Category Archives: Personal Ramblings

My personal stuff which is (mostly) fit for general consumption.

Harry Potter, Satanism, and the Catholic Church

Personal Ramblings

I first came across this question in a Telegraph article back in 2011 when I was researching my book, “The Devil and Casari: Ad Hominem” and was simultaneously intrigued and confused. After all, Father Gabriele Amorth’s initial book (and subsequent follow ups) was a huge kickstart to my knowledge and research. On the flip side, my wife and I read Harry Potter books to each other while taking turns driving places for our honeymoon…you know, back when there were only three books…and have passed on the love for the characters to our own extremely impressionable children. How do these two subjects reconcile in my mind? How can I get them to play nice? Have I…no pun intended…sacrificed one for the other?

Turns out you can love Harry Potter and the Catholic Church at the same time, but it’s like everything else: you have to be careful with what you play. Before ancient man discovered fire and cooking, meat was eaten raw, thus carrying with it all kinds of dangerous bacteria and parasites; after fire, meat could be cooked, thus making the meal safer. Conversely, before fire, man rarely had to worry about getting burned; after fire, burns very likely increased. Simple comparison, right? The tool (fire) made the consumable(meat) more palatable and safe, thus overall improving man’s life. If not applied carefully, though, the meat could be burned, thus rendering both it and all the time/energy put into attaining it useless.

Fast forward a few (ten/hundred/)thousand years and bring out the Gutenberg press. The people wanted to hear, read, and understand the unfiltered word of God, so the Bible became the hottest book around. This gave more people access to the Word, thus allowing the Faith to spread to the furthest corners of the Earth. As with fire, though, any tool (the GP) could make the consumable (Word of God) dangerous – for example, see info on the Mark of Cain.

Which brings us to the Harry Potter issue. Much as I’d like to pretend it doesn’t, Harry Potter does normalize witchcraft, wizardry, curses, spells…all that stuff you and I both know it does. Does that mean it’s bad? Let me be clear here…*clears throat*….

IT’S FICTION! FICTION! F.I.C.T.I.O.N.!!!

Okay, that’s out of my system. Look, here’s the deal – if not monitored by someone responsible, of course Harry Potter could corrupt a young person’s mind into thinking that being a witch or wizard is cool. If not monitored by someone responsible, STAR WARS could corrupt a young person’s mind into thinking that being a Jedi or Sith is cool. I could go on with this, and so could you, really. The point Fr. Amorth was trying to make was pretty clear, but let me quote from the Telegraph article: “The Harry Potter books, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, “seem innocuous” but in fact encourage children to believe in black magic and wizardry, Father Amorth said. ” Yes, they seem innocuous, but that’s also taken in a vacuum. It assumes that no parent or responsible figure is talking with the children about this as they read, explaining how the Devil works, ministering correctly with the Faith and, above all, explaining how this is FICTION.

Fr. Amorth is right in that Harry Potter does encourage witchcraft etc – just look at the numbers – but the zero-sum game being played out isn’t realistic. Instead, let’s engage our children on the smaller issues like these so that when they encounter them in real live, they know better. Let’s counsel our children so they can enjoy and understand the world without falling victim to all of its traps.

In short, let’s teach our kids to tend the fire so not only will they not get burned, but neither will anyone else….

NaNoWriMo 2018 – Introducing the New Gods of Old Earth…or something like that

NaNoWriMo, Personal Ramblings, Writing

National Novel Writing Month 2018 is here, and I’m working on yet another new thing.  Good, bad, ugly…whatever, I’m working on it cause it’s fun.  The general goal for a novel is a bit over 50,000 words.  To reference, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is 76,944; Starship Troopers is 84,769.  Fellowship of the Ring is 187,000.

Thankfully I’m aiming more for Harry Potter than Lord of the Rings…but every epic starts somewhere!  For fun, I figured I’d put out the first 1,000 or so words of somewhat fairly raw material.  I’d love to hear what you think!

