Magic and Miracles

   On page 34 in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," Mr. Weasley in discussing his work and says, "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it ... Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking--they'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face."
   This really struck me because if you connect muggles to people who don't know God (particularly atheists), wizards to people who know God, and magic to miracles(works of God) you can essentially say the same thing: A person who doesn't know God(such as an atheist) would never admit to miraculous happenings(acts of God) in their life, to the contrary they would create alternative explanations in an attempt to explain the phenomenons. 
   If we keep those connections in mind it makes this JK Rowling quote even more interesting, "Wizards represent all that the true 'Muggle' most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit."
   I thought this quote was really cool because portrays muggles as the "normals" in the complete world that inhabits planet earth. The muggles belong to the earth they live on but the wizards belong somewhere else just like christians. John 15:19 says, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own, As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
   Just as muggles hate wizards because they belong to a world they cannot be a part of, those of this world hate Christians because we belong to a world they do not understand. 
   Many people feel like the world of love and grace, of mercy and redemption and sacrifice that God offers us is absurd and the we are crazy for believing it is real. However, I know that it is real because I live in it and so do many others. I don't fear death or oblivion or eternity or uncertainty ect. when I am in God's world of love because He's God it covered and when I have my trust in Him I don't worry about it (not to say I never worry, I do frequently and stupidly remove my trust from God and try to place it in another option that is worthy of it. Of course, seeing as there are no other options I end up heading back to God!:))

Gentlemen

     "Ced's talked about you, of course," said Amos Diggory. "Told us all about playing against you last year... I said to him, I said - Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will.... You beat Harry Potter!"

Harry couldn't think of any reply to this, so he remained silent. Fred and George were both scowling again. Cedric looked slightly embarrassed.

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," he muttered. I told you ... it was an accident...."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" roared Amos genially, slapping his son on his back. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman ... but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"

     The scene above happened at the portkey before the Quidditch World Cup. Amos' pride prevents him from being humble and modest like his son. This is ironic because, by his own definition, humble/modest are two characteristics by which you can identify a gentlemen. There's not a ton to say on this example but I thought I'd go ahead and point out how stupid and arrogant pride can make you seem even if you're not stupid or arrogant in reality. It also brings about unnecessary conflict between those who would otherwise be friends. In short, being prideful is a great way to destroy relationships and reputation.

Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.    Proverbs 11:2

Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.    Proverbs 13:10

Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.   Proverbs 16:18

Laziness

     During one of the frequent house elf arguments between Ron and Hermione: "It's people like you, Ron," Hermione said hotly, "who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to -"
[they were interrupted but I'm assuming she would finish with "do anything about them."]
     Although S.P.E.W. might have been a little over the top for a group of people who were doing would they were created to do and loved to do (serve others), Hermione definitely had the right idea and intentions.* Laziness is far more dangerous than we often credit it to being. I know that I'm guilty of thinking that being lazy will result in not completing small responsibilities at worst (which is still bad but it seems better than some other stuff). Unfortunately, laziness can actually effect our ideals and moral values as well. If I'm too lazy to put in the effort to help someone, I'm also undoubtably trying to justify my questionable action in my mind using excuses and lies. Over time, this can erode my conscious/moral compass and prevent me from being all that God created me to be.
     In the Bible it says, "Lazy people want much and get little, but those who work hard will prosper. " (Proverbs 13:4) And Romans 12:11 instructs us to, "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." There are many other admonishments against laziness but I think one of the best examples is the story of the talents in Matthew. As much as the third servant could try and justify his actions, when reported to the master His excuses suddenly sounded as feeble as the lies they truly were. His laziness cost him his eternal life of celebration and, if we're not careful, it can do the same to us.

*If she had taken the time to understand what the house elves wanted, which generally speaking was not freedom but affection and praise/gratitude, perhaps she could have focused her efforts more effectively.

