Twilight Saga?? Evil or Not???

[An]

What do you think?

(I'll post my opinion later, when I have more time)

[Clark]

Evil, no? An insult to vampire fans everywhere, most certainly! Give me Dracula or Lestat over Twilight's sparkly charades any day!

Just my two cents!

Clark

[David]

Haha, never read that one. I doubt its "evil" though. I think Christian apologists would do well to read more fiction since our culture is more interested in stories and less in logic anyway.

[Clark]

David,

I think it is a high calling for Christian writers to produce works of fiction that reveal the gospel of Christ in unfamiliar manners. CS Lewis referred to it as the Veil of Familiarity when people grow numb to the gospel because they have head it so often. The Christian writer who is able to break through this veil by "sneaking" the gospel into the middle of a work of fiction has done a great service.

You comment that our culture is more interested in stories reminded me of the importance of fiction. Thanks!

[David]

I totally agree Clark.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. Early church fathers like Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr argued Jesus is the fulfillment of Greek philosophy. CS Lewis saw Jesus as the myth that came true. I think we can see Jesus as the fulfillment of all the stories. All truth points to Jesus. We ought to be able to use stories people love to point people to Jesus - showing how the truth in stories reflects God and where the story falls short of truth Jesus completes it.

[An]

Clark wrote: "Evil, no? An insult to vampire fans everywhere, most certainly! Give me Dracula or Lestat over Twilight's sparkly charades any day!

Just my two cents!

Clark"

LOL.

I have the opposite view!

But really they are two different creatures. Twilight vampires have souls. Dracula doesn't.

[An]

David wrote: "I totally agree Clark.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. Early church fathers like Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr argued Jesus is the fulfillment of Greek philosophy. C..."

That's an interesting observation.

[An]

David wrote: "Haha, never read that one."

*GASPS*

Read it. It's beyond awesome. Besides, it's become a modern day clasic, lol.

[Clark]

Don't read it ... The vampires sparkle :)

I read the first book based on the recommendation of my teenaged step daughter. That is the basis of my life-rule to never take book recommendations from teenaged girls.

clark

[Clark]

Bryan, my last comment ^ was a joke by the way!

Clark

[Rod]

I read the first book and watched all the movies. Mostly enjoyed them - I preferred the werewolves.

But look at the lusty Vampirish dark mess all this has created. I prefer when we just killed vampires and went back to the pub to brag about it. :D

We now have legions of Christian teenage girls who would rather read about sexual relations with vampires than the Word of God. It's going to be very difficult to undo all this damage.

[An]

Werewolves??? *shakes head* I'm team Edward.

Lol. Yeah, Twilight did causese a lot of crappy vampire series, but that doesn't make Twilight bad in itself.

To the contrary, I think Twilight leads to the Bible (I'm talking about the books here. The movies are cool, but don't compare, and #1 was TERRIBLE)

Twilight is about chastity and true love, things that are taught about in the Bible. Moreover, love between a man and woman reflects on God loving his church. Also, I see the Song of Songs in Twilight.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Rod]

I'm not convinced Twilight has anything Biblical pouring out of it. It's just a teenage romance (where one of the teenagers is really really old and secretly desires to eat people.)

Since the author was/is a Mormon - then there is no accurate theology to any of it. This story does NOT lead anyone to Jesus. It may lead them to marriage with cute quirky sparkly boys with pointy teeth. :D

I'd rather be a werewolf. (c:

[An]

Rod wrote: "I'm not convinced Twilight has anything Biblical pouring out of it. It's just a teenage romance (where one of the teenagers is really really old and secretly desires to eat people.)

Since the author was/is a Mormon - then there is no accurate theology to any of it. This story does NOT lead anyone to Jesus. It may lead them to marriage with cute quirky sparkly boys with pointy teeth. :D"

Rod have you read the Twilight books?

Twilight isn't about theology. It is about the one thing every Christian sect still holds too ( I think). Love. Twilight isn't about a girl lusting on a sparkly vampire and a vampire loving a girl he also wants to drink.

Twilight--and the reason it's so succesful--is about promoting the real love that is so scare in today's secular culture. It's about chastity. It's about sacrifice. It's about loving the WHOLE person for who they are, and not simply taking what they can offer you sexually right now, and then splitting up. It's not about lust, one of the firsts I've seen in YA romances (modern). And promoting real love is completely, utterly Biblical, and thus Christian.

[Rod]

Are you saying Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the cultic sects of Christianity do not have a love similar to Twilight? The chastity part was nice.

What IS real love? Does not every parent (most? some?) attempt real Love? What makes Bella and Edwards love any better? I think Bella's love was mostly selfish - like most teenagers. (was Bella's love considerate of her father, or anyone else? I would say "NO!")

Jesus/God paid a Love price that no-one else could pay. What did Bella and Edward pay?

Twilight is a great story - but I doubt anyone will be discussing it in Heaven. :D

(I only read the first book - and saw all the movies. My wife told me how they differed in areas.)

[An]

Rod wrote: "Are you saying Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the cultic sects of Christianity do not have a love similar to Twilight? The chastity part was nice.

What IS real love? Does not every parent (most? some?) attempt real Love? What makes Bella and Edwards love any better? I think Bella's love was mostly selfish - like most teenagers. (was Bella's love considerate of her father, or anyone else? I would say "NO!")

Jesus/God paid a Love price that no-one else could pay. What did Bella and Edward pay?"

Honestly, I'm not really familiar with those religions. But I've never heard that the core of their faiths was about love.

Real love is a combination of doing what's best for the other person, attraction, devotion, respect, and sacrifice. Very few parents have true love, and many children grow up in broken homes where true love is a fairytale. That's why Twilight is so popular. