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Lessons from Hogwarts #3

In the sixth Harry Potter book, we finally find out the reason why the evil wizard Voldemort is so hard to kill.  Although he is, technically, mortal - he is a human - he has created horcruxes which enable him to survive even when his body is killed.  A horcrux is a physical object in which a witch or wizard can conceal part of their soul, an extremely dark piece of magic, because the soul can only be divided in the act of murder.  (Although the Harry Potter series starts like children's literature, it really does get dark towards the end.)

A horcrux, Hermione explains (she has read about them in books), is the exact opposite of a human being.  When a horcrux is destroyed, the piece of soul concealed within it is destroyed also.  As she explains to Ron, were she to run him through with a sword, his soul would remain intact, even though his body would die.  Ron is not comforted by this thought.

The interesting thing is that the belief that the soul outlives the physical body, which is so widely held in our once-Christian country, is not actually part of Christian belief.  Before I was a Christian, I always thought the debate was between those who believe the soul outlives the body (e.g. Christians), and those who believe that once you're dead, you're dead.  But it turns out that the idea of the immortal soul is from Greek philosophy, not Christianity.  Christians believe in something more mysterious still - resurrection.  Jesus wasn't a kind of good guy version of Voldemort who could not die.  He actually did die, and then God raised him from death.  The Christian hope is not that our immortal souls will go to be with God after death, but that once we're dead, body and soul, God will raise us to new life.  Wow.

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