Warning: if you feel that Harry Potter books are the work of the Devil, you’d best stop reading now so you don’t get upset. See you next week.

Some critics of Harry Potter complain that he’s a bad example because he breaks rules. What they miss is that author J. K. Rowling (a Church of Scotland member) employs virtue-based ethics rather than rule-based ethics in her novels. It is the character of her characters that matters.

Harry displays courage. He faces evil repeatedly often at the risk of his life. He’s not a perfectly virtuous person, however, in that he acts impulsively and lacks temperance. His friend Ron Weasely is a flawed person also. He’s terrified of spiders, for example. But he does have loyalty to his friends–another virtue. Hermione Granger is the exemplar of wisdom and prudence. She knows everything and is prepared for anything.

I find Neville Longbottom the most interesting of the characters. Near the end of the last book he faces down the evil Voldermort and kills the serpent Nagini enabling the villain’s demise. In the first book he is portrayed as hopelessly incompetent even when he challenges Harry, Ron and Hermione as they are headed into trouble. But headmaster Dumbledore commends him saying: “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” That’s a virtue I wish for all of our young people–the ability to resist even friends when you believe they are wrong.
It’s surprising what positive qualities fiction can have.

Read Psalm 27:11-14 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne
“Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:11-14