Friday, October 22, 2010

Supernatural

Last service was intense for us all. Wouldn’t you say? Although it probably didn’t relate to the majority of us specifically, we all should have went home a little more knowledgeable. If you missed Reformation last Thursday night, or need a refresher, during service we had three lovely people describe to us their testimonies, all in which had similar trends, for example: witchcraft, idolatry, etc. I believe, although we may not all partake in these things on a daily basis, there may be some things we can change in our lives to avoid ungodly activities (even more then we already do).

To begin, there was a mention of Harry Potter and Twilight. I never realized it before, but now I believe that even though I don’t know it to be true, I still allowed vampires/magic into my life. We are buying books, posters, t-shirts, etc. which are all pleasing to the enemy. He is trying to win over that part of ourselves; the part where we defend Harry Potter and Twilight when it is being “bad-mouthed“. When was the last time you defended Jesus? He is truth. He is the one we should spend our time reading about, talking about, and praying about. I liked when Joe said something along the lines of, “If you can live without it, do you really need it?” Genuinely think about that.

Okay, so if you’re not a Twilight freak like me, or at least I was, what are some other things you idolize? Your cell phone? Facebook? How about: a famous star, like Oprah Winfrey? Rock bands? Your youth pastors? Guess what, none of these things or people are God. All of the people in your life have fallen short of the glory of God. Stop idolizing those secular, worldly things. Start focusing on God.

(By the way, my Twilight posters, books, and t-shirts are being thrown away today; you do the same?)

Please comment! All of this is up for discussion. And I would love for you to add things I’ve left out, or things you come up with on your own.

-Autumn

30 comments:

  1. Anonymous24.10.10

    It is important to read the Bible and focus on God, but saying that's the only thing we should do is quite ridiculous. "He is the one we should spend our time reading about, talking about, and praying about." Sure, we should spend time reading, talking, and praying to/about God, but it's not the only thing we should do, which is what this post is sounding like, whether intentional or not. Focus on God, and only God, would be seriously awesome, but it's not what's intended, or at least thats what I believe. God placed us on this Earth amongst tons of nonbelievers and people who talk about things other than God. If all we're talking about is God, how are we ever going to relate to them? Although there are secular things to stay away from, we can't say it's all bad. As Christians, it's best to set our boundaries, and as long as we do, and as long as we stay true to them, and they line up with the word, what's the problem? The "worldly" things aren't all bad. The thing is to know right from wrong, and that not everything is wrong. I realize Autumn was probably not saying that, but it's what it came across as.

    On the subject of Harry Potter and Twilight, I'd like to point out that they're fiction stories! I mean clearly, no one can point a wand at you and say "Avada Kedavra" and you fall over dead, and no one can shapeshift or whatever into a werewolf. There aren't really vampires who want to suck your blood (unless they're crazy) or evil bald guys without a nose. Harry Potter is a novel written by a Christian woman (or so she says) with many, many underlying Christian principles. The messages found in Harry Potter are those of Christian ideals. The book discusses the battle of Good versus evil, so far that you can metaphorically compare Harry Potter and Dumbledore and the "good" people to God and his followers, and Voldemort and his "deatheaters" to the devil and his demons. The book discusses how love conquers all and the importance of love in a persons life. Harry lived because his mother and father sacrificed their life for him, doesn't that remind you of the sacrifice that is allowing us to live right now? Voldemort turned away from good because of his pride, doesn't that sound like what happened to Lucifer? The book may not directly praise God, but if you read enough into it, God is everywhere. Twilight, I don't know much about. There may not be an underlying theme surrounding God, but all in all, it's a love story, like many other stories and movies. It's about loving someone no matter who, or what, they are. Doesn't God love us no matter who, or what, we are? Isn't this teaching viewers a good lesson? Sure, we all know witchcraft is wrong and there aren't vampires or werewolf's or witches or wizards or any of that. But these movies aren't trying to sway us into practicing witchcraft or sucking blood, are they? No way. The messages in these movies are good messages! It's a story much like any other. And, of course, we aren't to idolize these movies or characters or anything but God for that matter, but it's not wrong to like them. Having a poster of Harry Potter or a band or anything that is appropriate, isn't wrong, as long as we aren't worshipping it. The best thing we as Christians can do is set boundaries by knowing the word, to know right from wrong, and to research things before we go badmouthing them. This is a matter of opinion, and I love Autumn, and sure hope I didn't offend her, or anyone else for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous24.10.10

