Not Of This World

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I was preparing a Bible Study on 1 Corinthians 15, when I came across the following verse: "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." (1 Cor 15:26) This verse sounded so familiar to me. A lot of Bible verses sound familiar to me, because I've studied or even memorized them before. But this one is different. This one, I associated with Harry Potter . Specifically, with the Deathly Hallows. Later, I googled it. And sure enough, it is quoted in Harry Potter . It is the inscription on his parents' tombstone, although it is unattributed to the Bible. Harry Potter contains a lot of Christian imagery (as well as a lot of mythological allusions), but this is different than just imagery. This is quoting it. Ironically, I know some people who were forbidden from reading Harry Potter as children by their Christian parents because it was about witchcraft.* In doing so, they mis...

Have you ever noticed how, when you binge watch a TV series or spend hours reading a book, that it changes how you think? Scientific studies  have apparently found that reading certain types of books increases our sense of empathy. I've spent hours imagining how I would react if I were living in the situations encountered by various fictional characters. I mean, I've hardly watched any zombie movies, but I've already tried to guess how long I would last in a zombie apocalypse if I had to barricade myself in my apartment (at least a month, I think--maybe longer if I could manage to start a garden from the seeds in my fresh produce). And Hollywood knows this. It's kind of obvious when you look at family-based sitcoms. I mean, they were not subtle at all in the 90s when every kid in the TV family happened to have problems that were all related every episode, no matter their age, that all resolved at the end with a single moral lesson. It's also interesting to see...

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.   But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing ,   so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6: 1-4) The spiritual leaders in the time of Jesus had the tradition of fasting a couple of times a week. The purpose of the fast was supposed to be to save money on food, to give to the poor. But some people made a big show of it, sitting in the street, covered in ashes and dressed in rough clothing, without bathing, so that everyone would be able to tell that they were fasting and know how 'holy' th...

I recently watched on Netflix both Thirteen Reasons Why * and The Crown at about the same time, and then The Book of Negroes on CBC shortly thereafter. And, as I watched them, it occurred to me that a common underlying cause of evil is a sense of entitlement. In these shows, it was a sense of entitlement over land (e.g., the Suez Canal), or over people's bodies, especially women's, or over jobs and food that stood out to me. Where does this sense of entitlement come from? This sense of entitlement clearly starts young. My thirteen-month-old niece only knows a handful of words, but one of them is  my , and usually she says it with a screech, while pulling away some object that someone has reached for. These days, usually she is right when she yells  my , but only by chance, and because her little sister hasn't been born yet. When Europeans sailed out over the ocean, and found land that was already occupied, what made them think they could claim it as their own? And w...

It's that time of year where everyone makes new year's resolutions. Diets will be started, gym memberships will be purchased, et cetera. I won't be among them. I do not make new year's resolutions. It's not that I don't want to change, or be better. On the contrary, it's that I don't want to wait  until a new year begins in order to change. When I notice something I don't like about myself, or that I am unhappy with some situation, or that I have developed a bad habit, I try to figure out how to change it right away. Every time I read the Bible, I try to reflect on what it means to me. Often, this requires me to make a change, too: " Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.   Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror   and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.   But whoever looks intently in...