Harry Potter Confusion

[Arlene_Alice]

Dear LauraL:

I am bearing your three-part rant - please bear with mine.

Having been a community activist involved with media decency advocacies for the past twenty years [Morality in Media, American Family Association, Enough is Enough, etc.] I can agree with you that the influence of the HP series is not the most pressing societal concern. However, we are discussing Rowling’s works in this thread. If you care to create a new topic on the media obscenities of our age, I would be glad to share my (name removed by moderator)ut, and would probably agree with you.

You seem to take the position that ANYTHING that would pull our children away from their TV/Video infatuation and interest them in reading is OK with you. Would that also include porn, which is VERY ubiquitous and popular today?

Then you seem to have taken a profound leap in trust when you state, “No one with a grain of sense takes the wizardry in HP seriously.” I presume you have some studies and documentation to back up your claim? If you don’t, than you are presenting a personal presumption or hearsay, and that won’t hold up in court.

I had provided two pages on the Scholastic.com [home of one of our nation’s most popular school text publishers] web pages that prove my conclusions that children are INDEED taking the occult seriously. There is the Twin Witches page for aspiring young witches willing to cast their spells. And the curses pages, where I have noted children expressing the following mystical powers: leg-locking/leg-jerking, quick stepping, blocking unfriendly spells, conjuring previous spells, calling things to you [just like Harry], blocking memories [are they serious?], modifying or vanishing spells [that’s nice], total control spells [yikes], intense pain and impediment spells [just child’s play], and killing curses…I kid you not!

Take a look at at ex-witch’s web site www.exwitch.org and try to convince me that droves of people aren’t getting into the world of the occult. There is a reported youth epidemic of occult interest in England since the popularity of the HP series. Christianity is all but dead there.

Do these children’s disturbing expressions seem worthy of your Reading Teacher’s concern? Are we not our brothers/sisters keepers? Should we, as intelligent, well-formulated Catholic adults, not understand our duty in leading children, whose sense of making righteous choices has not matured as yet - including choices in reading materials? Should we not be “serious” about championing a Catholic/Christian worldview - rather than a modernistic, hedonistic, secular, pagan worldview?

 

[Shiann]

TheGrowingGrape:

I am fairly well versed in Potterism, having read the first three books and half of the fourth, and having seen all the movies.

The danger of Harry Potter is the subtlety. The series starts out innocently. The first book is very cute. It reads like Alice and Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz. I actually found the first book to be quite entertaining and clever, so I read book two.

Book two is not quite as cutesy as book one, but still very entertaining and clever. The themes are a bit more advanced. The writing is a bit more complicated. The magic is still pretty much unreal though.

Book three makes a big jump. It is not cute, but entertaining. It reads like an adult novel at this point. The themes are advanced. The magic in this book starts to wander into REAL Wiccan and Occult practices, whereas before, the magic was fictional. Example: reading tea leaves, palmistry, and incantations and divinations.

Book four starts out with a murder. It also starts out with a witch gathering. I didn’t care to read all 700 pages after reading 300 pages about this witch party.

The books suck you in. Before you realize it, you’re reading about REAL occult practices and REAL Magic. So are your children!!!

I also appreciate your passion for this topic. It is good to see people standing for something in a time where the obviousness of life within the womb has a clouded perception by people.

But, I recommend you read:

Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger

There are two sides to this argument whether you appreciate it or not.

I see many more benefits in the Harry Potter series than negatives. Many parents can effectively educate their children on the proper perspective of these stories- and enjoy the benefits they offer. I am one of them.

I also feel like I am :banghead:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.

Amen. –

 

[LauraL]

Look. Professor Trelawney’s “a right old fraud.” That’s why Hermione drops Divination – or did you quit before you got that far? Or even before you were far enough in it to see how some of the girls are silly enough to think there’s truth to Trelawney’s folderol? Or that Harry and Ron pull good grades in the course simply by making things up? C’mon! If Rowling isn’t ridiculing the very thing you suggest she’s promoting, I’ll eat my dog’s dinner!

And Witch gathering??? Oh! You mean the Quiddich World Cup!

Hey, Tee, I think I’ve joined the ranks of :banghead:

 

[Arlene_Alice]

Dear IoA:

You say that Pope John Paul has placed him imprimatur on the Harry Potter series.

Where is your documentation?

