Twlight & Christianity

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I was totally unfamiliar with these until I read this post. I will not be so presumptuous as to speak for the Christian community.

Here is an editorial by one member:

Twilight' Books Send the Wrong Message Mark Earley President, Prison Fellowship Ministries

October 3, 2008
Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series has been getting a lot of press lately—especially since the fourth book in the series, titled Breaking Dawn, was released on August 2 to huge sales. And come November, the movie version of the book will be hitting theaters nationwide.
The message you might have heard is that these teen romances take a strong stand against sex before marriage and are therefore a great way to get that idea across to kids.
Well, ordinarily I’d be overjoyed about a popular mainstream series of books for girls with a pro-abstinence message. But in this case, I’m a bit more concerned than overjoyed.
You see, there are other messages in the Twilight books that are very real and very strong. And some of those messages are downright alarming, and you and I need to know about them.
Our blog, The Point, goes into the books in much more detail. But the basic storyline is this: A teenage girl named Bella falls in love with a mysterious, much older vampire named Edward. She wants to become a vampire like him so they can be together forever. He refuses to have premarital relations with her, and that’s the message that many parents and educators are concentrating on, and feeling good about.
What they’re failing to notice is this: Bella is completely without self-confidence. She’s constantly putting herself down and treating her boyfriend as some superior being, using terms like “god” and “angel” to describe him. She looks down on herself just for being human, and wants to lose her humanity as soon as possible.
In turn, the vampire Edward has disturbing habits like sneaking into Bella’s room and watching her sleep, eavesdropping on her and her friends, encouraging her to deceive her father, and even disabling her truck and kidnapping her to keep her from seeing other friends.
Put all this together, and you have one very unhealthy relationship—and this is what’s being viewed by far too many teens and adults as the greatest romance since Romeo and Juliet.
Just to cite one of the most obvious concerns, we’re living in an age of Internet predators, where it’s easier than ever for criminals to reach teenage girls and lure them away from home. And here we have these books celebrating a girl who’s willing to throw away her family, her friends, her identity, and her life for a stalker with controlling, even abusive tendencies.
Is this really something parents should be pushing? Are we trying to create a generation that’s naïve, gullible, and lacking in self-worth, or a generation of intelligent, strong young people who can stand up for themselves and for what is right?
I want my daughters to practice purity, but I want them to do it because they know and embrace God’s will, and because they understand that they’re created in God’s image and have infinite worth and value.
I don’t want them to do it—or to do anything—because they have no will of their own and are being dictated to by some boyfriend who makes them feel inferior. And I certainly don’t want them idolizing a character in a book who lets herself be treated that way.
So the bottom line is, be sure you are reading what your kids are reading. That’s a message that my family—and families everywhere—ought to take to heart.
JayR

I am a christian.  I enjoy the twilight series, and I think that some of my fellow christians would agree with me.  Remember Harry Potter and how 'horrible' it was because it taught kids spells and witchcraft?  Get real, it's a book.  Read it and understand, there are things that happen in our lives and if they are good or bad isn't what defines us, but how we react to those events.  Their are people with low self-estem, and their are people who would do anything to protect the one's they love.  I know that it's hard to understand until you've had to face such things yourself, much like many things in life, but you shouldn't judge these books based solely on the basis of what others, even a group, thinks.  I've loved people like the ones in this novel, all of the characters are well written, and I like that the writer has chosen to show their internal struggles as well.  It shows that life isn't always easy, for some, it is a constant challenge.  But despite that, we as people can overcome, and with a little help, we can even come out on top.  Don't look for the flaws in life, or in art, and yes, books are a form of art.  There are plenty without searching them out; instead, understand that like characters, we are all different; because of our differences, we are all beautiful; and because we are all beautiful, we should accept the beauty in others, whether we really see it that way or not. 

I also can't speak for the christian community, but if I may be presumtuous, I would say we were as divided on this as any other subject. 

debbkz:  up until today I had only heard about the motion picture that is going to be coming out soon.  My daughter is reading the books along with her friends (they are young adults in their 20's) and they feel it is purely fantasy.  I do not think as a Christian, I would be interested in reading the books.  It sounds from the sound of things from people who have started reading the books, they cannot put them down until they finish them.  I would rather be reading things that I know are Christian based, and at this point I have no desire in reading the books.  My daughter is a Christian, and knows that there is no such thing as a vampire, but there are people who claim to be ones.  I have not heard yet from our church any word what they feel about the books, but I would imagine that our pastor would not think it is a good idea to spend time reading something that you get so engrossed into that is not Christian material.  I do read many different types of books, but we as Christians should be careful not to dabble in things that could take us to places we may not want to go to.  Where do we draw the line?  I know that when the Harry Potter books came out there were people, including myself, that felt that it was dabbling in witchcraft to read those books.  Some would again think they were purely "fantasy" but witchcraft principals and ideas were used in the books.  It is just not a good idea to go into that place where we do not understand what we may be doing by reading those types of books.  Where do we draw the line?  "Harry Potter" is now on TV and any child can turn the TV to the movies and watch it when parents may not be there.  Who is to say they are not trying to cast spells or try the things they saw on TV.  Children are little spounges, and they live what they learn.  Twilight sounds like it is a book that pulls you in with the love sotry, and even though this girl knows that she should not be seeing this guy, he makes it sound like he will not harm her, just others.  That is what I have gotten from what people have told me about the book.  It is definately not something I will be running to buy and read. 

I grew up by reading the books:plenty of heroes,pirates,adventurers,witches,princess,i have feed my fantasy and earned my richer life in older years.There is nothing wrong to know all these characters in childhood.I am talking from my personal experience:nothing bad has happened in my life because of spending hours with my favorite books.I am really rich person:i say*rich*in Spirit way.I am Christian,respect Church and Jesus Christ,and go to Church.

The Bible tells us about devil and temptation that Jesus Christ was exposed.Was Bible only trying to point and warn us to Evil in this way?Anyway, evil is present in our every day lives,but childrens in the youngest years don't experience evil as in the oldest ones.

There is a attribute that Human Being has been granted-to like unusual ,inexplicable,unexpected,unsolvable,mystical,wonderful things and events,and if we know: ALL listed above ,we have received by GOD-and that is true,because GOD is our CREATOR-the conclusion must be:There is nothing wrong to be aware and think about untouchable and unknown,and meet characters represent them.

The first book's character whom we was not able to understand was Devil-mentioned in the Bible.

Of course,i am against violence,perversion,murders and exaggerated brutal scenes in a movie.

May childrens live in an Art world in order to as adults be able to keep going a way of self improvement and keep on being a child inside of themselves forever.

Thank you

Each and every Christran will feel diffrent about it. Some will be happy, glad ect and others will not be.