    PS: Harry Potter isn't chanting incantations to take our souls. Subliminal messages are proven to not work at all, as our brain will process it but we will never even realize something was there. Harry isn't bankin' since he's actually not real. J.K Rowling and the actors are, but how are they different from every other actor or musician? My writing may sound harsh or something, but this is written out of love and is not meant to hurt or offend anyone. It's to point things out, and all is opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous24.10.10

    "Focus on God, and only God, would be seriously awesome, but it's not what's intended, or at least thats what I believe."
    I think worded this wrongly. God is always our number one priority. Always, no exceptions. He is all we need, but He uses the other things in our lives to communicate with friends and our families and to teach us things. The day to day things we deal with, our ability to judge right from wrong, is a tool used to by God to teach us and strengthen us. Every test is a test of our perseverance, and we shouldn't look at it as such a burden, as its the way we learn. This is merely a side note, that is almost irrelevant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joshua Michael25.10.10

    I'm sorry...Why are you defending Harry Potter?!?!?! Didn't you get the point of the message last Thursday? Yes, there are some good moral lessons in those movies...However, similar lessons are also to be found in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar (sort of) Spider Man, etc...However, they all contain imperfect truths. They have the truth mixed in with falsity. Harry Potter, because of it's witch craft, should be the most obvious thing to shy away from as Christians. It gets into our minds. God tells us to be in the world, not of the world, so the 'moral lessons' we are feeding on should be 100% correct. Not tainted with falsity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would like to say to the person who commented first: we should be entirely focused on God all of the time. This doesn't mean we can only talk to people about God, but when we are talking to people we must be thinking about God. We need to watch what we say and we need to love on whoever we are talking to. What is God? God is love. He is a lot of other things too, but He is LOVE. Every one of our actions should be to praise God. By treating the adults in our life with respect, remaining morally pure, and loving every person we come into contact with we are respecting and obeying God, which are both ways of honoring Him. I don't mean to say that this is easy, because I fail every day multiple times and my heart is never always focused on God and what He wants, but I acknowledge my failures and do my best to learn from them.
    P.S. I don't mean for this to be an attack on you, I simply wanted to give you another view of "only" focusing on God. :] Feel free to talk to me sometime, I am posting the link to my Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous25.10.10

    I corrected myself. I know that we need to be focused on God. If you read the third comment, I said that. My thoughts obviously did not come out clearly. The point of the comment was to elaborate on what Autumn said concerning only talking about God. God is the backbone, and He is the one we should be focusing on when making our decisions, and I definitely said that.

    And yes, Im defending Harry Potter! Did you not get the point of what I'm saying? There is always, always fallacy. Except isnt that the point? Witch craft in the movie, is not the demonic witch craft in real life. Harry Potter is not calling on spirits or worshipping talisman. Voldemort, the evil figure who symbolizes the Devil, yeah maybe he is. The witch craft in the movies is not trying to sway you or make you do anything, its a piece of the story. It's not "getting into your mind" and if you think it is, PLEASE explain how it is. I know when I watch Harry Potter, I'm enjoying the mystery and the clever and witty writing that is getting Harry through all these crazy situations. I am not thinking that somewhere someone, or even that I, can be casting spells that are performing mind control or killing someone or whatever all the spells do. How is this story and the "falsity" of it any different from the Superman? I mean clearly, Clark Kent isn't a real guy with super strength who can fly around and save people. Yet, its acceptable to watch that, isn't it? The point of my shpeel is that Harry Potter is not real! The witch craft in it, is also NOT REAL. The people watching it, know that its NOT REAL. It's not getting into our minds and taking over our thoughts. And also, nothing, not one thing, besides God and the Bible, is 100% correct. Saying that we cant watch things that arent 100% correct, is saying that we can't watch anything! It's saying that we can't go on facebook either, cause not everything on there is 100% correct, now is it? Harry Potter isn't tainted with falsity. Nothing in the book is bashing Christianity, quite frankly its exposing Christianity to those who quite possibly don't know it. The problem is that people think Harry Potter is stirring cauldrons and chanting incantations and taking people souls. But really, it's not. I mean really, watch the movies before you make up all this false stuff. Watching Harry Potter doesn't turn you into a wicken or make you practice witch craft. I'd like for you to research this Josh, you can start with this link. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572107/20071017/story.jhtml