Just because the USCCBs Film and Broadcasting Department see it as just another “magical adventure”, “posing no threat to Catholic beliefs”, does not say that the subject is closed. This office just sees Harry as fighting good over evil. Parental Guidance is suggested - and if we are discerning and astute “Catholic Parents”, we will heed this suggestion.

To those who agree with the Bishop’s F&B rating that this fantasy series depicts the age-old battle of good over evil, we must ask again: Does the end always justifies the means? Quoting a piece in the Catholic Register, “It continues the phenomenon of destroying the Judeo-Christian world of symbols by making highly dangerous spiritual activity appear to be a good. Evils which appear to us in beautiful packages are far more destructive in the long run to a child’s developing sense of spiritual discernment, and of what is ultimately real.”

A word to the wise.

 

[Arlene_Alice]

Dear Tee-eff-em:

I had replied to one of your posts, but somehow it got lost in the transmission. I’ll try again…

You challenged my labeling of Catholics as in “Harry Potter Catholics”; those who will fight to the “mat” for Harry, forgetting everything else they have been taught about their Catholic formation.

There are a reported one billion Catholics in the world today. We are “One” in that we belong to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and we recite the Creed every Sunday, proclaiming that we are One. That’s where it all ends. Citing all of the confusion and choas in the Church today, we are hardly One anymore.

Some of the statistics that prove my point is that our marriages are included in the 50% statistic of those that end in divorce each year. Only 27% of us reportedly believe in the Real Presence. Only 36% of us participate in weekly Mass. 56% of us vote for Pro-Choice legislators, and continue to be “faithful” to the Democratic Party, which is a pro-abort/anti-family political device.
Our kids “shack up” before marrying. Our Catholic mothers participate in the “culture of death” as enthusiastically as their pro-abort, un-Catholic counterparts. We refuse to obey the Pope and Bishops on the use of contraceptives. We are individualistic, opiniated, disobedient and lost - just like most of our culture, which we fully participate in.

I’m not the only one who sets labels on Catholics. Haven’t you heard of: Cafeteria Catholics, Easter and Christmas Catholics, Dissenting and Schismatic Catholics, Call to Action Catholics, Pro-Choice Catholics, Mary-only Catholics, Novus Ordo and Tridentine Mass Catholics, neo-liberal, conserative and moderate Catholics, New Age Catholics, and the list goes on?

Where did the chaos in the Church come from? Why do we have Catholic magazines entitled CRISIS? Should we lay the blame at the altars the Vatican II renewal? Or in the laps of some spineless clerics who have neither catechized us or formed us properly? Should we blame the Popes - always an easy thing to do?

I think we as adult Catholic persons should bear the responsibility of seeking out the purity, integrity and sacredness of our faith and defend that faith to the fullest.

That is why I am participating on this forum. Take it or leave it.

 

[Arlene_Alice]

Will no one out there humor me and reply to my Questionnaire on widely-practiced superstitions?

Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t buried a St. Joseph statute for a quick real estate sale, or knocked on wood, carry rabbit’s feet for good luck, read your daily Horoscope, and pass St. Jude prayers out in back of churches?

You can’t be a contemporary “Catholic” then…

Verrrrrry puzzling, I must say.

???

 

[LauraL]

Arlene,

Oh! You mean your inquiry wasn’t just rhetorical? And that I was supposed to take it seriously?

 

[LauraL]

Okay, Arlene. Sorry. That last post was a bit beyond the pale. I am sorry for the facetiousness.

I can appreciate the fact that someone wants to live an earnest, holy, pious life. But does piety have to be humorless? Dour? Dementor-like, sucking the life and the joy out of everything it touches?

That’s what I’m objecting to.

Sure, the books get less and less suitable for kids as the story progresses. I think they’re better adult fiction than juvie, anyway; they’re too sophisticated, too laden with subtleties of a literary quality, for kids to catch on. Kids don’t have enough experience to recognize the anguish the Weasleys are going through over their estrangement over ideology from their middle son, Percy. Or the development of Sirius’ character, or Dumbledore’s speech at the end of Order of the Phoenix (to Harry); kids aren’t going to quite grasp that adults often over-protect, mistakenly protect people they love from the very things they need to know in order to be happy or safe. These books are complex. The issues they address are complex – but they’re good, they’re very very good.

