The Dawn Treader vs. The Prisoner of Azkaban: Are We Concerned?

 Last week I went with a group of my friends to a showing of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I hadn't intended to see the film - I was disappointed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and have been boycotting the series since. What can I say? It was evening, dear friends were going, and, throwing caution to the wind, I payed my $9.50 (!) and took my seat.

The film follows the adventures of Lucy and Edmond Pevensie, along with their cousin Eustace, as they sail through Narnian waters searching for the seven swords that, when laid together on Aslan's table, will destroy the evil issuing from Dark Island in the form of "the green mist". The first thing I noticed was the lack of real plot and the weakness of the acting and screenplay. After I got over these preliminary annoyances, I began to be aware of a deeper, underlying danger. The film is chock-full of sorcery. The most obvious and to me most disturbing scene of the movie was one in which Lucy reads from a book of incantations. She flips through it delightedly. What a charming little book! She's searching for a particular spell she's been asked to reverse, but stops along the way to look at various others. She reads one and makes it snow. Her face lights up with joy. She comes upon one that will make her beautiful and rips it out of the book to use later. True, she's later reprimanded by Aslan for wanting to be someone other than who she is. That's a good thing because, after all, it's only witchcraft that's done with malicious or selfish intent that's wrong, right? As long as it doesn't appear to have any awful consequences it's a wonderful expression of power, wouldn't you agree?

Witchcraft is real today. I don't think I fully realized this until the past few years. I truly believed that it was all a giant floor-show and that nothing supernatural could be done outside of Christ (remember the magicians in The Price of Egypt trying to trick people into believing they could work miracles like Aaron? Read Exodus 7:11-12. In the Biblical account they "did in like manner with their enchantments").  Since then I have come face to face with what Scripture says on the subject. There are some excellent references in an article I will link to later and I encourage you to do your own word study and search out God's thoughts on the matter. 

Here is my question: Is this movie any less dangerous than any of those in the Harry Potter series? If so, why? What is it that makes this form of sorcery less dangerous than the other?

Other than short clips, I have avoided the Harry Potter films. I do, however, have a basic understanding of what the films are about and of what the Bible says about witchcraft. This post is by no means meant to persuade anyone that the Harry Potter films are unbiblical and dangerous - many people have done a better job at that than I ever could. Rather, I'd like to make an appeal to Christians who already accept this premise. Do you judge every film, no matter what it's label, by the same standard?

No doubt many will argue that this film is actually beneficial because it is a Christian allegory but I would argue that if anything this makes it MORE dangerous, as it falsely represents the true gospel.

I would love this post to be a springboard for real discussion among those who truly desire to honor God in all they say and do. Feel free to leave comments - I'm interested to hear your thoughts.