"I'm considering letting my 15 year old daughter read Harry Potter. She's been asking for a while now because her cousins have read and talk about the books with her and she's really into reading mythology. My SIL says it's harmless pretend magic and that if something supernatural happened she wouldn't let them read it anymore, but that she doesn't think there are really any supernatural intentions and that they are even somewhat allegorical to Christianity. When I mentioned it to my friend though, she seemed kind of horrified that I was even considering it. Are they really all that bad? My daughter is very discerning for a teenager and she's saved and very mature so I don't think there should be any problem with letting her read them."
Well first of all, there's no such thing as a spell or incantation that does not have supernatural intentions or results. Reading a book about a wizard and saying "IF something supernatural happened..." as though one would be downright shocked if it did, is very naive. One simple example, using spells to make things fly is a very common theme in the series, from book one. They use more and more complicated and impressive spells as the series goes on, fighting larger and more supernaturally powerful and terrifying villains as the series goes on. I mean, think about it; they are at a school for wizardry and they spend the rest of their childhood going to school there. So they are there for the express purpose of learning witchcraft.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
Ephesians 6:12-13 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
If you believe witchcraft and the occult are wrong as the Bible says, then consuming them into your mind via pleasure-reading is wrong. Witchcraft and the occult are not good, pure, right, true, admirable, etc. and the Bible says to fill your mind with that which IS good, pure, right, true, admirable, etc. I believed at her age that I was strong enough in my faith to do and read pretty much whatever I wanted without it sucking me in, that I had good discernment and was wise enough to know where to draw the lines, but is that really the point? Is the point of freedom in Christ so that we can still act like the lost and consume what the lost consume?
Also, I was wrong. Very very gradually over many years of that point of view, I wound up obsessed with vampires and fallen away from God. Even supposedly Christian allegories can be dangerous. An older relative of mine was allowed to read The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit as a child on the premise that they were allegorical, and that began an obsession in him with the occult similar to my own slow obsession with vampires. Except that he never came back to God. He turned his back on God completely and is now living a lifestyle which declares he believes his own understanding of what feels right and wrong to be more important than what the Creator SAYS is right and wrong. I would not myself have thought those particular books that detrimental, not nearly so detrimental as Harry Potter for sure, until I learned that they were the turning point away from God for this person.
I'm not saying there's never a place for reading allegories or that one can never read things that have some allegorical benefit alongside some questionable material and come away unharmed, however I believe if one reads such things it should be with ACCOUNTABILITY of another Christian who is mature in the faith reading it WITH them and discussing the content frequently through the lens of God's Word. I do not believe it is good or safe to read things that have questionable and unbiblical content with the intent of mere pleasure reading. To read a book for pleasure, to read it alone, is to read it with your mind and heart wide open, whether you believe that or not! Sometimes if we are very guarded and careful we can read a book and keep the doors partially closed but the act of pleasure reading by default opens the door to your imagination and because getting drawn into the story so that it plays out like a movie inside your own head is really the whole point of pleasure reading, it's pretty much impossible to keep the doors closed against seeping evil completely, unless there is accountability. I would wholeheartedly urge you to read the books with or before her or else hold firm that No she will not be reading them. ESPECIALLY since it seems that your daughter now has a taste for books about the supernatural and mythology. Once one develops an appetite for that sort of thing, and I'm speaking from experience, it is very hard to keep from continuing down that road. Once you put your foot in the Harry Potter pond and say that's okay because she's got discernment and is saved, what else will be arguable as alright to read on the same grounds? If it were my daughter, I would under no circumstances allow her to read Harry Potter without my reading it with her and discussing it heavily as an object lesson of the things we are told to stay away from as Christians and why. I would require skipping reading of any descriptions of specific occult practices and spells also. This is my 2 cents and I understand that I'm probably in the minority but this is what I firmly believe.
One last thing, just because something is said to be allegorical to the Christian faith doesn't mean it's automatically beneficial to the Christian faith. The Devil pollutes by taking something good and mixing in a little bit of poison so that we will consume it based on the good, thinking we are strong enough to just spit out the poisonous parts. Well even if you spit out poison, a bit of it touched your mouth and soaked in as you spat out the rest, and you may not die or even see the effects of it from one or two exposures but after years of consuming media laced with poison, the poison has accumulated and you may not even realize the gradual effect it has had in eroding your faith until you're years into pain and suffering and feeling abandoned and persecuted by God and you look back at your bright eyed young self and think, "How happy and full of faith I was! If only I could feel like that again..." or worse, you lose your faith entirely.
