Harry Potter vs. Jesus

I had a friend who let her daughter go to Vacation Bible School.  My friend is delightful, funny and a wonderful mother, but she is not a believer. 

Did her “unchurched” daughter come back from VBS describing the joyous news that God loves her?  Did she describe how we can be rescued from death & sin by accepting the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross?  Did she tell her mother that we can one day live in God’s presence and have experiences greater than anything we could ever imagine?

She did not.  This precious little girl told her mom they needed to throw away their Harry Potter books and movies.  These movies were bad & they made God unhappy. 

It made me so sad.  The mom was offended and declared that her girls weren’t going to VBS anymore.  Having been hurt in the past by a church, it was just one more example to her of how awful “organized” religion was. 

I’m irked.

First of all, so what if they did give up Harry, maybe even burning all things Rowling in the backyard charcoal?  Or vampires?  Or Pokemon?  This action does not bring them even one step closer to salvation or God’s pleasure.  What the girl is describing to her mother had nothing to do with the Gospel.  It’s moralism.  “Be a good girl & God will love you.” 

There’s the quintessential picture of Jesus.  He had perfectly coiffed hair and soft blue eyes.  He’s has a glow of love and peace and all things pixie dust about him.  He’s so quiet & gentle.

Until He encounters religious moralists leading others into religious moralism... 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”  Matthew 23:15 NIV

In this single verse he calls the religious moralist a hypocrite and a child of hell.  Read Matthew 23.  He calls them “blind,” “white washed tombs” and even murderers. 

How very Gandhi of Him. 

So I tried to reassure my friend that not all churches or Vacation Bible Schools are the same.  My sons attended a VBS down the street where they were repeatedly presented with the Gospel message.  The children may or may not have given their lives to Christ, but they most certainly knew how to by the end of that week.   

And I am so very grateful to VBS and its ministry when done well.  After all, I was saved at a VBS when I was nine.