“If we had found a book or a movie that really offered a healthy, chaste, chivalrous vision of romance that was attracting teenagers by the millions, well, that would indeed be cause for rejoicing. And I’d be as eager as anyone to climb on the bandwagon and help promote them. But unfortunately, I can’t do that this time. Because underneath the surface, there are some truly disturbing themes and ideas in Twilight. Chief among these is that old, dangerous idea that a “bad boy” can easily be won and tamed by a “good girl”—an idea that has brought heartache to untold millions of good girls. As a Christian, I obviously believe that redemption and change is possible for sinners. But I also know that human beings alone cannot change each other.
It is not romantic, or safe, when a boy spies on you, follows you, and sneaks into your room without your knowledge (and especially without your parents’ knowledge).
It is not romantic, or safe, when someone tells you he’s dangerous and he’s killed people, to give answers like, “It doesn’t matter,” and, “I’m not afraid.” Again, I’ve worked with repentant murderers in prison. I know firsthand that redemption is possible for them. But that doesn’t mean that what they’ve done doesn’t matter.
It is not romantic, or safe, to try to see how close you and your boyfriend can get to the edge of danger without going over.
And it is not romantic, or safe, to offer yourself up for a boy to do whatever he wants to you—symbolized in the movie by the young heroine asking the vampire to bite her so she can become like him.
I know that Christian parents already have to spend a lot of time undoing the damaging lessons that their children are being taught—by the culture, by their peers, and even by their schools.
But it says something very sad about our culture when we have to argue that a young girl dating a dangerous killer is not a good role model, even if they are being abstinent. –Mark Earley”
Twilight; everything about the popular books is enticing; even the title. The cover of the first book in the series (Twilight) has a picture of a shiny red apple on it. The message of the whole book is that forbidden fruit tastes sweet. I’m reminded of a story in the Bible, where Adam and Eve took a bite out of something they couldn’t chew. The outcome for them was not sweet, and whoever says that something forbidden is sweet is terribly wrong.
The main character in the books, Bella Swan, moves from her comfortable life in Phoenix, Arizona, to a new, upside-down world in Forks, Washington. Her mother has gotten remarried, so Bella goes to live with her father.
Bella’s life at school starts out wonderful. She’s very popular. Everyone wants to be around her. The guys in her class make suggestive looks, and she likes the attention (even though she doesn’t really care for them).
But there is one boy at her school, who glares at her every time she sees him. She hates this reaction, because he’s the “hottest” guy in school, and she feels she has to know him.
Bella soon comes to learn that the reason the guy, Edward, glares at her, is because he’s a blood sucking vampire, who feels a powerful urge to sink his teeth into her and suck her blood. But because he is obsessed with her, and claims he loves her more than anything else, he resists the overpowering urge to bite her.
When Bella finds out, she right away tells him, “I don’t care if you bite me. I’m not afraid of you or what you can do to me.” She would become a vampire for him, just so she can be with him. She is addicted and obsessed with him. She idolizes him.
The first time I heard about the book Twilight, I was very skeptical. I tried to understand how anyone could want to read a book about a vampire. It personally sounded like a cheesy and weak story plot. But as I looked at all the people around me who were obsessed with the books, and couldn’t put them down, even if they tried, I realized something terrifying. They were addicted to the books. No matter what they did, they couldn’t stop reading the books.
Facebook showed me just how much everyone is obsessed with the hero vampire, Edward Cullen.
I heard from the mouths of my own friends how much they loved him, and how they dreamed about him. When they saw a guy, they would literally consider whether he was like Edward or not.
Friends who had never liked to read before, all of the sudden could read five hundred page books in a couple of days! They go on and on about the Twilight books, and how much they love reading them. But if I mentioned another book I had recently read that I thought they might like, they would profess how much they hated reading.
It’s very frightening that just one book can be so well written that it grabs a hold of teenagers and grown-up’s minds; and turns a simple book into something much worse: an obsession.
The Twilight books supposedly send out a “strong message” of abstinence. But if it’s such a strong message, then why does Edward sneak into her room at night to lie beside her bed, to watch her sleep, and even to try and lie beside her in bed?
I find it very disturbing that even strong Christian organizations can dismiss all the vampires and evil that goes on in the book just because Edward slightly resists the urge to sleep with the girl he loves. How can we say we’re Christians, if we can compromise our beliefs so easily?
In the books, the whole Cullen family is described as good vampires. Can there be such a thing? I don’t think there can. Vampires were created as a symbol of pure evil. There is no right or wrong in Satan’s world. It’s all wrong. I almost shudder when I see so many young people worshipping a vampire. No matter how “good” he claims he is, or how “hot” he looks, he is still a vampire.
I personally have not read the books myself, but from what people have told me, and from the reviews I’ve read, the books get worse and worse as you go on in the series. They grow darker and more occult.
In the fourth book, Bella gets married to Edward and gives birth to a half-human, half-vampire baby, which tears its way out of her belly with torrents of blood.
She even dies, and in an effort to save her, Edward transforms her into a vampire.
My conclusion about the Twilight books and movie is that I’m concerned. It disturbs me that it has taken the minds of a generation that should be on fire for God. These books interfere with a relationship with God.
How can Jesus treat us as his lover, if we’re too busy daydreaming that a vampire would come into our lives and sweep us off our feet?
How can God speak to our minds and hearts if we’re too enthralled in the pages of a seductive book?
There’s a very simple answer: He can’t.
If we continue to let a new fad like the Twilight series rule our lives, how will we live our lives for God? What will happen to this world if we let little bits of evil creep into our thoughts and plant a seed? One seed can cause an overgrowth.
I hope that the next time someone starts talking about Twilight, I can share the way I feel about the books and the person will be changed in their thinking.
