Redemption

In summer of 2009, I began reading the Harry Potter books for the first time, and I quickly fell in love with them. Before I even finished the first book, I had already bought the second and third books, wanting more and more to find out what happened next. I remember literally crying when I did finish that first book. Not just crying, but smiling uncontrollably as well, feeling nothing but pure joy rushing through my soul. That story was one of friendship, first and foremost, and at that time, I needed to believe I could make friends. That story is also about good overcoming evil, and I remember thinking as I read it, about how completely divine so much of it was. So much can so often go so wrong in this world, and yet here was a book emphasizing some of the most loving, wholesome, Godly themes I had ever read. It was magical in every sense. And I was completely hooked.

Over the next month and a half, I read through the entire series. I spent every chance I could to continue reading. I loved the characters, was enthralled by the story, and was captivated by the detailed settings. And when I had finished, I knew I had changed somehow.

Those books can put you into a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, especially from books four and on, and by the end I was literally drained, as well as speechless. I was dumbfounded. I saw one of the most beautiful stories ever written. It’s one of the greatest examples of love and goodness that has ever been written. It is one of making the right choices in life, and honoring all that is good. And it is one of redemption.

(Spoiler Alert) Throughout the entire series, Severus Snape is really a nasty sort of loathsome character. There’s virtually nothing about him to like. He’s a horrible teacher, mean to his students, uncaring about all others, devious to say the least. And yet, in the end, something is revealed about him that makes him one of the saddest, most virtuous, and redeemable characters in all of literature.

Severus Snape was a fallen person. He was a boy who’d grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak, never really having any positive influences or friends, other than that of a girl named Lilly. He and Lilly grew up together, as childhood friends, and he came to love her very much. As years passed, however, their friendship dwindled. Severus made choices that led him away from her, that drug him only into a world of darkness and evil, one which she wasn’t willing to accompany him. And it was his choices that led him to, in effect, cause the death of Lilly and her husband, leaving her son, Harry, an orphan.

Losing Lilly destroyed Severus. And it woke him up. He saw how clearly he’d made the wrong choices, how he’d placed his faith in the wrong things. And, unbeknownst to anyone other than Albus Dumbledore, and eventually Harry Potter, this caused him to change for the good. In the end, Harry would not have lived, nor defeated Voldemort, if not for the help of Severus Snape—help which he hid in the form of giving Harry detention, constantly following after him, working secretly in the midst of the enemy as a double agent, disgracing himself in the eyes of the good, and even killing his friend, Albus Dumbledore, to achieve. He allowed everyone to hate him in order to do what was right, and to make right the wrong he’d brought about. In the end, Severus Snape was a hero who loved and cared a great deal for Harry. In the end, Severus Snape was redeemed.

There are so many Christian themes within the Harry Potter storyline, but I think it is this one I like the most. And I know it is because I’ve done things wrong in my past that still to this day fill me so full of regret and self-hate. There are a lot of things I’ve done wrong that I wish so much I could take back. When I think of Severus Snape, I’m filled with hope for redemption. I’m reminded that I, too, can choose to do what is good, and fight for that which is good. I’m reminded that even though one’s past can haunt them, and perhaps even weigh them down on a daily basis sometimes, one’s future can be that of redemption. The best of us can be brought out into the light, and the worst wiped away.

And it is for that reason that I say Severus Snape is one of my most favorite literary characters of all time, and why I say I was left speechless and dumbfounded by the time I finished reading this series. I think it was in this that I saw for the first time how very powerful and beautiful Christ’s love for us is. I saw how much I truly need him in my life. To be redeemed by Him, to be forgiven.

That’s something so powerful that words can never fully express. But I thank J.K. Rowling for the story of Harry Potter, because through it, I know I became closer to Christ. Anything that does that must be worth mentioning.

Halloween

I’ve always loved Halloween. There’s candy, dressing up, going trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, going to parties, listening to spooky stories, watching scary movies, and it comes during my most favorite time of the year: Fall. It’s just always so much fun.

