‘Harry Potter’: Spells and the Spoken Word

Proverbs 18:21 says that there is the power of life and death in the tongue. We can bless and curse with the words we say. Words that are said with authority also have creative power to call things into being. We know this because God said, “Let there be light” and light came into existence. We know that Jesus was the “Word made flesh” and that the Bible is also called the “Word of God.”

So how does this relate to the latest box office release of the PG-rated fantasy film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

The power of words in Potter is not Holy Spirit-driven. They are coming from the opposite spirit in the form of spells and incantations – things which the Bible considers detestable.

I discuss more about the power of words in Potter in this edited radio commentary from a discussion I had on the air with radio personality Liz Lane of The Current FM on Thursday, July 3o. Hope this discussion helps you weigh this film in the light of faith.

Radio Commentary:

— Laura J. Bagby

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’: Overall Spiritual Concerns

I was really concerned about seeing this latest Harry Potter film at the box office for two reasons: one, I hadn’t read any of the books by J.K. Rowling or seen any of the previous films so I wasn’t sure I would get the gist of it, and two, I wasn’t sure if I would feel like my Christian beliefs just got assaulted. Would I feel like I had dishonored God by seeing this film? That was my main question.

Radio personality Liz Lane and I talked about the spiritual undertones of the PG fantasy film on The Current FM yesterday. Here is an edited version of our radio commentary abut the film:

Radio Commentary:

— Laura J. Bagby

‘The Proposal’: An Engaging Comedy

Beautiful but hard-nosed editor Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is about to get shipped back to Canada at the height of her career at Colden Books when she gets the brilliant idea of wedding her hardworking, faithful male assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), so she can stay in country.

But there is just one problem. Margaret’s immigration office, Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O’Hare), is bent on proving the wedding is a sham and threatens a stiff prison sentence for Andrew and instant deportation for Margaret should the engagement prove fraudulent as he suspects.

Despite the obstacles, the couple decides to continue the farce as planned by telling the engagement news at the 90^th birthday celebration of Andrew’s Grandma Annie (played by Betty White).

‘Transformers 2’: Thin on Plot, Cool on Visual Effects

Autobot Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and the military, headed by Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) have been successfully working side by side to defend Earth from enemy attacks from the Decepticons for years. But there are once again sinister stirrings from Decepticon forces, headed by The Fallen, who aren’t about to give up their infiltration and destruction of Earth. And now one government official is trying to rid the planet of Autobot defenses just at the time when those Autobot forces will be needed most.

Now the Decepticons are after college-bound Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who happens to possess the remaining sliver of the cube, the ultimate object of robotic power force.