Cringe Worthy Moments (lies)

       I have a lot of moments in my life that literally cause me to cringe when I look back on them. These moments always involve something that may or may not be sin but whatever it was, I made a really stupid decision that ended up making me feel guilty/embarrassed and could have been avoided extremely easily and the flash backs cause a physical reaction in me. At the end of chapter 5 in the Goblet of Fire, Percy has such a moment and I thought I'd use it to display the stupidity of lies:

     "Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you -- you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get the the Cup ... the match went on for five days last time."
     "Wow - hope it does this time!" said Harry enthusiastically.
     "Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."
     "Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh Perce?" said Fred.
     "That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, going very red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"
     "It was," Fred whispered to Harry as they got up from the table. "We sent it."

       While I personally find this little anecdote highly amusing, as I'm sure you do too and as all the characters who knew the truth did, Percy most certainly didn't. Anyone would be embarrassed to think that someone didn't like them or thought of them as the "new kid" at work and sabotaged you mail with dragon dung so you can see why Percy felt the need to cover it up. Unfortunately for him,  his lie just made him look extremely stupid because everyone else knew the truth. Had he told the truth originally, the twins may have told him the truth in return. If he'd even taken a second to think about how Fred knew, he may not have busted out the lie, but he didn't, and by quickly lying in order to cover up his embarrassment, he created a cringe worthy moment for himself that was much more embarrassing than the dragon dung.
       So, moral of the story, while we constantly are told not to tell big lies because they'll get you in trouble, people often refrain from mentioning that white lies will get you embarrassment.

Magic at its Deepest

      When Harry saves Pettigrew's life, Dumbledore informs him that, "When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them ... This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable. (Prisoner of Azkaban; 311)." What Dumbledore is essentially saying here is that magic at its deepest, impenetrable magic is not truly magic at all. It is the bond formed by acts of grace, love, sacrifice, ect. It is a force that is available to everyone in the world.
       The impenetrable bond is formed when one person chooses to give another something that the other doesn't deserve or hasn't earned. It is something that neither person is likely to ever forget and until the person to whom grace was given understands its power, he will always feel indebted to the giver. Once he understands, the bond forms into one of love and trust and forgiveness that cannot be broken by any magic or evil force because it is a spiritual bond rather than a physical one.

Predicting the Future

       This post was inspired by an Albus Dumbledore quote from right after Harry informs him of Professor Trelawney's second prediction: "The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is very difficult business indeed." I thought that this was a really cool comment because it is so true. Often I do something that I think will lead to something completely different than what is actually does (whether in terms of emotions or events in me or in someone else). It's impossible for us to ascertain what our actions will lead to before hand because results do not depend on the action itself, the also depend on motives and the emotion/reactions of everyone else involved. For example, one might think that after God turned the Nile from blood to water (Exodus 17:20; read all of Exodus for full story) Pharaoh would have recognized God's power and let the Israelites go but only God can read the heart (Acts 15:8; Psalm 44:21) and He knew that Pharaoh's heart was hard and proud, therefore God was able to correctly predict the future to Moses even before He struck the Nile. There are examples of this all over the Bible ("this" being God reading our hearts and predicting the future). That is why it is so important that we obey God and listen to what He tells each of us to do. And since He alone has the power to accurately predict the future, we can trust that He knows what He's doing.

Killers

       In HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban there is a part where Sirius and Remus are about to kill Peter but Harry stops them because "I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers - just for you." All evil has consequences, even when the motives seem good and to kill someone who cannot defend himself is wrong. Jesus is extremely merciful even when we don't deserve his mercy and when we follow in his example good things will happen. Perhaps not as drastic as Peter later saving Harry's life but if that person turns around, the joy we will feel because of his healing is much purer and fuller than any elation over death.

Dementors and the Devil

     Lupin's description of Dementors is found on page 140: "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though the can't see them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself - soulless and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of you life."
     I think that this description of the way Dementors work is also a great description of the way the devil works. To illustrate my point I'm going to match bits of scripture with pieces of Lupin's description (or other well known facts regarding Dementors). The difference between the two descriptions is largely do to the fact that the Devil's attributes are described while the Dementor's actions are described and that the Devil has a much clever disguise but for the most part the are the same because they both represent/are evil in it's purest form. (In this entry muggles=unbelievers and wizards=followers of Jesus because wizards have the power to fight off the dementors and followers of Jesus have the power (through Him) to fight of the Satan.)