    Also, what is the point in talking about Star Wars or Avatar or Spiderman? There is nothing wrong with any of those movies. They are fiction stories. They may not be true, hence the word fiction, but that does not mean we cannot watch them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous25.10.10

    I used to be against Harry Potter, because of the witchcraft. But the witch craft isn't influencing anyone, it's not real. It's also not really anything like "real" witch craft. Harry Potter has a ton of Christian imagery and is even a modern take on the Gospel. Look it all up, really. Read "God, the Devil, and Harry Potter" by John Killinger or"How Harry Cast His Spell" by John Granger or "Looking for God In Harry Potter" also by John Granger. J.K. Rowling herself says that Christianity INSPIRED Harry Potter! The thing is to look past the "magic." You don't need to take everything at face value, you need to further analyze the text to really get its true meeting.

    Another point to bring up is C.S. Lewis and his novels. They are, much like Harry Potter, Christian allegorys. Think of the story of Narnia and Aslan, is that not just like the story of Jesus giving his life? And obviously, that story isnt true. You can't walk into wardrobes and then be in a different land, lions don't talk, there is "falsity" in the story, so does that mean we need to "shy" away? No way, Narnia, like Harry Potter, is an awesome story!

    As long as a person isn't getting involved in witch craft (Harry Potter doesn't even condone it), there is not a problem with watching, reading or liking the FICTION story.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous25.10.10

    While there may be Christian values in things that doesn't mean they are good and alright to follow. Buddhism is based upon peace and not doing harm to others but it points in the opposite direction of God altogether. So just because there is some truth found in a story if it is surrounded by falsity then that doesn't make it "good". While liking the story of Harry Potter and Twilight is not in it's own respect wrong, the way that people who do focus on it constantly is. While their morality is good, what each of the stories represent is not. Vampires and witchcraft are not godly values and even if the types found in those two series are not exactly like what their real-world equivalent is, they represent real-world witchcraft and vampires. Which is separated from God. Everyone has their convictions and you don't have to have the same convictions as everyone else but that doesn't make their convictions wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous25.10.10

    P.S. - If there is a chance that a story is demonic and might influence you in a direction anywhere away from God. Why take the chance? If it does, was it worth it? In my opinion, better safe than sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sorry, I did read the third comment but since each comment was from Anonymous I didn't know they were all from the same person. :]

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous25.10.10

    But the thing is, Harry Potter is not a representation of witch craft. The story isn't solely based around witchcraft. That is what the characters are, and its what the characters do, but the meaning of the story isn't to go practice witchcraft. Harry Potter isn't pointing you in a direction opposite from God, I take it to be pointing you toward God. The things you learn from Harry Potter, if you actually take the time to learn them and analyze them, are of God. Love is a central theme in the story. Isn't God love? That's what Ref has always taught me. Harry overcomes the evil in the world because he has love, because he has faith in his family and in his friends and in himself. It never directly says he has faith in God, but that's something I infer. He gets through the problems because of his faith, isn't that how we get through our problems? We have faith in God and his ability to use us and the people around us to get us through the things he has placed in our lives. Witchcraft in the novel isnt the primary focus. It's just not. The story is not representing witchcraft. It's a part of it, but its not the meaning of the work as a while. If you think it is, I advise you to watch the movies. I don't know to what "the way that people who do focus on it constantly is" is meant to refer to, but I don't know anyone who is constantly focused on it? I don't understand the point of that statement. Also, there aren't real world vampires. And the witch craft does not represent the real world witchcraft in my point of view. J.K. Rowling, and I agree with her, said that the witchcraft aspect of the story is there to make the story cool and interesting. The "witchcraft" of the story is NOT demonic or influential in any respect. Or at least thats what I view. I think it's a clever, fiction story about a boy who faces problems that we can easily relate to our own lives. Its about fighting for whats right. Its about love and acceptance and the importance of someones friends and families. I understand that we can all view things differently, and my point was not to say that so in so is wrong because they don't like Harry Potter or they view it as wrong or whatever it is. My point is to say that we can view things different. That this one sided view of things, such as the view of harry potter, is part of the reason nonchristians look at us as hypocritical and one-sided. So many of us, in regard to Harry Potter and even many other things, only look at things from one point of view. We see it the way we're told to see it or the way we think it is from our own perspective, without ever even getting all the facts. From where we stand, if we had know nothing about Harry Potter, yes, we'd see it as glorifying witchcraft, which is wrong. But when you read into it, and when you get past the fact that the characters practice a fiction from of witchcraft, you see that the story is littered with Christian principles that teach us things that are of great value. To a non Christian, these movies could be their only chance at seeing what Christ is like. Granted, many people will probably not even notice or even just look past the Christian allegory's, but there will be, and there definitely are people that look into it. Its not influencing us wrongly, on the contrary I believe it to be influencing us toward God, if its influencing us at all.

