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diff --git a/literature/letter-from-minerva-to-father.rst b/literature/letter-from-minerva-to-father.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70bc61a --- /dev/null +++ b/literature/letter-from-minerva-to-father.rst @@ -0,0 +1,265 @@ +Letter from Minerva McGonagall to her father, Reverend Robert McGonagall +######################################################################## + +:date: 2022-09-06T16:54:29 +:status: draft +:category: literature +:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment + +(from the conversation on `the HPfanfiction subreddit post`_ with +some questions from other readers of the thread). + +While reading “`When the Roses Bloom Again`_” by +TheBlack'sResurgence I have been again hit by the nonsense of the +Biblical verse “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus +22:17). I don’t want to bother you with details (tiny part of it +is in “`Thou Shalt Not Suffer`_” by TheWizardsHarry), but a good +biblical argument can be made that this verse in the Hebrew +original doesn’t mean what the English (and almost any other) +translation seems to indicate it means (hint: what do we know +about the magical terminology of the Ancient Israel 1500 BC? +Nothing, absolutely nothing), meaning it is not universal +renunciation of all magical activity (and this is Harry Potter +related post, so let us not deal with the question whether magic +is real or not). + +I still hope to see in the course of the story a letter written +by (quite scholarly and intellectual, and trained by him in the +Biblical exegesis) Minerva McGonagall to her father explaining, +that he really doesn’t have to live with a bad conscience from +protecting his sinful anti-Christian or anti-God daughter. + +.. _`the HPfanfiction subreddit post`: + https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/x58xm2/letter_from_minerva_mcgonagall_to_her_father/ + +.. _`When the Roses Bloom Again`: + https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13954844 + +.. _`Thou Shalt Not Suffer`: + https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5176787 + +The second group is Leviticus 19:26, 20:27, and Deuteronomy +18:10-11. All of them have the same problem IMHO: using highly +technical terminology we know absolutely nothing about (and on +the top of that half of the words are *hapax legomenon*, words +found only once in the whole Bible). + + There are examples in the Bible of actual witches IIRC, + Saul(?) goes to one and asks her to summon the spirit of + Samuel. We also know from other descriptions vaguely the kind + of things they do, commune with the dead and curse people. + + Of course, if you’re writing a HP story you kinda have to + assume Christianity is false (or at least WILDLY + misunderstood), so it’s description of a witch shouldn’t need + to line up with HP-verse anyway + +Yes, and I am not saying that any magic is perfectly OK (it is +obvious that Necromancy and most of the divination are not), but +that negative doesn’t apply either: most of magic which would be +OK under the UK laws (by mostly for the other reasons than it +being magic … murder, enslavement, etc.) would be OK for actual +true wizards and witches of the HP world. + +I am quite forcefully saying that most of Muggle occult (i.e., +when Muggles try to make magic without being given the gift of +magic) is quite definitively NOT OK. I guess, Biblically one of +the most suspicious things in the whole HP series is Mr Filch’s +Kwikspell. + +And to witch-hunts: I am a Protestant, so I am quite able to +distinguish between the church doing something wrong (have you +ever read the book “Biblical Foundation of Slavery” from 1810 or +so? I did) and what is actual Biblical teaching on the matter. +That is what were talking about here. + +I think witch-hunts were completely wrong for many reasons (and +which were mostly driven by non-holy reasons … see any Muggle +history book on the topic), but it doesn't have to mean that the +Church or the Christianity would be against Hermione Granger +personally. + +---- + + I (also Protestant) agree completely. My point is that in the + Harry Potter world, Christianity as we know it cannot be true + (at least it would be VERY difficult to mesh the two in any + way that’s even slightly philosophically consistent). So, + when I’m writing/reading Harry Potter fanfic, I have my + characters operate on the nearest moral system I could come + up with that has at least an incline of reason behind it. + 🤷🏻♂️ + +I really do not understand. Why? + +I don’t think you tell me that your faith depends on Jesus’ +changing water in wine is the sign of his Divinity. And yes, +wizards and witches can be probably do more than His +contemporaries, but heck, we can do more than them. + +So, what’s the problem? + +---- + + My first objection would be that, while Christ’s miracles were + not the foundation for his divinity, they were supposed to be + proof of it (John 10:37-38, 20:30-31). If there was whole + societies going around doing what Jesus did (and according to HP + they were doing that kind of thing then because it’s pre-secrecy) + then they’re not really proof of anything. + +Couple of comments on your verses, each one of them would deserve +full-size treatise though: + +1. John 10:37f … I truly don’t believe that “works of my Father” + have to mean miracles here (and if NLT translates it so, it is + one more reason why not use that translation … sometimes they + are really inserting something which isn’t there). Second, + I don’t think that this is primarily about the Jesus’ + divinity. I mean, I am a Trinitarian, I do believe in the + teaching of first ecumenical councils and all that good stuff, + but I see something much more important there. “The Father is + in Me, and I am in the Father” really doesn’t feel to me here + as an evidentiary proof of the Jesus’ divinity, but it seems + to me talking much more about the deep father/son relationship + between Father and Jesus, which is in my opinion one of the + most important themes in gospels (and especially in the Gospel + of Saint John), and which is the relationship which we should + try to emulate in our life as our path to holiness. + +2. John 20:30f … obviously this verse means that whole gospel is + using something to prove something else. The question is what + these somethings are. The goal of the gospel is in my opinion + something more than just accepting the divinity of Jesus. The + goal of a gospel is in my opinion our conversion, accepting + Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, accepting his sacrifice on The + Cross as healing of our sin, etc. etc. (I could continue for + a long time). To this end one doesn’t get however just by + reading a book (fill-in complete missiology and theory of + evangelization). Any book could serve only as “a sign”. “Sign” + (σημεῖα (sēmeia), Strong's G4592) is defined as “neuter of + a presumed derivative of the base of semaino; an indication, + especially ceremonially or supernaturally”. It seems to me + that a sign here is really just a sign: something like + a traffic sign telling to a driver “Slow down! Put down your + foot from the gas pedal! There is something really important + going on here, which you should really not miss.” Miracles are + for me only one type of such signs, and not even the most + important ones. I am acutely aware that many of those healings + or releases from demonization could be probably explained by + the current medicine as some kind of natural disease, that + quality of scientific reporting in the first century AD + certainly doesn’t satisfy our current requirements, and that + the transfer of the information from the first century to us + doesn’t help either. If some of these miracles could be + explained by the science, my attitude towards Jesus would not + change at all. And the same goes for the real magic. If some + of these miracles could be explained by magic, my attitude + towards Jesus would not change either. Miracles are just signs + which should turn our focus to Jesus and who he is. Besides, + for me much more persuasive sign than healing of the possessed + in Gerase is Jesus sitting next to the adulterous woman + telling her and saying “Go and sin no more” or “[…] you have + had five husbands, and the man you are living with[as] now is + not your husband”. That’s for me like the stop sign: “Get out + of the car and don’t do anything else until you discover who + this guy is”. + + Witches and Wizards are in direct violation of God’s decree in + Genesis 6:3. + +Next you mention Genesis 6:3. “Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit +shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall +be 120 years.’” WHAT? I don’t get it. + + I think it’s very clear in the Bible that any power that can + manipulate realty like magic does is either the Holy Spirit, + or demonic. + +That isn’t correct even in our Muggle world. There are many +natural powers that can manipulate reality, like any powers at +all, and they are just that, natural powers. We are changing +reality every day, every second, and most of the time there is +nothing super-Spiritual or demonic about it. It is just our +ordinary life. You want to limit those powers to ones “that are +like magic”, but that is a bad, circular, definition. Magic is +whatever is magical, and vice versa. + +What I think is needed is to redefine “miracle” and “supernatural +event”. I think these terms are unfortunate, because they seem to +suggest that they are somehow breaking the God given natural +order of things. I don’t think they do. They are just working +outside of what we understand. I think the foundation of any +Christian epistemology must be that sum of everything we know +(both as individuals and as total of humanity) is always less +than the God’s creation. So, all those “supernatural events” are +actually natural, except they are outside of our knowledge. + +So, yes there are powers outside of human (any human) control, +which can be driven by the Holy Spirit or evil. However, the +hypothetical Harry Potter-type magic could be very much neither +of these: it is just natural gift which is given just to some +small group of humans, like the perfect pitch. Somebody just got +it, somebody didn’t, but it doesn’t have to mean anything +spiritually. + +---- + + As far as I know, the exact meaning of witchcraft is specified if + you read through various parts of the bible. Off the top of my + head, anyone who communicates with the dead, uses any mystical + means to find information, and anyone who unnaturally changes + a person's perception or emotional state is performing + witchcraft. So the killing curse would be murder, but not + witchcraft. The cheering charm would be witchcraft. + +Chapter and verse, please? + + I had a look and I cannot for the life of me find the source + I read originally that explained it, so I'm going to assume + I'm remembering incorrectly. + + Instead, I looked it up again and compared the source words + used in the original languages, which in the Old Testament + mostly came down to necromancers (people who spoke with the + dead) and diviners (people who used magic to obtain + information either current or future.) + + In the New Testament there is also an instance of the word + that the modern 'pharmacist' comes from is used, but the + context is different there where it means to condemn drugging + and/or poisoning people rather than just making all + potioneers out to be witches. + + A large problem, as I understand it, is that the ancient + Hebrews simply used the word witch because 'everyone knows + what is meant by it' and everyone then did, but these days we + don't understand the context, so we have to try looking at + other sources to build a better point of view. That leads to + reading sources from nearby peoples like the Babylonians and + such. While this gives a vague idea of it all, it's not + really a precise way of assigning a definite definition to + a word. TL;DR I couldn't find my original source and was + probably remembering wrong, witchcraft will basically only + include divination, legillimency, and necromancy. + +That’s exactly what I was trying to say. Whether magic actually +exists or not is immaterial for this, but there was certainly +a community of people who were dealing with activities described +in those verses (be they true magicals, or Muggle magicians doing +just some show, or doing something completely else, like dealing +with herbal remedies), and they had their own jargon. Bible was +most likely written and transferred to us mostly by people +outside of this community (just pure probability: number of +practitioners of the art divided by number of population) and so +it was probably transferred poorly. And then we got to actually +translating from Hebrew to current languages (including the +modern Hebrew) and there the situation was certainly much worse. + +I am not saying that Bible as such is unreliable or it is not +possible understand it. Mostly its message is quite clear, but +there are parts where we really need to tread lightly. We may +never understand correctly what was really going on in these +verses, we may never know what was actually The Noe’s Arch made +from (“Gopher wood” is a true Hapax legomenon), and others; +fortunately at least with these I can live pretty well. |