Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday. Just thought I'd share.

August is the cruellest month...

I haven't been writing much lately, mostly because very little has happened. The last several weeks my mental faculties have been completely focused on the job interview five weeks ago, and the fact that I had not yet heard from them. On Wednesday I finally received the less than 30 second phone call which I had so wanted for more than three weeks. "Yes, the position has been filled." I hung up the phone and thought, you couldn't have told me that three weeks ago? Because there were things that I wanted to do during the month of August that involved me being out of the state for a while. Instead, I sat around Orlando and worked, wondering what my future would hold.

So anyway, after the euphoria that was the month of July, I'm now into August and searching my thoughts for some purpose in this summer. And for the first time in my life, I have found myself wishing that I was a student, packing my belongings into my car and driving towards some kind of goal, even if that goal was just to make it through the semester.

Potter and Other Related Thoughts

Here are a couple of links to articles about Christianity and Potter, one on Townhall.com and the other on Verumserum.com.

And for some of my own thoughts:

I've gotten quite a bit of flack from Christians over my love for the Harry Potter books, mostly from the older generations. I've been told many times that the Harry Potter is evil, and no Christian should read them. I've even had someone question my salvation because of Harry Potter. Here is my problem with many of the anti-Potter people: they haven't read the books. One such person went so far as to give me an "article" (I hesitate to call it an article, it was more like an uninformed rant) about Satanism in Harry Potter. I read it and laughed. The author clearly had never read the books, and any credibility that remained melted away with the grammatical errors and typos. Several quotes were taken completely out of context, some putting Voldemort's words into Harry's mouth. The one I remember specifically is from the end of Sorcerer's Stone in the Harry-Quirrelmort battle (normally I would find the quote, but Dad has my copy of Sorcerer's Stone). It also poorly argued and failed to cite sources of any kind.

What bothers me is not that people have a problem with Harry Potter; everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if they are wrong. It is the fact that the harshest criticism comes from those who did not decide for themselves whether it is good or evil. (Case in point: Laura Mallory, the Georgia woman who petitioned to have the Harry Potter books banned from school libraries despite never having read them.) Perhaps the most dangerous of bad habits, blind acceptance of opinions and ideas without serious critical thought has taken it's toll on modern America. And this reaches far beyond Harry Potter. What about young Christians today? I've heard people bemoan the lack of theological substance in modern praise and worship music, especially when compared to the hymns of old. This is a direct result of young Christians just accepting what someone tells them, and not trying to go farther and learn the foundations for their belief. Frankly, it is manifest laziness. I write this knowing that I am guilty of it as well; my knowledge of church history and the finer points of theology is decidedly lacking.

I could go on, but I'm starting to feel like I'm writing a paper, and it's getting late, so I'm going to step down from my soap box.

Anyway. . .last week I had Deathly Hallows with me at work since I was loaning it out to some of the other Seasonals and rereading during lunch and break times. It's presence on my desk was enough to garner multiple anti-Harry comments. I honestly kind of expected it.