Be Witched

    I recently heard a speaker talking about her concerns about her five and six year old daughters being exposed to the "Harry Potter" series. The actual lecture was about Saul going to the witch at Endor to summon Samuel, so she made clear that this was just her opinion (no charge) and that the fact that her daughters were too young to discern the difference between truth and fiction was a major factor in her decision not to let them see the movies. My kids were older than that when the Harry Potter series came out. My boys did not read anything not required for school and my daughter was a teenager. I admit to being a little relieved not to see Britten reading the books--it saved me the effort of Christian due diligence to see if they were appropriate. But I know she watched the movies later and so have I. If my kids were as young as the speaker's, I'm sure I would have made the same decision, but it reminded me of a similar situation many years ago.
     When I was a teenager, "Bewitched" was a long running television series, and it was not uncommon for Christian speakers to warn that watching it would lure impressionable young people into occult practices. The premise of the actual program, however, was that people were either born witches, or warlocks depending on gender (of which there were only two at that time), or they were mortals. Same for the Harry Potter series, but mortals are called muggles. Neither series supported the idea that you could cross from being a mere human to supernaturally empowered. I did not know anyone attracted to witchcraft, much less attracted by the sitcom Bewitched. I know lots of kids who like Harry Potter, but none interested in sorcery. By the way, I liked the series "I Dream of Jeannie" as a child, but never heard a speaker claiming it lured children into wanting to be a genie.
     I am relieved that my children are grown and make their own decisions about what they are exposed to and will support their standards for my grandchild, and any future grandchildren. But I sometimes think we Christian parents worry about all the wrong things. The surface instead of the soul. As the Bible says, we "strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel". We protect our kids from secret subliminal messages in media and demonstrate blatant, unbiblical attitudes openly in our homes. The soft sins of greed, gluttony and workaholism will never be the subject of a Sunday sermon. We preach against and practice gossip almost in the same breath. What often attracts young people to the occult is that they feel unheard, unloved and powerless at home. And strict, controlling Christian parents have much more influence in that area than Harry Potter ever could.
     When I think back on the "Bewitched" series, the wrong message I most remember was about alcohol--that bad news should be accompanied by a drink, or reacted to by getting drunk. Worldly attitudes have the power to bewitch those who would never consider watching movies about magic. The most lasting and dangerous influence on our children is US.