What can we learn from Harry Potter? Or rather, what can we learn from one Joanne Rowling, the mastermind behind this saga of all things amazing? Some would argue that there's nothing learn aside from what God instructs us as his children to stay away from. Deuteronomy 18: 10-11 states: "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead" (NIV).

Others, like myself, would retort by saying that there are countless meaningful life lessons that can be taken from any one of these books or movies. It was Sirius Black himself, who appeared first in The Prisoner of Azkaban and was introduced in that same book as Harry's godfather, who said that, "There is both light and dark in all of us. It is the part we chose to act on that determines who we really are." This will forever be one of my favorite quotes presented to us through the writings of J.K. Rowling. From this, I take away that we can and are influenced by both God and the devil in our everyday lives; but that it is the side or path that we choose to follow that determines if we make good or bad decisions. It is those decisions that ultimately solidify our place in Heaven or lack thereof.

It wasn't until I was going through a scholarship interview process at my beloved Southwest Baptist University this past year that I actually realized all of the beautiful lessons brought forth in this series of seven. I was told to state lessons that my favorite book had taught me. Of course, I couldn't possibly pick a favorite Harry Potter book, so I simply started rambling through these wonderful lessons that I hadn't yet realized I had learned from these books. Harry, Ron and Hermione teach us that if you surround yourself with bright, positive, encouraging people that genuinely love and care for you that there isn't an obstacle you can face that you won't be able to overcome.

Harry teaches us that no matter how atrocious your upbringing may be, that you can still be a selfless and loving human being. Hagrid taught us to fight for the things we love, no matter how insignificant or silly other people see it. Professor Snape taught us that there is nothing more powerful than love and that love that is deep enough will never truly leave us. Lily and James taught us that sacrifice is necessary when you value someone's life more than your own. Voldemort taught us that people will go to great and extreme lengths to get what they want, no matter the consequences.

Lucius Malfoy taught us that shying away from your problems will get you nowhere. Albus Dumbledore teaches us that what is right is not always easy. Do any of the above stated lessons that I took from these books have anything to do with magic directly? No. They, at their base, are teachings or facts that we should already know and be living by. I believe that God teaches us these same lessons throughout the Bible and His word.

So I ask those of you who believe that the Harry Potter series promotes ideals and practices that are against the Bible, are those lessons not what we should be following? Are those lessons not what God would want us to believe? Do those lessons go against God's word?