Again, I have to insist repeatedly, the wizardry is setting, not prescriptive. I can’t speak for the people who are imbalanced enough to actually try to live these ideas out – I had a friend from high school who aspired to be Spock from Star Trek: no emotion whatsoever. I mean, you get people all the time who mis-appropriate things. Eddy’s obsession with emulating Spock doesn’t mean that Spock or Star Trek are evil; it means he was disordered in his appropriation of the entertainment.

You can’t go around burning everything that people misuse, misunderstand, misappropriate. You’d have a holocaust that would kill us all, and nothing left afterward. Even Christianity can be subverted by mentally imbalanced people! Shall we call that occultic? Abandon our own faith because some people abuse others in the name of righteousness? Absolutely not!

Please quit insulting those of us who love these books on their face, quit accusing us of being somehow spiritually inferior. Okay?

 

[tee_eff_em]

Arlene Alice:

You challenged my labeling of Catholics as in “Harry Potter Catholics”; those who will fight to the “mat” for Harry, forgetting everything else they have been taught about their Catholic formation.

No. I questioned your use of the label

Harry Potter “Catholics”

With “scare quotes”, from which I infer that you judge people who legitimately disagree with your view of Harry Potter to be not-true-Catholics.
Arlene Alice:

There are a reported one billion Catholics in the world today. We are “One” in that we belong to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and we recite the Creed every Sunday, proclaiming that we are One. That’s where it all ends. Citing all of the confusion and choas in the Church today, we are hardly One anymore.

Some of the statistics that prove my point is that our marriages are included in the 50% statistic of those that end in divorce each year. Only 27% of us reportedly believe in the Real Presence. Only 36% of us participate in weekly Mass. 56% of us vote for Pro-Choice legislators, and continue to be “faithful” to the Democratic Party, which is a pro-abort/anti-family political device.
Our kids “shack up” before marrying. Our Catholic mothers participate in the “culture of death” as enthusiastically as their pro-abort, un-Catholic counterparts. We refuse to obey the Pope and Bishops on the use of contraceptives. We are individualistic, opiniated, disobedient and lost - just like most of our culture, which we fully participate in.

I’m not the only one who sets labels on Catholics. Haven’t you heard of: Cafeteria Catholics, Easter and Christmas Catholics, Dissenting and Schismatic Catholics, Call to Action Catholics, Pro-Choice Catholics, Mary-only Catholics, Novus Ordo and Tridentine Mass Catholics, neo-liberal, conserative and moderate Catholics, New Age Catholics, and the list goes on?

Now that is an awful lot of meaning to put into the phrase ‘Harry Potter “Catholics”’ – If that is what you meant, it is no wonder I have had difficulty understanding you.
Arlene Alice:

Where did the chaos in the Church come from? Why do we have Catholic magazines entitled CRISIS? Should we lay the blame at the altars the Vatican II renewal? Or in the laps of some spineless clerics who have neither catechized us or formed us properly? Should we blame the Popes - always an easy thing to do?

Should we blame Harry Potter?
Arlene Alice:

I think we as adult Catholic persons should bear the responsibility of seeking out the purity, integrity and sacredness of our faith and defend that faith to the fullest.

That is why I am participating on this forum. Take it or leave it.

It is not for me to take nor leave. As long as you post in charity, and in accord with other rules set down by the hosts of these fora, I shall not say you mayn’t participate. (As indeed, I think I have not)

 

[Sheen]

TheGrowingGrape:

Before you realize it, you’re reading about REAL occult practices and REAL Magic. So are your children!!!

Uh, no – we’re not; neither are our children. Excatly zero occurrences of that going on here in our household where all four of us have read the books (some multiple times) and have eagerly seen the movies (more than once).

Now please excuse me – I have to go and check on the fairy cakes I’ve got baking in the oven. My fairy godmother is due to arrive at any moment . . .

 

[randall_brown]

Story:

Man o man…

This thread was a long read.

