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!:))
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
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.)
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
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Dementors
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Explanation
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Satan's ultimate goal is our destruction. (1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10)
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Dementors want to feed on you until you become soulless and evil.
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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.
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Satan is a liar. (John 8:44)
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Dementors leave you with nothing but the worst experiences of you life.
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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.
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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
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Dementors suck every good feeling and happy memory out of you.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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!
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!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
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.
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).
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
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
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
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
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