Tehachapi: 2007

A couple of things that struck me about the last Harry Potter book.

First, Albus Dumbledore seems to take on the character of God. Obviously, that requires some explaination. With where I am in life and the literature on God I've read recently (outside the Bible) the prospect of trusting God is a little daunting. I supposedly have to trust Him despite my not knowing everything, even if it means me getting hurt. This is because He has the big picture and I don't. And He won't always let me in on the big picture. I simply have to trust Him. Similarly, Harry has to trust the little that Dumbledore revealed to him in the fight against Voldemort. (Does this make Harry into a prophet?) But not only Harry it turns out, [SPOILER ALERT] but also Snape. For more than half the book--it seemed--Harry, Ron, and Hermione were getting nowhere. Then it was just Harry and Hermione after Ron stormed off. That seems like the Christian life at times. You only know what the Bible tells you or what you feel the Holy Spirit reveals. For some, there also the prophetic messages of others. But most of the time, it's just a trudge through life, hoping that you're right even though it flies in the face of everything else. In Harry's case, The Daily Prophet and the Ministry of Magic, let alone all the Death Eaters. In my case, there's my mental health, the society I live in, the fact that churches are full of falliable humans that let me down.

The other thing that I noted was that on gravestones were a couple of Biblical references. On Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore's gravestone was the quotation: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" which is a quote of Jesus (Mattew 6:21). The other is on the Potter's tombstone: "The last enemy to be defeated is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26). Neither Harry or Hermione recognized the Biblical allusion. I wonder how many readers did. I did find Harry's reaction to the last enemy to be defeated enscription somewhat humorous that it was a Death Eater idea and Hermione not quite correcting him in saying that the idea refered to life after death. (Actually, Paul was saying that all the enemies of Jesus will be put under His feet at the end of time and that the last of these enemies is death... meaning that death is counter to the Father's eternal purpose and must be eliminated... not quite sure what that means for folks sent into the lake of fire, i.e. Hell...)

I guess one last thing that me and a coworker couldn't quite figure out was the King's Cross interlude in the story when [SPOILER ALERT] Harry was "dead" after being hit by the Avada Kedavra curse flung by Voldemort. I think it was Rowling's way of explaining the story to her readers and tying up loose ends. I'm not sure what really happened there. Was Dumbledore just a figment of Harry's near death ecstacy or was it some supernatural dialogue that Harry had because he was inbetween the living realm and the realm of the dead?