A Harry Potter World

I’m sitting here somewhat engrossed in the fifth movie in the “Harry Potter” series (for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with all things Hogwarts that would be “The Order of the Phoenix”) and I’m asking myself why this particular movie world has become so popular for so many people.

I guess it could be the quality of the product. I’m not much of a movie critic but each of the films in the series seems to be fairly well produced, decently acted, with nice special effects and fairly true to the book on which it was based.

What I think is happening is that there is something appealing about a world filled with magic where nothing about life is set in stone. How many of us grew up wishing we could wave a wand and change the size of our noses or whisk off a few extra pounds? There was a time in my life when I actually wanted to be a “wizard.” It was an irrational dream but I was young and insecure and thinking about it today reminds me of how desperate life can be.

I’m starting to think that we want to believe in a Harry Potter world because life is hard and we are weak.

Some people would say that we believers in God do so for the same reasons but I see it as just the opposite. In the Harry Potter world I either have magical powers or I don’t, some are blessed and some are not. In God’s world all of us have been equally invited to belong to Him. All of us can know his love and forgiveness in our lives. In a Hogwarts world I manipulate the world to make it what I want it to be. In God’s world I have come to learn that God is the author of all creation and that I have been invited to be one of his stewards. In a Harry Potter world I escape from reality. In God’s world I come face-to-face with the person I really am.

I still like a good fantasy. I have been a sci-fi guy since I picked up my first Superman comic but I understand the difference between make believe and reality and I am here to testify that it doesn’t get any more real than Jesus.