I understand everyone’s opinions, but I need to put my two cents in here…

1. I f you don’t like or don’t agree with Harry Potter or his world…don’t read it.
2. If you are not strong in your faith, or have a problem discerning reality from fantasy…don’t read it.
3. If you spend more time looking into the details and trying to square this book up against your own morality…step back for a sec…the world’s biggest problems have always been due to not seeing the forest for the trees.
4. The arguement of occultism is now rediculous at best…why?..you have one person in this thread who claims they converted over from wicca to Catholism…and not one of you that are against these books have given him credence concerning that as far as I can see. Who better to be able to explain the commonalities than one who has been there, done that?
5. If you got a problem with all the details in the books, you need to have a problem with a lot of other books. Harry Potter is easy to attack in this thread because the ‘magic’ and its use is blatant throught the storyline. I have yet to see anyone here start another thread about another ungodly book…
6. For those of you who can overlook certain things, the Potter series is a good read, although slow in certain areas where the backstory is told. All in all, a good read.
7. I do not recommend the book to kids who are not able to reason well, yet I do yield to parents who know what their kiddoes can handle. Mine handle it quite well.
8. For those who would go so far as to say this book ‘teaches magic’, which I don’t hink I saw that on this thread, but I have in others on other boards…they don’t. Slow me where, If you can…and I would like the quotes to contain chapter numbers…I do have all the books here at home…and have read them all.

I agree with what your’re saying here , Story.
The Harry Potter books are fiction, plain and simple. That the author choses to have her characters imitate behaviours in our own society just makes it easier for us as readers to identify with them . The author uses “magic” and the witchcraft world as a fantasy realm, and if you as the reader pick up the book , and just read the inside cover, and the back of the book, you’ll know as a parent what you are in for.

I’ve also noticed that some areas , threads, and web sites, seem to be advocating that “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy is much better morally than Harry Potter.
But its still a work of fantasy. The creation of the author.

I think some people read too deeply into books at times. Just my opinion, of course.

Good advice, Story.

 

[Sheen]

Arlene Alice:

You challenged my labeling of Catholics as in “Harry Potter Catholics”; those who will fight to the “mat” for Harry, forgetting everything else they have been taught about their Catholic formation.

You see, Arlene, this is exactly the problem with your labeling people you don’t even know. You assume that because I – like many others here and elsewhere – enjoy Harry Potter that I have forgotten “everything else I ] have been taught about [my] Catholic formation.”

I haven’t.

By so labeling people, you are passing judgment on all of us who do not agree with all you say on this issue. Your opinions and views are most welcome here, and your concen for your fellow brethren is admirable. It is possible to express all of these things while leaving out any judgmental language and labeling, which you must know is hurtful and non-productive (and frankly, quite presumptious). (James 4:12 – a good reminder to us all)

 

[Chris_Burgwald]

Shiann:

I also appreciate your passion for this topic. It is good to see people standing for something in a time where the obviousness of life within the womb has a clouded perception by people.

But, I recommend you read:

Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger

There are two sides to this argument whether you appreciate it or not.

I see many more benefits in the Harry Potter series than negatives. Many parents can effectively educate their children on the proper perspective of these stories- and enjoy the benefits they offer. I am one of them.

Well said, Shiann… more people need to read Granger’s take.

 

[Arlene_Alice]

OK folks, aren’t you all ganging up against me? And haven’t you “judged” me a teeny-weeny bit, too? There’s a lot of covert digs at me on this thread, or haven’t you noticed?. Or is your opposition to my opinion “intelligent” versus mine which is “obscene” and lacking an “ounce of sense”? Hmmmm? .

I know I don’t stand alone in my objections to Harry Potter as suitable children’s literature. And I’m not basing my conclusions on Mrs. Rowling’s apparent literary talent and ability to attract millions of readers to her “fantasy” series.

My purpose is to educate Catholics, who have very little knowledge of the Scriptures, that the occult practices used in the HP series are FORBIDDEN by God in the Bible and by the Church, in no uncertain terms. If you have a quarrel, your quarrel is really with God - not me. He made the rules - not me.

The Catechism reiterates this warning: 2110: “The First Commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. [What higher power does Harry draw his " magic powers” from?] It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion." Harry Potter presents a distorted religion [the occult] which is the anti-theses to Christianity.

The First Commandment CONDEMNS polytheism [worshipping other divinities], idolatry [false pagan worship], divination, magic, sorcery, horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, magic, wizardry, interpretation of omens and lots, sacrificing infants on pagan altars [today’s abortion folks!] , clairvoyance, mediumship, a desire for power over others, etc., which the Catechism warns should be REJECTED. 2116: “They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.” 2117: “…The Church for her part warns the faithful against it.”

