Ray Eichenberger - Harry Potter and the Gospel of Christ

HARRY POTTER

AND

THE GOSPEL

OF CHRIST

By Ray Eichenberger

Published by Ray Eichenberger atSmashwords

Copyright 2010, Ray Eichenberger

All Rights Assigned to: Red Foot RacingStables, LLC

http://www.harrygospel.com

Cover design by Innovative Technologies ofGahanna, Ohio, Jeff Schwartz

Harry Potter and the books in the HarryPotter series are owned by Scholastic Books and/or J. K. Rowlingand/or Warner Brothers/WBEI

All Bible verses quoted herein are from theKing James Version

Smashwords edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Ifyoure reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was notpurchased for your use only, then please visit Smashwords.com andpurchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work ofthis author

TO KYLE, STEPHANIE, HALLIE AND COLE

MAY YOU FIND THE TRUTH OF GOD AND JESUSCHRIST IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARRY POTTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

FOREWORD

I was born and raised in the Lutheran church,and attended there until I graduated from high school.

After a brief rebellion and respite away fromgoing to church on Sunday while I attended college, I beganattending first a Grace Brethren church and than an independentBaptist church.

I am a Fundamentalist Christian, and anEvangelical, and this book will be written under those beliefs.

I firmly believe in the inerrancy of theBible.

That being said, I love the Harry Potterseries of books!

Each book is a compelling story, withinteresting characters and great twists and turns.

Harry Potter, his friends and Hogwartsteachers have always been an engrossing read for me.

On its surface, Harry Potter appears to be aclassic story of good versus evil, and the implications that battlehas for each of us.

I have read each of the Harry Potter booksnumerous times.

The more I read each book, the more Irealized that the Harry Potter saga has something deep to say toeach of us spiritually about our relationship to God, and about thebirth, life, death and Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

This work is then my personal literary reviewof the Harry Potter story and the allegory it presents concerningthe life, sacrificial death and Resurrection of Jesus.

I dont know whether Potter author J. K.Rowling is a strong Christian or not, and I purposefully did notexplore her beliefs as I sat down to create this work. From thescriptural influences in the Harry Potter series, particularly TheDeathly Hallows, Ms. Rowling must have a strong faith.

I am well aware that many of myFundamentalist brothers and sisters have never read the HarryPotter books, and would not do so because of the Biblicalinjunctions and warnings against witchcraft, wizards, witches andsorcery and the like. See, for example, Exodus 23: 18, Galatians 5:20, and Revelation 21: 8.

But, God does indeed work in mysterious ways,and I find the Harry Potter books to be full of instruction,wisdom, teachings and examples of how God would have us live ourown lives, what his Son Jesus Christ has done for us, and how weshould treat our brothers and sisters in the world.

Finally, this book will best be enjoyed bypeople who have read the Harry Potter series. There are many, manyplot spoilers, and the climactic outcome of the story is certainlyrevealed, discussed and analyzed.

Many thanks to my Christian brothers andsisters who have helped me on my own journey, especially PastorDave Earley (now Professor Dave Earley at Liberty UniversityTheological Seminary), and my brothers and sisters at New LifeCommunity Church in Gahanna, Ohio.

This book is dedicated to my children: Kyle,Stephanie and Hallie, and my new grandson, Cole. May you find yourown relationship with Jesus in the allegories of Harry Potter.

I know that Satan does not want this book tobe written and published. I had completed the book in the latespring of 2010, when the computer disk which contained the firstdraft of this book was corrupted and much of the text destroyed,for no apparent reason. The disk was stored with other similardisks, which did not sustain damage.

Talk about spiritual warfare!

After that hard lesson in backing up my workproperly, the text of this book was lovingly recreated, with thehelp of Jeff Schwartz and his staff at Innovative Technologies,Inc. in Gahanna, Ohio. Jeff and his company recovered a vital partof my first draft from the damaged disk.

This book is full of references in the Bibleto various ideas and points which I wish to make. I hope that youread the scriptural references and refer to them as you areenjoying this book. All scriptures quoted in this work are from theKing James Version of the Bible, a translation which I useexclusively in my Bible study, and which I still enjoyimmensely.

Now, I invite the reader to sit back, enjoythe ride, and find truths about Jesus Christ and our own Christianlives in the story of Harry Potter.

CHAPTER TWO

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

The British world of HarryPotter and his fellow witches and wizards is a totally fascinatingcreation of characters and environments.

One (1) of the key underlying themes Ienjoyed in the series was the fact that the witches and wizards didnot want to be discovered by the Muggle (non-magical) world

The secrecy was two-fold.

First, the witches and wizards were afraidthat the Muggle population would seek magical solutions to all oflifes daily troubles and problems.

Secondly, the wizarding world fearedprejudice and discrimination by the Muggles if their trueidentities and powers were discovered by the generalpopulation.

The other underlying theme which is moreimportant in the Harry Potter series, and which I found completelyfascinating, was that the wizarding community was divided intofactions and did not get along with each other.

In people of such vast powers, there werestill divisions caused by heredity and family values. Some wizardswere considered to be of pure blood because they descended fromgenerations and generations of marriages between only wizards andwitches.

On the other hand, wizards and witches couldalso arise from Muggle families, when witches and wizards hadmarried Muggles, either currently or somewhere back in thegenealogical bloodlines. Hermione was from totally Muggle parents;we learn that Hermiones parents were both dentists.

This aspect of Harry Potter always remindedme of graphing Mendels dominant and recessive plant and animaltraits in high school biology class, or charting the probabilitiesof human blood typing factors of A, B, AB and O type blood.

Recessive genetic traits appear sparingly andrandomly in nature and man, using the laws of science and themathematics of probabilities. Thus, wizards and witches could beborn to solely Muggle parents based upon dominant and recessivecharacteristics, and based upon the existence of magical blood inthe Muggle gene pool when magical and non-magical peopleintermarry.

Those two (2) underlying and dominant themesof Harry Potter speak to our lives as Christians, and were my firstsources of inspiration in considering Harry Potter and his story asa Jesus allegory.

A.THE SECRECY OF THE WIZARDING WORLD

At first blush, the secret lives of theBritish wizarding world have very little to do with us asChristians.

Wizards liked to keep to themselves in smallBritish communities, such as Ottery St. Catchpole, where theWeasleys lived, and Godrics Hallow where James and Lilly Potter,the Dumbledore family, and Bathilda Bagshot resided.

The most sacred wizarding law was that magicwas not to be performed in front of Muggles, except in severe andlife threatening situations (such as when Harry performed hisPatronus charm when he and Dudley were attacked by Dementors inOrder of the Phoenix).