    I don't feel conviction when watching, or loving Harry Potter. If you do, by all means, I'm in no way here to put you down. I'm simply trying to show you the other side of the argument. Everything has two-sides, and without seeing the other sides, our arguments could be filled with falsity.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous25.10.10

    Also, vampires aren't real. Neither are super heros. Does that make super heros wrong to watch? I know some people dwell on super heros, I love Spiderman, he's crazy cool, does that mean I should feel convicted? This whole "falsity" argument could go for anything. There is going to be falsity in everything. Literally. This is a matter of knowing right from wrong honestly. From knowing truth from fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous25.10.10

    ok so now i am very confused as to what is happening? the lady on stage said that it's bad because it has domanic forces. so she was lying? I think Autumn is right. Yeah not everything you talk about is gonna always be God but you shouldn't be talking about things doing with the domanic things. That just doesn't make sense?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous25.10.10

    i agree with mo and josh. also i believe that people shouldn't be going to see paranormal activity 2 because that is pretty much the real domanic stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous25.10.10

    Harry Potter isn't demonic.

    Paranormal Activity 2 is the real demonic stuff, but it's best to be aware of what is, that way you can combat it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous26.10.10

    Its not worth the risk guys. Its like playing with fire.

    ReplyDelete
  17. olivia26.10.10

    dear last anonymous who wrote.....

    "Harry Potter isn't demonic.

    Paranormal Activity 2 is the real demonic stuff, but it's best to be aware of what is, that way you can combat it. "

    by saying "it's best to be aware of what is, that way you can combat"..... is this a statement being made to justify the actions of going to see this movie? i"m just confused by that statement and before i comment my thoughts i wanted things to be clear.
    -Olivia

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous27.10.10

    I just want to clarify some things: firstly, vampirism is a real cult. look into it. it actually interlaces alot with many outrightly demonic and satanic cults. I just want that out there right now. it IS a real thing and a real problem in the subculture, especially around the New Orleans area.

    secondly, i would like to point out that superman, for the most part, has a biblical counterpart named Samson. (see Judges ch. 13). super-heroes, in many ways, are Christ-figures. with all this talk about analyzing, i'm sure you know all about the large amount of symbolism in literature, especially in regards to Christ-figures. the difference generally is that, unlike a realistic christ, these heroes are more like those of the great Greek tragedies and suffer from an hamartia, or tragic flaw. many times this is used to show the mortality and imperfection of man, especially given the root in Greek tradition, where even their gods were imperfect and prone to rash, emotionally-charged actions.

    i don't think what Josh or anyone else was trying to say is that you reject something because it isn't pure truth. i think you reject something because it doesn't glorify the Truth.

    every single action we ever take is SUPPOSED to be to the glory and honor of God. not saying that we, as humans, are capable of that, but that's the ideal. if it doesn't glorify God, why watch it, read it, discuss it, or defend it?

    if you have to pick it apart and ignore key elements of it (or read multiple 'study' books) to find something that you can twist and stretch to be a Christian element, then why bother looking at all?

    take the Bible as your foundation. whatever you read/watch/whatever after that, if it doesn't line up... if ANY part of it doesn't line up, then why entertain it? if you have to fight with it and deny what it outrightly is to find what it subliminally is to make it fit what the Bible says something should be, i would have to ask what is it that makes you want to try so hard?

    lastly, this is a bit out there but something i have always felt rather strongly about, but i believe there is a spirit behind everything: music, books, movies, etc. now i can personally say that i have read all of the harry potter books multiple times, have watched all of the movies multiple times and can argue this as well as anyone as to the underlying Christian messages that can be found. but what is in those books, movies, etc. is witchcraft. many of the incantations and spells used are based in the latin... similar to the way wiccan spells are. in fact, as Estell told everyone, many of them are straight out of the spell books she used to know. i think that fact speaks for itself. you say it's not a key element, and i'll admit that maybe it's not. but the fact of the matter is, it's still there. the spirit is still there, behind the scenes, ready to sink its claws into whatever will allow it.