Harry Potter is NOT Huckleberry Finn or even Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or Mickey Mouse. Harry Potter is a junior WIZARD - he is learning the BLACK ARTS - he is practicing the OCCULT - forbidden by God in the Bible. The HP series IS SEDUCING some children [maybe not yours] into exploring the black arts.

Unless you are aware of what the Bible and Catechism warns about the occult, and are sitting there pointing to Bible scriptures with your children, who are absorbing hours of the occult thru the H.P. literary image, and warning them that God does not allow these practices for faithful Jews or Christians - I would say YOU are the one who is mis-guided and placing your youngsters in spiritual danger.

Are Reading Teacher, Story, and all of the rest of the Catholic Potter fans, including the USCCB Film and Television Office, guiding their children and the children they affect in a “godly” way, or are they being duped and seduced by the neo-pagan culture of our time?

 

[Shelby_Grace]

"Every evil screams only one message: ‘I am good.’" Fr Alexander Schmemann
Thanks, ByzCath! This is timely for the discussion, eh?

Having been very involved in the occult and New Age movements- (of which are legion) in my stupid foolish youth…I steer clear of anything that reminds me of it. Sorry folks, but that would include Harry Potter.
I got into all that junk fom going to a “Catholic” highschool that taught world religion on a horizontal level with Catholicism, where we learned Eastern purification stuff and yoga and non-Catholic mediations geared towards being “open” and being a blank slate.
That led to forays into astral projection,pychic readings,transendental meditation, etc
I also want to comment on the attachment people seem to have to their Harry Potter books and movies. It is strange that even grown adults would do anything to defend this set of books/movies.
My very Catholic dear friend was horrified when our homeschool group began discussing HP and vehemently defended her books/movies. She took great umbrage towards those who were speaking against them! Totally uncharacteristic of her, to say the least…she wasn’t outnumbered-as my own sister is very attached to HP as well. (She is currently estranged from the Church at the moment so the properly formed conscious thing is lacking right now). I sufficed to say it reminded me of my forage into the “hidden forbidden” so I didn’t like them for a very personal reason…
Anyway, at a subsequent meeting, she shared with us her feelings that as she began to ask the Lord if these books where ok for her children, she was given the realization that she was actually quite addicted to them and had an inordinate attachment to them. She pondered as to why she would be so angry at the thought of losing these books/movies…and what caused her to react with such possessiveness towards words on paper…she felt a total change of heart and has since removed them from her home.
That is what happened in our homeschool meeting lately…I’ve seen it here too on a lesser scale.

Love in Jesus,
Shelby Grace

 

[Count_Chocula]

HOLY OVERREACTION BATMAN!!!

Seriously, where do we draw lines? Being afraid of Harry Potter is ludicrous and unfounded.

It is fiction, if you can’t detach yourself from what ever long enough to enjoy a fake story (with or w/out real life connections) then you have some serious, serious, SERIOUS issues.

I have read portions of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, I will not become a Nazi. I have read Machiavelli’s “The Prince” yet I do not believe in the tyrrany that book promotes.

Where do we draw the lines of whta is a good story and a bad one?

There’s aliens and unexplained stuff in Star Trek!
BANNED

There’s the FORCE in Star Wars!
BANNED

The Cat in the Hat might teach kids to be unruly when the weather is bad!
BANNED

Forrest Gump disobeyed a direct order to save Lt. Dan!
BANNED

History books talk about REAL life stuff that is FAR scarier than anything that can be derived from CS Lewis works, LotR, HP and a variety of other fake stories (key word fake). Yet no one would dare suggest we ban those (at least I would hope not cuz Hist. is really important) and we teach kids the rudiments of Communism, Nazism, Mid East female oppression, Mid-Evil Fuedal systesm, Early American slavery by the time they’re out of High School. Why aren’t you worried about that stuff being taught to your kids?

Because you think people (kids most importantly) can’t detach reality from fiction which is sad. Harry Potter is just a book, kids like it, adults like it. Read it, have a good time, put it down and go back to other stuff in your life.

Yes there will be those who are incapable of detaching themselves from fiction due to say… mental disorders, but if you are of able and sound mind and still cannot OR will not make said detachment in order to enjoy a fake story or two that might not follow the laws of Christ to the T, that’s sad.