The other night, some of my family got together for a Halloween party. It was the first time many of us had been able to get together in months now. The biggest highlight of the evening turned out to be going on a town scavenger hunt. My brother and I came up with a list of places or things around town to have to take pictures of, only giving clues to each place or thing using the Halloween theme (such as the bank clock being called “A tick tock clock of doom”). We split the family into two groups and each group drove out town trying to find all the items on the list (my brother in one car and me in another—both refereeing in the event). It turned out to be one of the best times my family has ever had together. And, again, just another reason for why I love Halloween so much.

I realize that not everyone likes Halloween though. While subbing the other day, we had some time to pass in between lessons, and so I had the students make hand ghosts on a sheet of paper. At the top of the paper, students had to write “Happy Halloween”, and at the bottom they had to write their names. Most of the students seemed to really enjoy the activity. But I did have one student object, stating that her family doesn’t celebrate Halloween. I told her it was okay and that she didn’t have to participate. A few minutes later, she made a comment that people do bad things on Halloween and that Halloween was an evil holiday. She asked me about these things directly. I responded that, yes, some people do bad things on Halloween, but that most people just want to have fun out of it.

This all got me to thinking though. You know, here is a time when most people just want to have a good time—nothing evil intended out of it—and yet, this girl had it in her mind that nothing good could come of it. The thing is, people can make something bad even out of the best of things. People get drunk, commit suicide, covet, and do all sorts of bad things around Christmastime. Yet, this girl (and I’ll presume her family, too) probably doesn’t have a problem with Christmas at all.

Everything is what we make it to be. Something good can be turned into something evil. Something evil can be turned into something good. The point is to not go looking for the bad in everything, but to look for the good instead. I wish I could have told that little girl all this the other day. I respect her beliefs and those held by her family, but it really does annoy me when people want to look at Halloween as just a time for evil. It’s only a time of evil if you make it out to be.

Anyway, at least I’m glad it’s Halloween. So far it’s been great.

Happy Halloween, everyone! :)

Bin Laden, Dead

When I first found out Osama Bin Laden had been killed a few weeks ago, I have to admit, my first instincts were to rejoice. I was glad he had been killed. To some extent, I am still glad about what happened, but I want to clarify my thinking.

I am glad Bin Laden is no longer alive to be able to spread his message of hate, to cause and promote violence throughout the world, and therefore influence and cause so much harm, sadness, and destruction in the lives of so many around the world. I am glad he was killed for this reason only.

Am I glad he died the way he did? No. Am I glad he lived the sort of life he did, which led to the sort of death he got? No. Do I wish him in hell or believe he’s in hell? No, and I won’t speculate on the matter either--that's for God to judge, not me. Would I have rather him turned himself in or have been captured rather than killed? Yes. Did I wish he’d have reformed his ways? Yes.

I am not glad Bin Laden led the life he did, which caused his untimely death. I am not glad he is dead for the pure sake that he’s dead. I am not glad he’s dead because I think he’s in hell. I am not glad he’s dead because I thought it’s what he deserved. The only reason I am glad is because now he can no longer cause the evil and harm to others that he was so dedicated toward.

I feel the same about Bin Laden as I did Saddam Hussein, or other people put to death or killed because of their violence. It saddens me that they led the lives they did which caused such violent and untimely deaths for themselves. Hitler’s death, for instance, was nothing to be happy about when considering the life, promise, and hope he gave away. He was a man who had the potential to be a great leader who could have taken Germany to true prosperity, freedom, and peace. Instead, he used his power and life to promote some of the worst evils ever committed against mankind, and led his country and people to ruins. He drove himself mad and, ultimately, out of desperation, fear, and hopelessness, took his own life. History will forever remember Hitler as being perhaps the greatest evil threat ever posed to humanity. That’s not a happy story or a life worth emulating. However, I am glad Hitler died when he did. His death meant the end of a great deal of human suffering. That is something to rejoice about. Not his death, but the affect his death had on the rest of the world. It is the same with Bin Laden. His death is nothing to rejoice over, but the results of it certainly are.

I rejoice in the fact that Bin Laden can no longer do any harm.