    by saying this isn't real, it's not 'real demonic witchcraft' you are blinding yourself to what it is. it is witchcraft. it is a story of someone that weird stuff starts happening to and he finds out he's a 'wizard' and he goes off somewhere where he can study magic and witchcraft more intensely, away from the 'muggle' society that would never understand. it plays to the idea that someone is 'special' and 'powerful' it's the same danger that the brit shared on thursday. it's just cleverly masked behind a fictional story.

    as to paranormal activity, that's one thing i know to stay away from. it's like toying with a Ouija board. you say it's to know the enemy... but really it's subjecting yourself to it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. richard bailey27.10.10

    That's what we call hidden imagery. Just like a subliminal message.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I mean we see this even in our music today. The worldly views of people have no thoughtfulness towards religions. They think it is cool to put a message in that says "kill kill kill... muder murder Jesus" That is quoted from a backwards playing in a 3 Six Mafia song. That is truly the works of spiritual, demonic warfare right there. Christian's must deal with the struggles of sin, not just because the fact we are sinners, but also the fact that all around us is the struggles that we always deal with. May it be movies, books, video games, people, etc. It will always catch back up, but that is why we rest should rest our lives wholly on the fact we are given salvation from God. Our love should be directed towards Him though we have struggles for he can fix whatever we think to be unfixable. Anything that we deem to be greater than Christ or derail our focus on God is idolatry. It comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but comes from our imaginations. A thought is where it all begins. Then Satan manipulates a simple liking into a obsession.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous28.10.10

    C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia series and that has elements of magic in it. So am I not supposed to read/watch that? Even though he has written some of my favorite Christian books?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous28.10.10

    The Magic in the C.S. Lewis books is used by the White Witch who is meant to symbolize evil. Some people do, however, say that reading the Chronicles of Narnia books is a bad idea. It is portraying the witchcraft as it is: a temptation and a danger. That's truth. But, like i said, some people still will not read them because there IS a witch, regardless of if she's the representation of the enemy or not.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous29.10.10

    I think bottom line it is in the matters of personal conviction. We can go back and forth arguing sides and each person is going to still hold their opinions. Some feel conviction in reading and watching these types of stories and some don't. Personally I don't feel any conviction when reading Harry potter. I actually read the whole series before I was saved and even then I could tell j.k Rowling included her faith in those books. But like I said, this is my opinion and I respect every one who posted on this blog. My only hope is that the ones who do choose to still read these types of books don't get treated any differently by their brothers and sisters. I love all of you very much.

    ReplyDelete
  24. This argument puzzles me.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous6.11.10

    Although I'm a bit late in this conversation I would like to say that, shouldn't God be your one priority? Instead of defending something that he doesn't approve of, why not pray about it? Consult others? In what you're saying you are merely defending Harry Potter because YOU want to watch it. This is not meant as an insult, but you should first be thinking about what God wants, and NOT what you want.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Jordyn11.11.10

    "While we can use "personal conviction" as an excuse to watch, listen or read something, I believe the question we need to ask is, "What is the source?". If we have to analyze and dig to find a biblical, godly meaning in something to justify our desire to associate with it... is it really good?

    I don't think God has a gray area, that is on both sides of the fence, where His children can play because their personal convictions allow it."
    Dave said that in the next Blog. The follow up to this one. I have a question for all of you who love Twilight and Harry Potter and any of this stuff that has been brought up in conversation and this is the real question that we SHOULD ALWAYS be answering. "Does this mean more to me than God?"

    If God were in the room with you and you were reading a book that may be questionable and He asked you, "Would you lay it aside for Me?" would you do it?
    Or would your argument be, "I know it's not the best thing and someone told me not to read it but I like it!"

    That's ridiculous. And I'm not any better than anyone else. I'm probably worse. And conviction has never been easy for me. Yes it needs to come individually but in the meantime you do not use it as an excuse to continue in your wrong-doings.
    I love books more than anything else. I have read all sorts of things and yes, I have Twilight and Harry Potter on my bookshelf at home. But those things have been taken from me by the Almighty and are currently being packed up and sent away.

