I Am Still Ambivalent About Harry Potter

Posted on July 26, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 3 Comments

Keeping some perspective on Harry Potter

I was forwarded a recent article denouncing Christianity Today for not taking a strong Anti Harry Potter stance. While I have had my own issues with some of the writers at Christianity Today and there are things in that CT article with which I do not agree, let’s put all the hyperbole aside and take a deep breath.

If your desire is to remove magic from your kids’ reading list, some of the best literature must be taken away. Need I remind you that Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia and just about every other fantasy novel or series have magic in them? Magic is a staple of the genre. In a previous post in this blog, I made some observations about this genre which point to our need for something bigger than ourselves. There is value in using literature to explore the big questions that confront us. These are question such as, who are we, why are we here and where are we going? These are subjects that fantasy literature explores.

With the release of the first Harry Potter book, some in Christendom began predicting that J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter would team up to destroy the faith every child and convert them to occultic practice. I haven’t seen evidence of this. Before we restart the anti Harry Potter hysteria, let’s find some evidence that the predicted impact is in fact taking place. The burden of proof is on the side of the doom-sayers.

So Why Am I Ambivalent?

I am ambivalent because there are some things in the Harry Potter books that I did not like. Like real life, the good characters sometimes do things that are wrong. They break rules, are sometimes disrespectful and tell lies. In this, Rowling has done nothing more egregious than present heroes that are flawed. Yet, at times while reading the books, I wanted to shout “shame on you.”

To be fair, I should point out that heroes are what they are because they get the most important thing right in a particular situation. Pick any hero from sports, war, history, religion, science or the arts and you will find a flawed individual who did well in his chosen endeavor. While I don’t like the flaws, they are what they are and flaws in book characters are consistent with flaws in real people.

Are the Harry Potter books great literature? I’m not qualified to determine this. I can say that they present a compelling story and force the reader to examine important questions. The Harry Potter books are entertaining and engaging; they do draw you in. Yet, I can’t say that I would watch the movies or read the books again. I have lost count of the times I’ve read The Lord of the Rings but Harry Potter does not compel me back in the same way.

The Harry Potter books are here to stay, which is perhaps an indicator of their quality as literature. Since they are here to stay, why not use them as a starting point for substantive discussion as opposed to using them as a jumping off point decrying the general decline of western culture and Christian influence? The books could be a good starting point for discussion about right and wrong, what is important and the purpose of life.

What do you think?

What is Caesar’s and What is God’s?

Posted on July 20, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25 record the familiar phrase “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The fact that all three of the Synoptic Gospels record this saying is an indication to me that it is very important. There is something here that I am supposed to get.

Hearing this taught while growing up in the church and reading the Gospels for myself, I never encountered any idea that this passage might be saying anything more than it is right to pay taxes.

The government has the authority to demand taxes and we are called to be obedient and pay them. Recently, when reflecting on this verse, it seems to met that In addition to taxes, the government, or world system, can demand our time, our effort and our intellectual power. In short, Caesar, as representative of the world system can demand our resources from us.

The world can demand our resources but what are we to render to God?

1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that we, as believers, have been purchased for God, therefore we belong to God. The thing that we need to render to God is us. To render myself to God is to acknowledge that he is in the ownership position and I am to do his bidding. We get a sense of this from openings verses of Paul’s letters where he refers to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Paul had that sense of ownership that we are to have.

We are to render our resources to the world and our selves to God. This seems very straight forward and should be easy, right?

it is not so easy. I have observed in myself and others that the opposite often takes place. It is too easy to have a punch-the-clock mentality with regard to our Christianity. Put in the time, give our tithe, perform that ministry, and we satisfied our obligation. I sometimes get it backwards and give myself to pursuit of what the world tells me I should value while being content to give a small portion of my resources to God. It is to easy to get this entirely backwards.

Jesus, quoting from Isaiah 29:13, said of the Israelites of his day, “this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8). There are times when I’m going through the motions and my heart is not wholly devoted to God, even when participating in church or ministry.

Perhaps the beginning of revival is for us to examine ourselves for misplaced affections, repent and give to God what is his. He bought us at a very high price.

