Harry Potter is Evil

No, I haven't lost my mind and joined the ranks of Harry Haters---especially not the woman in Gwinnett County! I still feel that it is not a problem for a Christian to read Harry Potter, provided that the occult is not a stumbling block for him or her. And I loved a comment I read on one of the many HP-themed sites when someone said that there are far more dangerous books at a Christian bookstore... hoo hoo hoo! Take that, Jabez!

But perhaps a more accurate title might be, "My Obsession with Harry Potter is Evil." I can't stop. I've read an unholy amount of theories, prognostications, and random silliness since the title and release date of Book 7 has been announced. My problem is not with the content of the books, but rather that I've become obsessed (almost to the point of possession) with all things Harry Potter. My poor husband is at his wits' end with my endless chattering about invisibility cloaks and horcruxes and scars and spells and time turners and... and... and...

Football season ended, with its usual tinny implosion, and I found myself another idol to fill the void. Why, oh why, do I do this? Where is my passion for Christ? For graduate students? For InterVarsity Press (yet another addiction, but not as time-consuming)? Why is it that I don't lose track of time and spend hours looking at websites about the plight of people in Africa, the Middle East, etc.? I made a rule about Harry Potter rumor-mongering only on the weekends. I broke it. It seems the harder I try to stop obsessing, the worse it gets. Like those stupid finger traps or a raccoon with its grubby little paw stuck in a trap, unwilling to let go of the prize to get away free.

Someone once told me that I should be willing to be as free during corporate worship as I am at a football game. I disagree. At Tech games, I'm loud, obnoxiously spirited, and concerned mainly with my own entertainment. Perhaps I'm too bogged down in "outdated traditions" (sorry about getting that sarcasm on your computer screen) but I think there is more to corporate worship than that. Or at least there should be.

So that begs the question, should I be as obsessed with God as I tend to get with GT football, HP, etc. etc.? I think not. There is no discipline, no control, no goal except to entertain myself. When I am getting too wrapped up in the world of Harry Potter, I am living rather vicariously through the characters. I am escaping from the real world, and I get rather feverish and frantic to know more, theorize more, read more. That is not what a life lived for and through God should look like. When I am getting wrapped up in God's word and his gracious and eternal plan (getting "too" wrapped up is not possible!), I am not escaping or living vicariously. I am instead living the life I was meant to live, and I am neither feverish nor frantic. Instead, I am hungry to know more, dream more, read more. I can tell the difference. Sometimes I just let myself ignore what I know to be true.

There is a distinctiveness to being engaged, excited and enthused about what God is doing here on earth as he is in heaven. Not a frenetic scrambling to please a merciless, lazy, whimsical god, but a life lived in energized obedience to a dying daily to self, with the help of a merciful, active, unchanging God.

I'm going to go read my Bible. It may not be as "fun" as other things I could do, but God has been gracious to give me the desire to do so, and it seems a shame to waste it.