    And C.S. Lewis was an outright, wonderful writer and a Christian man. So was Tolkien. It disturbs me so much to see people bickering over those types of books while defending vampires and witches. It's all us, guys. We see what we want to see not what we should.

    I was extremely influenced by demons growing up and as I got older, I communicated back. And it is NOTHING to joke about, laugh about, or immitate. It is REAL, it is TERRIFYING, and it is DANGEROUS. And it will scar you.

    After I was saved and left my past behind me, I felt like I was just fine to continue on reading what I liked and writing what I liked. And I slowly fell back into my old ways. Now it is very clear to me that anything that could be at all related to them is not worth my time that could be spent on trying to learn more about my Savior.

    Because it's not all symbols and witches. Sometimes it's just there and we don't realize it. I was ten years old and channeling demons and I had no idea I was doing it and no one noticed. But they had time to argue about books that have clearly been thought for. But no one could help me.

    I'd never touched a ouija board or cards or had any prior knowledge of what I was living but it happened anyway. Because I was surrounding myself with the wrong influences and refusing to look at the truth.

    Just because the truth is painful or uneasy to us does not mean for one second that is not truth. And GOD IS TRUTH.

    So here's my challenge to you all, is it worth more to you than your freedom? Is it worth more to than your soul? Is it worth more to you than your Savior? Than ultimate unfailing love? Because if it is, you need to seek Him a little harder. And if it's not, get rid of it.

    I know I sound extraordinarily harsh but take it from someone has been through it for years and has finally come out on the other side. It's not easy but it will be so worth it.
    And we will be protected. Like Dave said, "We're not fighting FOR victory. We're fighting FROM victory."

    ReplyDelete
  27. Jordyn11.11.10

    And I agree very much with the Anonymous post above me. You are very correct.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous12.11.10

    You don't have to always dig to find an underlying bases of Christianity in harry potter though, it quotes the bible twice.

    At the post that talks about superman and its biblical counterpart, how is that any different then harry potter having a christian basis? If we are going off of the fact harry potter isn't all truth, neither are any of those super hero movies. And the same with something that has already been brought up, C.S Lewis, nobody said anything about those books the Thursday we talked about this. Just because C.S Lewis has written Christian books doesn't take away from the fact MAGIC is involved in the chronicles of Narnia, but for some reason its okay to read those and not Harry Potter? C.s Lewis has written many other christian books so i think its easier for people to identify the christian basis for the Narnia series, but just because j.k. Rowling hasn't doesn't mean there isn't one. Personally I don't find anything wrong with either of them, Both are a fantasy story that are fun to read. I don't feel distant from God by reading them, honestly i get a better understanding of the battle being waged. Through the whole entire series that is all it is, its a representation of the devil trying to get a hold of us, but in the end never being able to, so whats the difference between being taught about it in real life and reading the books and learning about it? Either way we are introduced to the devil. By reading the books, we are not practicing the magic, and by learning about Wicca in church we aren't practicing it.

    I do understand where people are coming from saying well don't read it, don't have anything to do with it, but some of the people telling me this are still listening to rap music and watching unchristian things, and doing unchristian things. I get that some people just don't want anything to do with it, but i feel like those of us who find nothing wrong with it are being looked at differently, and being judged.

    matthew 7:3 "And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?"

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous12.11.10

    to answer your question Jordyn: yes I would,

    But As long as im not idolizing harry potter and I'm staying connected to God and still reading my bible, and making sure God is the only actual important thing in my life i dont see the problem in reading the books.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Jordyn13.11.10

    You're not being looked at differently. At all. And I'm certainly not judging you. I know I have things to fix. But I've started doing it. I just don't want anyone to end up near the roads I've been on.
    And I know I'm probably not gonna be popular with my testimony the way it is but that's okay with me because that doesn't matter. It's not my job to convict people, just like Bill Weise said. It's just my job to speak and I feel like I've been convicted about these things and need to speak.

    This is more of a "think about it and be open" kind of argument from my end. Not a judgement. God still loves you, Jesus still loves you. But it comes down to what will you give, ya know? Do you want to show that kind of obedience. Just keep an open mind is all I ask.

    I'm not narrow minded and it was difficult for me to understand these things and come to grips with it and decide for myself. I just feel like there are better things.

    ReplyDelete