The Goal of Christian Teaching – Love From a Pure Heart

Posted on July 12, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Confused About the Goal

In Matthew 22:37-39 and Mark 12:29-31, Jesus tells us that the two great commands are to love God with our entire being and love our neighbors. The concept is simple but the execution is difficult. Only two commands and if we’re honest, we admit that we cannot keep either one of them on our own.

If these are the two great commands, it seems that every time Scripture is taught, every time a sermon is delivered, every time we worship in song, it should encourage us to the fulfillment of these.

Yet, often we miss the opportunity to reinforce these commands in our expressions on a Sunday. We should come away from worship with a burning desire to love as God commands us to love.

The Goal is Love

The Apostle Paul reinforced love as the goal when he wrote to his protégé Timothy. He writes, “the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

The goal, the end game, the desired result, the proof that we have progressed is love. What is the source of that kind of love? The source is a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith. Encouraging people to this kind of love should be the goal of every teaching opportunity.

The Path Toward the Goal

From this passage in 1 Timothy, we can see that if our teaching is geared toward developing a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith, that teaching will be in support of the two great commands.

David asks a pair of rhetorical questions in Psalm 24:3, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?” His response is found in the following verse where he writes, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” In Psalm 51:10, David cries out to God “create in me a clean heart” after confessing his sin with Bathsheba.

A clean heart, a pure heart is required to love as God wants us to love. I am reminded that in 1 John 1:9 we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and confession of our sin, we can have a pure heart.

Romans 5:1 tells us that we are not condemned if we are in Christ Jesus. We can have a good conscience if we are waling in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16). To be waking in the Spirit precludes any behavior that would tarnish our conscience.

The Greek word translated sincere in this verse means literally without hypocrisy. In other words, the faith that is on display is genuine; what is on the inside matches what is on the outside. I should also point out that the value of faith is dependent upon the object of faith. As a Christian, our faith is dependent upon Christ and the reality of who he is.

Conclusion

While not every sermon should have the two great commands as their subject, every sermon should have the two great commands as their goal. Everything that is said from the pulpit should be evaluated by preacher and pew sitter alike in light of the two commands.

My guess is that if we did a better job of this, our churches and our world might be a lot different than they are.

Why do we make church so complicated?

Posted on July 10, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 9 Comments

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Why then do we make church so complicated?

We have programs and activities that would make the average cruise ship activities director envious.

We have men’s groups, women’s groups, singles groups, youth groups, coffee shops, concerts, ministry days, outreach events, the list goes on and on.

I’m not saying that any of these activities are wrong or not helpful. The question is, do we know why we are doing them? Do they serve a purpose or are we doing them because someone, somewhere decided that that is how we do church?

I know that the expectations of church shoppers are quite high and the competition is stiff. If the denominational outlet down the street has a gym, we better think about a building program to keep up. We don’t want to loose the families with athletic kids. If our air conditioning isn’t up to snuff, or the carpet is grungy or the seats are uncomfortable then visitors might not return.

My point is that many of the expectations people have of churches and church staff are not based on the Bible. We have often lost sight of what Jesus said we are to be about in an attempt to meet the perceived needs of the people.

The Church’s overarching mission, per Jesus, is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Do our activities help us accomplish this? Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us to encourage each other to love and good works. It seems to me that fulfillment of these two responsibilities requires more personal interaction than the Sunday morning blitzkrieg at the average church will allow. Sure, we can use resources such as gyms and air conditioners to do the work of ministry. But we often frantically do stuff without stopping to determine if progress toward the goal is being made.

In any endeavor, it is easy to mistake activity for progress. I’ve observed this mistake in both business and religious organizations. Gerbils on a wheel are being active. Salmon swimming upstream to spawn are making progress. The difference is whether or not we are arriving where we should be going.

I have observed in churches that while they say they’re all about fellowship, too often people are so busy getting kids to their proper classes and themselves off to their ministry stations that very little fellowship takes place. Church staff are busy plugging ministry holes left by vacationing volunteers so it is difficult to get in much more than a hello. Often we are more like shoppers at the mall checking items off our list than worshipers in fellowship.

Can we slow down this Sunday morning and really say hello to someone? Can we take the time to recognize the person who is barely holding it together? Can we create an environment where it is OK to be not OK? Can we show the breathless world how to rest? Can we be examples of people who know where to find true rest?

If we stop long enough we may discover that the yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden is light.