Yikes. This post along with 'Basic reading of Genesis 1:1' reminds me why I long ago rejected the possibility of divine revelation. I have never seen a purported revelation that is internally consistent, rational, and clearly spelled out. Surely an Omnipotent being could do much better than engage in metaphor and half-speak. Thousands of years later man is still debating the meaning and purpose of many Biblical passages and writings, and has not been able to arrive at a universal and consistent theology.
The fact is, 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' is more internally consistent than most religious documents that claim to be the product of divine revelation. All one would have to do to accept Harry's world is believe in Magic, everything else would fall into place from there.
If one wants to accept the Bible, the Koran, or the Book of Mormon, simply believing in magic will not suffice. One must also must be a whiz at interpreting metaphors, deciphering ambiguities, and be content with accepting contradictions.
If mere mortal man can create a logically consistent novel, you would think an Omnipotent and Omniscient being could have done the same. At the very least, God could have presented Man with a work of literature that was logically consistent and did not contain numerous contradictions, tautologies, and unintelligible mysteries.
If anything, it appears God is trying to confuse us by making it as hard as possible to understand what he is trying to say. Every now and then he leave us hanging on a passage or a word, the result being large groups of people spend centuries debating what the words mean. Whole religions split or die based on their interpretations of passages present in the literature that has been divinely revealed.
The fact that thousands of years later people are still debating the content and meaning of supposed revelation makes it clear that either God enjoys cloaking the truth in ambiguity and metaphor, or we have a red herring.
Richard Feynman was once asked what he would say if he died and realized he was standing at the Gates of Heaven - "You just didn't give me enough proof!".
I would probably say "Perhaps if you had relayed some clearly stated and unambiguous information that didn't look like it was ripped from the pages of a Greek Tragedy Play....".
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