Bible	Dementors	Explanation
Satan's ultimate goal is our destruction. (1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10)	Dementors want to feed on you until you become soulless and evil.	Dementors and Satan are both throughly evil and their goal is to make others evil too because that is the only way to completely destroy a person.
Satan is a liar. (John 8:44)	Dementors leave you with nothing but the worst experiences of you life.	Satan lies in a variety of ways, many of which you've probably experienced, while Dementors tell only one lie that's very powerful. They lie to you by making you feel like nothing good has ever happened in you life.
Satan prevents unbelievers from seeing God and His light/hope (and because God is all things good, he is also preventing them from seeing good). 2 Cor. 4:4	Dementors suck every good feeling and happy memory out of you.	Dementors and the Devil try to stop you from recognizing the happiness in your life. Dementors suck out all happiness from you so you feel like life is just a miserable waste, especially for muggles because they are blind to the cause. Satan does the same thing by creating a empty, pointless feeling in people who don't know God and they can't fight it because they are unaware of the cause.
Jesus has made us aware of Satan's plans and trickery which allows us to fight him through Jesus. (2 Corinthians 2:11)	Only Wizards can fight Dementors because they can produce patronuses while muggles can't. (and the can see Dementors)	Only believers have the power to successfully fight Satan because we are the only ones who have Jesus and recognize Satan. Jesus has shown us how to recognize Satan's trickery and will fight him for us if we ask. In the same way, only wizards have the power to produce a patronuses (light warriors) and they alone can recognize dementors and their effects/ways.
Satan often pretends to be something good in order to trap/trick us but if we look a little closer and remain in God we can recognize if something is good or evil. (2 Cor. 11:14)	For a while, Wizards used Dementors as guards, ignoring the fact that dementors where evil because they thought they would benefit from them. This resulted in a mass breakout from Azkaban.	Both Satan and Dementors like to role play. They pretend to be something good and helpful but their nature never changes. While a certain TV show or party may look appealing and "not bad", we must learn to recognize that if God isn't in, Satan can use it against us/God (Matt. 12:30). Things that look good in the beginning will reveal their true colors when it's too late, just like the Dementors did when Voldemort came back.

Those are the ones that came to mind for me immediately but if anyone has anymore please leave them in the comments below! thanks! :)

p.s. another connection is that the dementors have no eyes and are, therefore, blind to the beauty of a patronus, the only feel it's power. That is the same way with evil beings, they have blinded themselves to God's beauty but can't help feeling his power!

Fear

   In my book this scene happens on page 177. It when Harry and Lupin are discussing the boggart and Harry confesses that his biggest fear is of dementors. Lupin's response is as follows, "That suggests that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise, Harry."
   This comment shows Lupin's wisdom of the "ancient magic." Ancient magic is not so much magic but power, and it's power not limited to Wizards but available to muggles as well. The greatest of these powers is love but fear is among the greats as well.
   When we fear something we are giving it a certain measure of control over ourselves and our actions. The magnitude of this control depends on the magnitude of our fear. In order to avoid it we may go somewhere we may not have otherwise have gone or not go somewhere where we would have gone. Our actions reflect our fears because we often change our behavior in order to avoid our fears. For example, if you see something rustling around in the bushes you may be curious as to what it is but you fear of the unknown and getting hurt causes you to walk away rather than investigate.
   Of course, fear can work in much more impactful ways as well. Say you lived somewhere where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Perhaps you would not follow Jesus because you fear personal harm or separation from friends and family. In this situation you would be allowing your fear to control your eternal destiny.
   If what we fear most is fear itself then we have recognized that we cannot focus our attention on overcoming our fear of spiders or pain or another individual thing and expect to become fearless or courageous. In fact, if we are fearless, we have not yet recognized/acknowledged danger and we are, in that way, quite unwise. You cannot boast of being courageous and fearless because you need fear to have courage.
   Courage is not the absence of fear, nor is fear the absence of courage. Courage is overcoming fear. Courage is being willing to ignore your fear for the good of something else. Lilly Potter, for example, was courageous when she didn't allow her fear to prevent her from protecting her son although she had the option to do so (and we know that she definitely feared death/Voldemort or she wouldn't have put the fidelius charm on her). Although she died, her courage was rewarded because Harry survived.
   So, in conclusion, If you fear fear above all else, what you are most afraid of is allowing your feelings to stop you from doing what is good and important. This fear is very wise because it shows we have recognized that as long as there are things we love, there will be things we fear and we have agreed to not allow our personal fears to prevent us from fulfilling our purpose for the greater good.