 

Colin

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WHENEVER

“I was born the day before the old world died.  During some of his lighter moments, my father liked to joke that I brought magic into the world, but it wasn’t me. 

A story steeped with the tragic beginning – a drunken driver, a dying mother in labor, a squalling child born with a father still unaware of his wife’s tragedy – a story like that should have a happy ending, wouldn’t you think?

I wouldn’t know.  It hasn’t ended yet. 

NOW

The sparks from the explosion behind me gave off just enough light for me to count my attackers.  The good news was that there was plenty of light now.  The bad news was that it was because there were constant explosions.

“Is the best you idiots can do?” Achilles yowled from his place behind the counter.

“Don’t push them!” I shouted back.  “They’re still holding back.”

“Because they’re cowards!” Achilles shouted even louder.

“I doubt it’s that,” Clavis’ synthesized voice said from where she was perched on my shoulder.  “The likelihood of them performing a frontal attack as part of a diversionary maneuver is greater than 87%, rising at a rate of three percentage points per…”

“Quiet, Clover!” Achilles snapped.

“It’s Clavis!” the hummingbird buzzed angrily, “and I’ll thank you to remember it.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to cut out the noise and think, but the explosions just wouldn’t stop.  Stupid show-offs are probably making magical explosions to protect the lab.  No sooner had the thought gone through my head then silence broke out in the lab.   Oh yeah, so that’s what not being shot at sounds like.

Achilles, of course, couldn’t have that.  “What’s the matter, cowards?  Decide to give up?”

A deep chuckle from across the room told me who we were dealing with.  Funny, I hadn’t seen Taranis since he’d rejected me from the Runic School during my Divination testing.  What are the odds he wouldn’t remember us?

“Hey, Achilles, remember that little gift you left me?”

Crap, not good.

“It was more than you deserved!” Achilles growled.

“Truly, it was more than anyone deserves.  Listen, any chance you can convince Cass to come out and make this easy on us all?”

“Me, convince her?  You moron, why would I go and do that?”

“Good question.  How about this instead, Achilles?  You like presents?  I got one for you.  Here, catch!”

Peeking my head up from behind our hiding place, I saw a ball soar in a high arc, stop in midair, and make a beeline towards my beloved cat.  Instinct being what it is, Achilles reared up to bat at the ball, but I couldn’t have that.  No way some dumb Runic magic touch my cat, no way, no how.

Reaching out, I grabbed the ball just as I heard Clavis vibrating on my shoulder to keep away from it.  “No, Cass, it’s a Runic Grenade!”

Well sh-

 

THEN

 

Seventeen days ago

 

7:52 AM

 

“So which of these idiotic schools do you think will have the eternal honor of your presence?”

Leave it to Achilles to bring a smile to my face on what I had always feared would be the darkest day of my life.  “Well, Sorcery would be my first choice, I think, but I’ll be happy with anything, you know?”

“Cassiopeia Troi Callahan, don’t you dare sell yourself short.  You are far from the idiot everyone else on this planet seems to be.”

Ignoring his triple-naming of me, which was as close as he ever got to talking down to me, I gave his bronze-colored fur a stroke.  Truth be told, it was more to calm my own nerves than his, but I let him believe the opposite.  “Well thank you for your vote of confidence, oh wise and powerful one.”

“Scratch behind my ears and I’ll forgive you your insolence.”

Forgive indeed.

I let it slide; after all, I needed the peace it gave me.

Allowing myself several more minutes of fur-babying than I should, I broke off when the clock downstairs bonged 8:00.  “Come on, the Divination Center opens at 8:30.  The sooner we get there and finish my testing, the sooner we can start our new life.”

“Is this one truly so bad?  The Provider has yet to fail you, after all.”

The Provider, aka my father, did the best he could with what he had.  I was told he was a different man when he met my mother…when she was alive and everything.  The pictures I’ve seen of them dating, getting the nursery ready for me, all those smiling, happy pictures…yeah, that’s not the man I know.  Burdened at a young age with the loss of his love and the difficulties of being a single parent couldn’t have been easy.  Lord knows I didn’t make it easy.  Still and all, Achilles was right – he did the best he could.

