I know with the whole twilight craze, New Moon coming out in a few weeks and all (oh joy!) Harry Potter has likely been utterly forgotten but I recently had the opportunity to watch the movie that came out this past summer and found my memory embarrassingly lacking in the plot details. In light of this I have found yet another excuse not to do school work in order to study the last book of J.K Rowling's mega-series.

In addition to to refreshing my memory of the what happens this second reading has brought to my attention certain characteristics which have further increased my admiration of Rowling as an intelligent writer disguised as a children's writer (which is not to say author's of children's books aren't intelligent they just usually don't put their philosophies in their books). What I have discovered [imagined?] is extremely ironic *points to title* in light of the fact that at the first appearance of the Harry Potter series years ago it was banned from multiple school because of it's focus magic [aka satanism] which didn't bode well with the fundamentalist fanatics that rule over the lovely bible belt that is the Southern United States.

In any case I am getting off topic into ranting territory now. What I have found is that despite its focus on magic which is strictly forbidden by the Bible, much of Rowling's story can be read as a journey through Christianity and a struggle to understand God's plan for us. Let me, before I am tarred and feathered by the mass of atheist who apparently having nothing better to do then shoot down every slightly christian idea that comes within 200 miles of them ( yes i am speaking about YOU current.com, and all the lovely anti-christian comments), let me explain myself.

The comparison starts with Dumbledore. Dumbledore who is the most amazing, awesome, 'wish he was your grandfather' kind of old person ever created. First of all Dumbledore knows everything, he provides for every situation, plans for every outcome, and can predict the actions of just about everyone. Even when he appears like a doddering old fool who abandons Harry to die alone he always comes through in the end. Dumbledore like God, everything we need, and like God he provides it when we NEED it and not when we WANT it. The most illuminating quote to this is when Dumbledore says that "help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it" (pg483, Deathly Hallows) [and probably in other places too]. Correct me if I'm wrong but that sounds uncannily similar to the Bible verse which states "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened."

Secondly, Dumbledore(God) provides us with everything we NEED, but leaves us to figure out what to do. Dumbledore has the ability to fix things, he could wave his wand and kill all the bad people save all the good people and put the world back in order (okay maybe a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea). He could have walked up to Harry and dumped the Sword of Gryffindor and all six of the Horcruxes in his lap and said "have at it, stab away" but the crucial thing is that he didn't. Not only would this have created a lousy story with no conflict [*cough TWILIGHT *cough] it wouldn't have taught Harry anything. Just like Dumbledore, God does this to us all the time. He dumps us in hell and lets us swear, and curse, and fling insults at how worthless and unhelpful[which Harry does throughout the entire second half of the series ^.^] he is because that struggle is the only way in which we will ever grow stronger


Finally, although it may be a stretch there is the instance of Dumbledore's death which I am still not sure if I am looking at correctly but it seems to me to be almost a recreation of the crucifixion of Christ. If one assumes that Snape killed Dumbledore because his loyalty lay with Voldemort then he becomes a betrayer like Judas. Harry who stayed by his side until the end then would represent the Beloved Disciple, John, who was the only disciple to be present at Jesus' crucifixion. On the other hand, if Snape acts on Dumbledore's orders to kill him as the movie ( don't remember what happened in the book) suggests [i.e: "Severus ...Please... *Snape kills him*] then it throws everything up and I dont know what to make of it but if that's the case Rowling has some serious explaining to do because she didn't give Dumbledore any reason to want to die.

In any case, it is my belief that the Harry Potter series is at least on the underlying level a story a Christian walk with God and out attempts to follow his plan for our lives and how hard it is to follow someone that's never there and never gives what you feel you need.