(p.s. I realize that "for the greater good" may have a negative connotation for any major Harry Potter fans but please realize that the saying itself is actually a good one when used in a context where you are actually working for the greater good and generally requires you personally to make sacrifices rather than sacrificing others.)

The Patronus Charm and Sirus Black's Innocence

       In Chapter 12 of the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin starts to teach Harry the Patronus Charm. He describes it as  "a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the dementor...The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon - hope, happiness, the desire to survive - but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it."
       When I read this, I immediately connected a patronus to Jesus/God. After all, God is our protector (Psalm 18) and willingly steps in front of us so that we do not have to suffer (the cross, John 3:16-18). He is the embodiment of all things good (James 1:17) yet he is different from a patronus because, although he protects us and drives away evil, he does suffer in the process. In this sense he's a lot like Sirius Black.
       In Chapter 19, when they're all in the Shrieking Shack, Sirius explains how he stayed sane in Azkaban, "I never lost my mind because I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me ... but it kept me sane, knowing who I am." I suspect it was similar for Jesus. He was going through the worst torture, felt like God had forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46), and knew that His most passionate follower had denied Him (Mark 14:72). His hope was in His innocence and His knowledge of who He was (and is), the hope for all humanity.
        So, after thinking all that through, I decided that the best connection is the name of Jesus and a patronus. The name of Jesus has the power to drive away evil (lots of demon example in the bible and today life examples) and it is the representation of hope, happiness, the desire to survive but it cannot feel despair.

Wormtail vs. Prongs, Moony, and Padfoot

     The friendship between Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs has always intrigued me because by the end of the war, none of them were left. I was reading some verses the other day and Mark 8:35 something that was seen quite clearly in the comparison of their deaths.

     For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.                                          
                                                                             Mark 8:35

       The rest of this post will consist of 4 mini analysis of each of the marauders death. Slightly morbid, maybe so but hopefully only slightly! ;)

Prongs: James Potter died protecting his family. His death was noble because it was self sacrificial and when he "went on" it was surely to a wonderful place because the two times that Harry saw him again he was smiling and proud of his son. He had no regrets about what he did.

Padfoot: Sirus Black was the next of the Marauders to go on. He died fighting to protect his godson, knowing that he'd never be able to forgive himself had he not aided the Order. He felt the same was as James when the resurrection stone brought him back.

Moony: Remus Lupin died in the Battle of Hogwarts, fighting to make the world a better place for little Teddy and the rest of the Wizards, and muggles too. Though sad that he would not get to father his son, he didn't regret his decision to fight for what he believed in and trusted that those who also loved Teddy would take good care of him.

So, the first three marauders died in the most noble way, for the sake of others and for the sake of good. And we are left with Wormtail...

Wormtail: Peter Pettigrew's death is certainly the most interesting. His decision to betray his friends to protect himself led to an extended but miserable life. In the end, it was the decision to save Harry that resulted in his death but he had honestly been dead inside for a while.

