. Whether that authority can perform magic, or B. Whether they like that authority or not. For that reason, I would never let my younger children anywhere near the books. The movies are actually better in that respect.

I also think it's interesting that in an age where not keeping up with which word this or that minority/disabled/unique-in-any-way group wants to be called this week can lose you your job, that a whole series of books that has the majority of its characters despising those not born with the same gifts they enjoy is so popular. Even the characters who don't despise "muggles" (that's the non-magical for those who haven't read them) still treat them like they had diminished mental capacity and needed to be cared for at every turn.

[alm517]

Well, this for one thing...

http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2010/03/...cqueville/

[Apathetic or whatever]

A lot of things!

Anything starting with "In prophecy we read............", "Recently the United Nations........." or "why I am King James Only.......".

My personal favorite though has to be these two "Jews today believe........." and "In Biblical times Jews believed.........". Anytime a fundy (or in a lot of cases, any preacher) says those words the chances are he is getting ready to make a statement that is very wrong and borderline insulting.
I think this stems from many fundy preachers reading commentaries and not reading original sources.

[Jenni]

(03-13-2011 10:50 AM)greg Wrote:  Jenni - Do you feel that there should be an age under which a christian child or any child for that matter should not be exposed to this type of literature?

I think it depends a lot on the child and the parents. Kids mature at different rates, and some parents are a lot more involved in discussing literature with their kids. I would have loved to have discussed Rowling's series with my junior and senior high students - they were clearly old enough to think through some of the issues people have with the books, and we would have benefitted from discussing the themes as well. I don't think, though, that an elementary school class should necessarily have this book as a read-aloud yet. Some of the scary scenes are just too frightening for children.

Rowling's books are on the more harmless end of the spectrum of things that kids/teens read. I was much more concerned about the third and fourth graders I saw reading the Twilight series, actually.

My students and I discussed discernment and Harry Potter every year (not as much as I'd liked to have, but still enough), and they generally decided that books should have ratings like video games do. I don't know that that's the best solution, but that is what my 11th graders thought.

[Jenni]

(03-14-2011 12:23 AM)Historian Wrote:  And, now that I have recovered from laughing, I should say that my problem with Harry Potter has nothing to do with the magic. I don't like how the children are permitted to decide for themselves whether they will choose to respect and obey an authority based entirely on either: A. Whether that authority can perform magic, or B. Whether they like that authority or not. For that reason, I would never let my younger children anywhere near the books. The movies are actually better in that respect.

I also think it's interesting that in an age where not keeping up with which word this or that minority/disabled/unique-in-any-way group wants to be called this week can lose you your job, that a whole series of books that has the majority of its characters despising those not born with the same gifts they enjoy is so popular. Even the characters who don't despise "muggles" (that's the non-magical for those who haven't read them) still treat them like they had diminished mental capacity and needed to be cared for at every turn.

I would have to agree with you. I have more problems with the "I can obey when it's convenient" idea than I do with any of the magic stuff. I understand that Rowling is showing Harry fighting for the greater good, but I don't like the students' general distrust and disrespect of adults.

And your comment about muggles was interesting, too. I think the appeal in that aspect of the books comes from the "us vs. them" mentality that we develop from the first day we chose teams in P.E. But it is sort of sad that most of the Muggles are viewed as basically ignorant people.

[supernova8610]

(03-14-2011 09:03 PM)Jenni Wrote:  

(03-13-2011 10:50 AM)greg Wrote:  Jenni - Do you feel that there should be an age under which a christian child or any child for that matter should not be exposed to this type of literature?

I think it depends a lot on the child and the parents. Kids mature at different rates, and some parents are a lot more involved in discussing literature with their kids. I would have loved to have discussed Rowling's series with my junior and senior high students - they were clearly old enough to think through some of the issues people have with the books, and we would have benefitted from discussing the themes as well. I don't think, though, that an elementary school class should necessarily have this book as a read-aloud yet. Some of the scary scenes are just too frightening for children.

Rowling's books are on the more harmless end of the spectrum of things that kids/teens read. I was much more concerned about the third and fourth graders I saw reading the Twilight series, actually.

My students and I discussed discernment and Harry Potter every year (not as much as I'd liked to have, but still enough), and they generally decided that books should have ratings like video games do. I don't know that that's the best solution, but that is what my 11th graders thought.

I agree... Harry Potter and Twilight are definitely not the right types of books for younger kids. Personally, I first read Harry Potter when I was 13. I'm now 24. I never had a problem with the subject matter, etc; I've always been good at picking up on things. Like you said, it depends on the kid... there are some people who should probably never get near the books, yet for others it's perfectly ok. Same goes for the Twilight series (which I read for the first time in 2009).

[Darrell]

Quote:I first read Harry Potter when I was 13. I'm now 24

I find it hard to believe the series has been around for that long now.

I feel old.

[elfdream]

I liked Harry Potter. Read it with my kids. None of them turned to witchcraft because they knew the difference between reality and fantasy and that's not what the books are about. They do go into detail with the magic in the first book (which to me is the on the same level as the 'magic' in Lord of the Rings etc) because its being explained through Harry's eyes. As the series goes on it becomes less and less of an element in the story.