Friday, November 30, 2012

Harry Potter: A Review

My apologies for not posting in the last week.  I don't have anything like a good excuse to offer, so I'll just shut up and get on with this book review...

So.  I've finally read some Harry Potter.  My brother and I have breezed through the first three books: The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, and The Prisoner of Azkaban.  We enjoyed them pretty well.  So now it is time for me to attempt to give a balanced review.  This review is for the beginning of the series in general.  From what I've heard, things get darker as the series progresses.

HARRY POTTER REVIEW- the first three books, at least
Here is the link to the Squeaky Clean Review for the first book (you can find the others from there).
Disclaimer: I unashamedly write from a Christian perspective.

The POSITIVE.
The best element of Harry Potter is the writing.  The plots are breath-taking.  You think you know who the bad guy is, and then BAM!  It's actually the last person you'd expect.  I giggled and laughed.  I was on the edge of my seat.  These are very hard books to put down.  There are no hanging threads in this series-- every single tiny event will be shown to be vital:  And if not in that book, then in the next.  I envy this writer's talent.
Another positive element is that Harry Potter's best protection from evil is love.  How many books have that, eh?  When Harry Potter is saved from the baddie the first time, it is because his mother loved him so much she let herself die instead of Harry, something Voldemort can't understand.  And that continues to play a large role through the series.

The NEGATIVE.
Well, there's the magic.  That's a major part of the stories, but I know it can digested by some people better than others, so I'm not going to condemn (nor discount) the magic right off the bat.  For me, I began to be disturbed in The Prisoner of Azkaban with the divination classes.  Even though the fortune-telling was shown to be phony, the palm-reading and such was still creepy to me.  More so than the whole the-dementors-will-suck-out-all-your-happy-thoughts-and-finally-your-soul thing, which I guess is odd.  In any case, Harry Potter is not for those who don't like wands and flying broomsticks in their stories.
On another note, the kids break the school rules constantly, even when the rules are obviously in place for the students' welfare.  They hardly ever get punished properly.  Then the reader is faced with the fact that the bad guy would probably never have been defeated if the children had not broken the rules.  Not the best way to set an example for the young people reading the books, is it?
Language wise, there's some uses of d--- and the Lord's name in vain.  At one point, a character starts to say an insult, but is cut off, and many readers' minds will fill it in as a Vulgar Name for Illegitimate Children.

THINK ABOUT IT.
Something interesting struck me while I was reading these books.  Despite all the magic, what a sad little world the characters inhabit.  Look how close their world is to disaster:  Voldemort is so powerful, and the only person who can defeat him is maybe Dumbledore or maybe Harry. 
And then it amazed me to see this contrasted with the real world:  Where the end of time is already written, and we can know Who wins!  Where our King can defeat Satan with one little word!  We write stories as a way to reflect God's Ultimate Story, but our little creations can only look deathly pale in the glory of His handiwork.  What an awesome God and what an awesome world we live in!

CONCLUSION.
I've been putting off entering the world of Harry Potter for quite a while.  Now I might have a few friends saying to me, "See-- told you you would like them."
But, after all, I think it was a good idea (in my case) to wait until I felt ready to read the series with a level head.  I think I would recommend the first books if just to enjoy J.K. Rowling's incredible writing style.  But I seriously warn any reader to keep in mind that she is not a Christian, and her writing will reflect that.  We must "Test all things, [and] hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
So enjoy, but with caution.  (:


Oh, and-- well, a little late now, but Bookworm Day was yesterday.  November 29th is the combined birthdays of C.S. Lewis, Madeleine D'Engle, and Louisa May Alcott.  Have a bookworm-ish weekend, all!  God bless!
ps. Did Azkaban make anyone else think of Alcatraz? I mean, their names sound the same and they're both on islands...