The Chosen One

     This post was inspired by the pin below (I can't figure out where it's from so I can't site it but I didn't come up with it!):

   
      I love Neville and this opened my eyes even more to what a great guy he is. Neville's role in defeating Voldemort was just as big as Harry's, without him it is doubtful that there would have been any students at Hogwarts willing to fight, Order members and other "good wizards" wouldn't have been notified about the battle in time, and Harry probably would have never had time to find the Diadem. Without his bravery toward Voldemort, it is unlikely that the Hogwartians would have been inspired to keep fighting and Harry would have never been able to escape. Without his determination and courage the last Horcrux wouldn't have been destroyed in time for Harry's battle with Lord Voldemort. And Neville's job was extremely hard because he was required to be tortured, to ask others to put themselves in dangerous positions, and to keep their spirits up at the same time. And yet after doing all this it was still Harry who was given the glory for defeating Tom Riddle in the end. And that didn't seem to bother Neville at all.
     I know that was a bit of a long ramble about Neville but I honestly think that he's a great example of how to follow Jesus. I like bullet point so I'm going to make a list below! :) (also, although I would never connect the two in any other situation, Harry is going to be representing Jesus in some of the examples below because he is the hope that Neville is clinging to at Hogwarts).

• Neville was willing to be tortured in order to stand up for what's right. In the same way, we must be willing to follow Jesus even when it requires us to go through painful situations or be vulnerable. (Romans 12:1-2)
• It's often even harder to ask others to sacrifice themselves than to sacrifice ourselves but Neville did it because he recognized that the resulting good would be worth it. Often, following Jesus requires us to hurt others but we must push through the awfulness of this truth because if we are truly in God's will, the end result will be much greater than we could ever imagine. (Genesis 22:16-17, full story; Matthew 10:37)
• Neville was of one mind with Harry. His attention was focused on rebelling against Voldemort so that everyone he loved would be safe but he knew that he would get a fraction of the glory and was fine with that. He went to Harry for instructions went as far as to point others in Harry's direction when it was time for glory to be received (humility). (Philippians 2:1-3)
• Neville became the leader of the D.A. He spent his time planning meetings and encouraging and teaching members. He also spoke up in class for the purpose of giving hope to the rest of his classmates although he would be punished for it. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

      I can't really think of a great way to wrap up this post so I'm just going to end with a view verses about our purpose in Jesus and let you connect them yourself if you feel so inclined! :)


For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, plans to give you hope and a future.
                                                                                                  Jeremiah 29:11

The heart of man plans his way but the Lord establishes his steps.
                                                                                                  Proverbs 16:9

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you.
                                                                                                  John 15:16

One of Dumbledore's More Brilliant Ideas

   When looking at "one of [Dumbledore's] more brilliant ideas" in this chapter, I noticed that it is quite spiritually applicable. When Harry looks in the mirror he obtains the stone because he wants the stone. He doesn't want the reaction of others (Quirrel's vision) nor personal gain (money and life), he  wants the stone itself. Motives beyond that (keeping others safe) were to great to be seen in the mirror. 
   In the same way, when we accept Jesus invitation to follow Him and live with the Holy Spirit inside of us, we must do it because we want Jesus. Otherwise, we have not truly received Him. If we're trying to please parents/spouse/ect or simply want entrance to heaven, we are not followers of Jesus because we don't want Jesus, only what He can do for us. To know and love Him we must respond to his love rather than his power (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 4:19).

devils snare

     Devil's Snare is a plant that Professor Sprout used to help guard the Philosopher's Stone (read page 201-202, book 1). Below is a list of the plant's qualities:

• Soft and Springy; doesn't seem like something that you'd need to avoid. 
• Wraps tendrils around you so that you don't notice until too late.
• Fighting back causes it to work faster.
• Only successfully fought with light and warmth (fire). 

     True to it's name, this plant is a visible demonstration of how the Devil tends to ensnare us. He lays his traps so that they seem good (or at least not bad) at the beginning but as time goes on we realize that he have stealthily been trapping us in a uncomfortable, scary position and in order to destroy us (1 Timothy 6:9). When we try to fight it only pulls tighter and faster so that we start to lose hope. The only successful way to fight the Devil and escape his traps is through Jesus (light and warmth). (Psalm 31:4  and John 8:12)

      Side note: John 8:12 fits really perfectly because Jesus is the "light of life" and the bluebell flames Hermione used to save Harry and Ron's life were the light of life for them because they saved their life! :)