Watching Harry Potter, and being a pretty huge fan (no really..I'm obsessed!), I have realized how...allegoric it is to God. There's so may ways you could relate what happens in the movies to our real life God-relationship! So in honor of the new movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2) coming out Thursday, I created a list of 5 ways Harry Potter Reminds Me of God :)
Check it:
1) It's a war between good and evil
In all the books, there's always been a war between good and evil. Good, being Harry, Dumbledore, and the rest. Bad being Voldemort, death eaters, and dementors. (hm, dementors...sounds a lot like demons).
Voldemort wants power and will stop at nothing to get it. He has his followers who help him and his dementors to torment the good.
In our lives there is a constant battle between good and evil. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). Think of the "powers of this dark world", and "spiritual forces of evil" like voldemort and his dementors. Think about the battle Harry faces against them. That's us. That's our life. We are fighting the same fight Harry fights, but not in physical form. We are constantly at war.
2) Neither can live while the other survives
I'm referring this to the time in the fifth book when he received his prophecy and it said "neither can live while the other survives". In this case, it was speaking about Harry and Voldemort. One of them had to kill the other.
I, however, decided to percieve it a different way. I think about our old selves and our new selves. We are to "throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life" (Ephesians 4:17). Your new self cannot survive while the old self still lives. If you don't, you will be brought back to your old ways. Whether it be drinking, sex, smoking, jealousy, gossiping, vanity, comparing yourself to others, pride, or whatever. The truth is, these things cannot live in your while the new you lives. You will never fully be renewed and changed.
3) He can't do it by himself
Notice how many times Harry got the help he needed right on time? He got the sword to kill the snake in the second book, he had the ghost of his parents to help him get away from voldemort in the fourth book, and he had his friends to help him figure out the holcruxes in the last book. Without support from his friends and the miracle help from Dumbledore, he would not have made it.
For us, it's the same. We can't do it alone. We can try to make it through this world alone, but you won't get very far. You'll come to a point where you realize how lonely and broken and helpless you really are and you have nothing left but to ask for help. Then, in the nic of time, God steps in to save you. He provides you with ways out of temptation, performs miracles in your life to keep you alive, and he gives you the strength, confidence, and power to keep going. Without God, you can't do it. Like they always say in Harry Potter "You don't have to do this alone". God gave us a support system of family, friends, and mentors to help us through life. Just like Harry counted on his friends, we too, must pick loyal, Godly friends that we can count on.
4) Love conquers all
Love is the one thing that kept Voldemort from killing Harry. His mother's sacrificial love was powerful enough to protect Harry and keept Voldemort away. It's also why in the end, Harry wins.
Guess what? It's exactly the same for us. God's love has conquered all. Satan has no power over us. Satan cannot defeat us because of God's love. God, out of love for us, sent down his only son to die for us. It's a sacrificial love that can't be beat.
5) Satan can hurt you, but he cannot kill you
I remember a specific scene in the fifth book about how Voldemort had access to Harry's brain and was able to get inside his head. Harry was possessed by him and worried that he, too, would be evil because Voldemort was evil. He could have let Voldemort win, but that would have destroyed him. Instead, he thought back on what made him happy: his family, his friends. Then he realized that he had one thing Voldemort didn't and it was love. He had love and that was worth fighting for.
What a beautiful image for us. Satan can get inside our heads, just like Voldemort. He can torment you, put evil thoughts in your head, and cause you to go insane. However, he cannot kill you. He may put the thoughts in your head, but what happens is determined by you. It's up to you to stop him and "transform yourself by changing the way you think" (Romans 12:2). We can't let our minds be filled with evil thoughts . We must think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable" (Phillippians 4:8). When Harry thought about was was pure and admirable, he defeated Voldemort out of his mind. The same is true for us and it is most definitely worth fighing for.
So there you have it! The 5 ways Harry Potter Reminds Me of God. Hope you enjoyed! Now go watch the last movie and see what connections you can make!