Once I got my magic on, I’d come back for him.

Grabbing my vintage Star Wars backpack from its place of honor on the wall, I stuffed it with my five magical notebooks…not that the notebooks themselves were magical, just that they contained everything I’d written on the particular schools of magic.  Since I wanted to make a splash with whatever school chose me, I figured showing them my research and ideas couldn’t hurt.

“We should leave the Provider a note.”

“No need, he knows where I’m going.”

“Still, I should leave him a gift in thanks for his provision over the years.  Perhaps…”

“No,” I said, spinning around to meet Achilles’ emerald-green eyes.  “No gifts.  Remember the last one you left for him, the one he didn’t find for a week, the one that stunk up his room so badly we had to air it out…in the middle of winter…during a snowstorm?”

“How was I to know he’d be gone for a week on a drive?”

“You could have told me…you know what, never mind.  I’m not doing this again.  No, no gifts, end of story.”

“As you wish, my mistress.”

Oh good, he’s calling me his mistress again.  Ignoring him, I zipped up the backpack and slid it over my right shoulder.  “Are you so angry that you’ll stay behind?”

“And leave you alone in that place?  Never.”  Achilles hopped down from his place on the desk and rubbed against my leg.  “I could never leave you, Cass.”

The smile came again to my lips, and I reached down to pat him on his gigantic, furry head.  “I know, Achilles.  I wouldn’t want you to.  Now come on, let’s go see which school gets to have me.”

“I already told you, not one deserves you.”

“Fine, then which one should I take?”

“All of them.”

That brought me to a halt.  “All of them?  There’s never been a trained mage from all five schools.”

The Maine Coon nodded his beautiful bronze head.  “As fitting, you shall be the first, and as always, I shall be at your side.”

“My right-hand kitty,” I chuckled.  Achilles purred – loudly, of course – and set out for the door.

 

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And that’s it for now!

Through No Fault of Their Own….

Musings, Personal Ramblings, Politics, Religious

Do you ever experience multiple thoughts in your mind fighting for supremacy?  Most days, my mind feels like a rocky cliff upon which competing tides of ideas smash themselves, leaving the spray of individual motes floating down to join new idea tides and renew the cycle.  Some days, a hurricane of thoughts form off the coast and smash opposing ideas against each other, leaving my own current of thought ragged and choppy.  Some days are calm, with ideas few and far between; I enjoy those days just as much as the hurricane ones, for in variety is life.

And then there are the tsunamis.

You know the feeling, the one where something swells up inside you and swamps your every other thought?  Some people call it their ‘light bulb’ moment, others their ‘ah-ha’ moment…whatever floats your boat, as it were.  For me, that moment came today while listening to arguments on “Dreamers” and DACA – the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – and the continued use of the phrase, “through no fault of their own.”  It was such an interesting phrase that I had to give it some more thought.

Through no fault of their own (hereafter: TNFOTO), Dreamers were brought to this place.  TNFOTO, Dreamers cause hardships to those around them.  TNFOTO, Dreamers take resources from caretakers and governments and can’t repay their debt for decades.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are not considered citizens.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are considered a throwaway class by some.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are under assault by those who do not understand them.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are treated as political Ping-Pong balls without regard to their inherent worth as a human being.  TNFOTO, Dreamers will eventually live or die based on the choices of others.

Stark?  Maybe.

Now replace the word “Dreamers” with the phrase, “the Unborn”.

Here, I’ll do it for you:

Through no fault of their own (hereafter: TNFOTO), the Unborn were brought to this place.  TNFOTO, the Unborn cause hardships to those around them.  TNFOTO, the Unborn take resources from caretakers and governments and can’t repay their debt for decades.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are not considered citizens.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are considered a throwaway class by some.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are under assault by those who do not understand them.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are treated as political Ping-Pong balls without regard to their inherent worth as a human being.  TNFOTO, the Unborn will eventually live or die based on the choices of others.

