I was reading this blog post from a friend of mine and it got me thinking. Why are Christians (including myself, of course) so ready to completely distance ourselves from society? If we are to make a difference, it will not come about as we rush into evangelistic conversations with people completely uninformed about the most popular movies and novels of the day.
She writes, "So far I have heard interesting reports of DaVinci Code, but after watching the preview and reading reviews, I would never go see it. It is heretical, false, and blasphemous." All the more reason that you should go see it. If you are discussing this with someone and they bring up something from The DaVinci Code and your response is "oh, I didn't see that, since it's full of lies," you are not going to impress anyone, and they will rightly dismiss you as closed-minded.
I don't see Jesus separating himself from popular culture. If you want to make the case that Harry Potter is filled with witchcraft (something I am not convinced of since I haven't read the books myself) please explain to me where that says that Christians shouldn't read it. In fact, I believe that calls for more investigation on our part. So I am going to give some advice here.
Christians, all across America: read Harry Potter.
You will have one of two reactions to that suggestions. You will think that I am a blithering idiot, suggesting that you practically throw your soul away, or you will understand the case I am trying to make.
In order to be effective witnesses we must know what our culture is doing. We cannot hide behind the shield of protecting ourselves from evil; God will take care of that part. Now I don't believe that we should be careless. But for crying out loud, Jesus cast out demons. In case you missed it, that means he was in the presence of demons. He wasn't at his friend's house telling everyone how evil and nasty demons were, and how he wasn't going to go near them and corrupt himself.
Now I'm not suggesting that reading Harry Potter or watching The DaVinci Code will place you in the presence of demons. But, since it's not, what exactly is your excuse?
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