 

[Meggie]

I am what many of you would consider a Harry Potter “fan” although I am no longer as crazy abou Harry as I once was.

What attracted me to Harry was many of the things that I think attract other kids, power over impossible situations. I live much like the Durslys treat Harry so I instantly bonded to the impossible tale of magic taking the place of what I didn’t have.
I feel bad for the person who yelled about Harry not trusting Dumbledore because obviously they cannot understand why He wouldn’t or they wouldn’t of said that. Like millions of other children Harry is in pain about his identity.
Magic seeped into some of the stories I wrote for my own intertainment, it came into my life. I far deffered it from real wicca, though. I even played around with some witch-like things without knowing, but it did give me a sence of peace, not true peace.
It can be dangerous, but the people it presents a danger to are not people that any of your arguments are going to reach. PEROID.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Shelby Grace:

Having been very involved in the occult and New Age movements- (of which are legion) in my stupid foolish youth…I steer clear of anything that reminds me of it. Sorry folks, but that would include Harry Potter.

And that is a fine, personal decision. I even said so back here.
Shelby Grace:

I also want to comment on the attachment people seem to have to their Harry Potter books and movies. It is strange that even grown adults would do anything to defend this set of books/movies.

Speaking only for myself, and against the characterization as someone who would “go to the mat” for Harry Potter, I can only say may seem that way, but I only defend the works when first they have been attacked. It’s not like I go around to Catholic message boards and tell people they *have * to read Harry Potter – That would be silly.

I see the series as a moral neutral.

Alcohol is morally neutral. Give some to me, and I will lthank you. Give some to a recovereing alcoholic and you do a grave disservice.

A dose of insulin is morally neutral. Inject my diabetic bride and you could save her life. Inject it into me and you could kill me.

The Lord of The Rings is morally neutral. Some people read it and see an epic tale of Good vs Evil. I read it and am sound asleep before the end of chapter one.

Harry Potter is morally neutral. Some people may be badly affected by it – By all means stay away. But don’t say “No one should read this under any circumstances” – That would be silly too.

 

[Shelby_Grace]

Obviously, there will be no consensus on HP here at this time…I’ve always wondered about the disparity of opinions on divisive issues between Catholics who really practice their Faith. It is often that you find 2 daily Mass attendees who are really into their Faith…and yet have different opinions on an issue. It doesn’t mean one must be slightly worse…or not as holy. It just means one of them is wrong.
I foresee a future time when most everyone here will agree that HP has degenerated into unfit material…it appears a lot already agree that the over-all “tone” has gone from cute/playful to serious moments of darkness.
Time will tell and I think the fruit will be rotten.

OH NO! I’M FORTUNE TELLING!

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**IT’s already starting…:bigyikes: **

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*****This humor is not directed at any one here. I just like using the little animations.

Love in Jesus,
Shelby Grace

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[Arlene_Alice]

Dear Count Chocola:

Have you gone hysterical on us? Who’s suggesting banning or burning books about little Harry the Wizard? Harry’s here to stay.
What we are concerned about is how should Catholic parents react to this global craze?

My suggestion is that the Harry phenomena offers well-formed, serious and faithful Catholic parents an “educational moment” to share the REAL FAITH with their curious children. While Harry is riding on his broomstick, gazing at crystal balls, talking with the spirits of the dead, and occult manifestations occur around him, we point out to our children, first of all that this IS FANTASY FICTION, based on actual OCCULT practices, and that those practices are FORBIDDEN to the Christian…which includes them. We take out our Catholic Bible Concordances, look up the appropriate forbidden practices, read the Bible passages of warning out loud, thereby allowing the child to understand that evil can be wrapped up in attractive and popular packages. God the Father forbids this evil because he knows it’s VERY BAD for our souls and offends Him deeply.

On the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” evil is packaged to attract children and lure them into sin.

If your child knows that the people of Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert - on a trip that should have taken them several weeks - as God’s punishment because they reverted to their false gods and pagan occult practices, then we can open their minds to understand that we need to take God’s Word seriously, no matter what the world would tell them.

John Ankerberg, though not a Catholic, is offering parents such a guidebook. See his site at: www.johnankerberg.com It’s $12.
Unfortunately {as far as I know} a Catholic writer has not yet appeared who will pick up this gauntlet. That’s why there is a Catholic magazine entitled CRISIS!