These children didn’t ask to be brought into this world, but they still deserve the basic human rights of all other people on this beautiful marble hanging in space.  These children don’t know what our founders stated early on: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”  Self-evident…created equal…heavy stuff.

TNFOTO, all men are created equal.

Dear Fellow Catholics: Please Remove Your Rainbow Flags

Personal Ramblings, Religious

Here are a few radical ideas for my fellow Catholics to contemplate:

  1. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual (“Gay”) Marriage.
  2. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual behavior.
  3. The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals.

Just reading those three facts together may confuse some people; they might look upon them and assume this is a “one of these things doesn’t belong” test, but it’s not. The simplest of explanations is thus: condemn ≠ hate. Read that again. “To condemn” does not equal “to hate”. The proper definition of condemn in this context is, “To pronounce to be utterly wrong; to utter a sentence of disapprobation against; to censure; to blame.” As an example, “I personally condemn racism” or “The Catholic Church condemns racism.”

Make sense? Okay. So why bring this up now?

Two words: Gay Pride.

Recently, there have been social media movements advocating the advancement of Gay Pride and LGBTQA+ items. As part of the social media movements, many persons have been posting positive articles and changing logos and profile pictures to include rainbow stickers or flags or whatnots to indicate support of this agenda. What people do with their lives is on them, I understand, but what bothers me is when fellow Catholics stand loud and proud on this issue OPPOSITE the teachings of the Church. The Catholic Church’s stance regarding homosexual acts is clear: “Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

In some people’s minds, that clearly means that Catholics and the Catholic Church hates homosexuals, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Literally three sentences later, the Catechism states: “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. EVERY SIGN! Internal, external, third person potential prospective injunctive whatever…EVERY SIGN! We do not hate homosexuals, we condemn their behavior.

That being said, we as Catholics cannot support movements that promote or advocate positions opposite the Church’s teachings on life, including those of the LGBTQA+ community. You cannot condemn the activity and behavior out of one side of the mouth while glorifying and praising it out the side of the other. To advocate for LGBTQA+ agendas is to speak a lie, i.e. to not proclaim the truth…and in this case, the Truth with the capital T.

Let us keep in mind that Christ dined with the sinners, but he did not advocate their behavior. In John 8:11, He said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go and now sin no more.” Interestingly, in the earlier part of the sentence (again, John 8:11), he said, “Neither will I condemn thee.” In this case, he was literally stating he would not condemn her to die as the crowd of tricksters was asking Him to do. He told the woman the truth, that what she was doing was wrong, but told her he would not kill her for it. We in the Church should do the same: tell people that this behavior is wrong, but that we don’t advocate for their harm. In fact, we will refuse to unjustly discriminate against them in word, thought, or deed as the Catechism teaches us. Does that mean we accept their sinful behavior? No. Are there times where we will justly discriminate against homosexuality, such as keeping blatantly effeminate/homosexual men from being ordained priests and thusly leading their flock into sin by following their behavior? Absolutely.

In the end, recall some of His most famous words: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” When you love someone, you tell them the truth.

If you love someone as Christ commanded, you tell them the Truth.

TDaC: AH

It…is…ALIVE!

Personal Ramblings, TDaC, Writing

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “Today’s the day for Homer J!”  I’m sure this one will do well, because…um…it’s AWESOME!

...this inanimate carbon rod!
…this inanimate carbon rod!

Today I celebrate the official release of my solo novel, “The Devil and Casari: Ad Hominem“, and I could not be prouder.  I stayed up until 1 in the morning just to get the email from Amazon saying it had moved from prerelease to release, at which point I knew for sure that those who had preordered had their copies delivered.  I’m so looking forward to ya’ll’s (yes, that’s Texan) reviews, comments, and thoughts after you finish.  For those who know me, give me a call and let me know what you think, just make sure I’m in a safe place so I don’t wreck a car or anything horrible 🙂