Intro: A CDM is ahead of the Consider Podcast, a common discussion moment.
Thomas McGree: So recently a new Harry Potter video game came out on the market that is called “Hogwarts Legacy”. Now typically this isn’t something that I would even talk about or even consider worthy of talking about except for the amount of people who would be considered Christian or conservative or conservative Christian who have come out in support of the game. So, without going through the entire backstory essentially what’s taken place is we’ve had the author of the Harry Potter series JK Rowling has made a number of remarks throughout the years, that some people on the left side of the aisle have considered transphobic. However, what we’ve seen as a reaction from the Christian conservatives is outright support and defense of Harry Potter going so far as to even encourage people to go and purchase and play the game.
Here’s a little bit of how the game is described from the lead game designer. It was important for us to give players who sought out to be a dark witch or wizard an opportunity to do so. This is the ultimate embodiment of role playing. Allowing the player to be evil. Additionally, this was important because it comes from a place of nonjudgment by the game creators. If you want to be evil, be evil. So, the game designers are coming right out and saying, this is an opportunity for you to be evil. So, you don’t really have to dive too far into the Bible to understand very quickly that that’s probably bad idea.
Now, for a game that is self-proclaimed evil that has a number of Christian conservatives coming out in support of it, the game has had a number of calls for boycott. And this of course not coming from the Christian conservatives but coming from the far left-side of the aisle who are upset about JK Rowlings, again, the author of the Harry Potter series which led to this game and her transphobic comments leading up to the creation of it.
So, we’ve ended up in this upside-down place where you have people on the left side of the aisle who are condemning what is self-proclaimed the evil game and all the Christian conservatives coming out and supporting it. Another article goes on to say that, “Calls for a boycott have not prevented Hogwarts legacy from breaking records for the number of people watching gamers play copies on Twitch. It has been reported that as many as 1.3 million people were watching content related to the game on the platform.” And it goes on to say, “But with the game set to be released next week, Forbes has reported that “Hogwarts Legacy” is already proving to be a hit becoming the top-earning game on Steam, the best-selling game on the Epic Store and the deluxe and regular editions holding the two top spots on Amazon’s best-selling games for the PS5.”
But this isn’t a new concept over the last several years, we’ve seen a lot of these again Christian conservative personalities come out in defense of Harry Potter. Here’s one saying, “There’s no such thing as an actual magical spell. Also, the spells in Harry Potter are a mixture of faux Latin and gibberish. It’s just a fantasy story like Lord of the Rings.” Of course, this is not true, something like Lord of the Rings, although very violent is more allegorical in nature, whereas something like Harry Potter is simulating something that is real and evil, namely Witchcraft.
So again, here is an example of one of these knee jerk reactions that we got from again Christian conservatives saying, “The trans community is upset again. Shocker. They don’t want you buying a Harry Potter video game. Angriest group of malcontents on the internet.” And just 30 minutes later after defending a game that is self-proclaimed evil says, “Great sermon yesterday in church. The pastor noted that Pliny,” I’m probably going to mispronounce that. “Accused of intolerance and Tacitus accused them of hate. For 2000 years, pagans have called Christians intolerant and haters for being faithful to God.”
Mid Point
Of course, that tweet is completely wrong as well because Jesus did call us to hate. See Luke 14:26 as one example but we’re not going to dive into that in this video. But it didn’t stop there. The self-proclaimed Christian satire site known as the Babylon Bee went on to mock fundamentalist Christians for A, again self-proclaimed evil game. And again, going even further they even had a video where they went through promoted and played the game and went through mocking and making fun of the left. Again, using this witchcraft driven game as a means to drive their quote unquote satire and mockery.
So, there are ton of examples I could go through here today, but that’s not really the main point. The main point is that the good book is extraordinarily when it comes to witchcraft and especially things that are self-proclaimed evil. “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”
Again, this is no light matter in this scripture and throughout the Bible. It is comparing witchcraft or the practice of casting spells and everything that Harry Potter is about to sacrificing sons and daughters in the fire. And for those who like to throw the Old Testament out the window for some reason, here is one from the new. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious, sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Now, some people will come out and say, hey, we’re not actually practicing witchcraft. It’s not like we have a Ouija board on the kitchen table or something like that.
Now, even if that’s true which I think is debatable because again, the game is self-proclaimed evil and has throughout it examples of witchcraft, you’re still at the very least glorifying it and if not that, you’re imitating it. And of course, as is written, “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” So, the botPaul line, don’t imitate and definitely don’t promote evil. So, rather than leaving me a long-winded or wordy comment trying to defend why you think Harry Potter and or Witchcraft is totally fine for a Christian to do. Instead, I would recommend checking out the Consider Podcast with Timothy Williams, where he walks you through what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus.
Outro: Violence in the church, violence in ministries, violence in our Christian walks. The Consider Podcast has resolved there will be no acts of violence upon the Word of God. “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the common. They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean so that I am profane among them.” Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 26. The consider Podcast teaches the difference between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean. The Consider Podcast, today’s events, Paulorrow’s realities. www.consider.info.
End
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