Friday, November 16, 2012

Filling the Void

This is a paper I wrote for school and wanted to share.  The testimony is real.  It has been one of my favorite papers to write, as it let me discuss a subject I love to talk about:  The God-sized hole in our hearts.
Why Should We Want Jesus?
~*~ 

The month before I turned twelve, I was a mess.  Five months earlier my family had moved from the suburbs where we had lived for my whole life to a small town where the only people I knew were my grandmother and my uncle.  A decade’s worth of friendships had been pulled out from underneath my feet.  I didn’t fit into the new town as of yet, but I knew that my old life was left behind forever.  I felt pretty homeless.  Perhaps the biggest shock was to discover just how frail my settled, adjusted lifestyle had been.

I had been so comfortable in my established life I had been able to convince myself that I didn’t need God.  When that sense of security was blown apart by the move, I was faced with the fact that my life was empty and had always been empty.  And it would continue to be empty unless I let Jesus fill that void.

I know what it means to push away Christ and to pretend I don’t need Him.  I did not want Christ in my life.  Praise the Lord that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable!” (Romans 11:29)

Why do we need Jesus?  Why should we want Him interfering in our lives?  The Westminster Shorter Catechism attempts to answer this with its very first question:

Q:  What is the chief end of man?  

A:  Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Humans were wired since the beginning of time to need the strong presence of our Creator in our lives.  Without Him we are only shells of what we are meant to be.  To quote Saint Augustine, “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”

The psalmist writes, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”  (Psalms 42:1, 2)

C.S. Lewis adds, “All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

When we exclude God from our lives, there is a void within in us that refuses to be filled by anything in this world.  It is a “God-sized hole” in our hearts, as some have called it.  We can pretend that it does not exist, but it is there.

Jesus came to earth to fill that emptiness.  Of believers, He says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:8, 10)

We should want Jesus—and through Him, God—because we need Jesus.  We were created to enjoy eternity with Him.  Our sin makes us dirty and creates a barrier between us and God’s holiness, but Jesus destroyed that barrier by taking the penalty for our sin on the cross.  Now, He again offers us the chance of spending eternity with Him.

And that is the true prize:  Not Heaven itself, per se, but to spend infinity in the company of our glorious Savior.  We do not want Heaven because of its golden streets, but because it is where our hearts are full.  We desire Heaven because of the presence of our God.

Because we were made to be with Him.

finis.


Please respect my work and don't steal it.  Thanks!
And sorry for some of the odd formatting -- sometimes this blog is wacky.  --Rachel

Monday, November 12, 2012

Panis de Deo

Just gorgeous, this passage.

               When my heart was grieved
                   and my spirit embittered,
                I was senseless and arrogant;
                   I was a brute beast before You.

               Yet I am always with You;
                   You hold me by my right hand.
               You guide me with Your counsel,
                   and afterward You will take me into glory.
               Whom have I in heaven but You?
                   And earth has nothing I desire besides You.
               My flesh and my heart may fail,
                   but God is the strength of my heart
                   and my portion forever.

--Psalm 73:21-26

Friday, November 9, 2012

quote!

I have found G.K. Chesterson.  The guy was awesome. 



“Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.”

--G.K. Chesterson

Monday, November 5, 2012

Panis de Deo

               He gives strength to the weary
                   and increases the power of the weak.
               Even youths grow tired and weary,
                   and young men stumble and fall;
               but those who hope in the Lord
                   will renew their strength.
               They will soar on wings like eagles;
                   they will run and not grow weary,
                   they will walk and not be faint.
--Isaiah 40:29-31

Friday, November 2, 2012

Literary Descriptions

Have you ever read a description in a book and then breathed in wonder: "How beautiful! I can just see it!" Well, I have actually been keeping track of my Favorite Descriptive Lines, and have been trying to add to it.  For right now I just have two. If you know some good ones, please share in the comments!

 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Great shadows sprang up and fled, and for a second they saw a vast roof far above their heads upheld by many pillars hewn of stone. Before them and on either side stretched a huge empty hall; its black walls, polished and smooth as glass, flashed and glittered... Then the light went out.
-- The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien
 
The walls of Palace Var trembled again, broke into millions of tiny pieces, and fell as rose petals drifting across the blighted plains of Arpiar.
-- Moonblood, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl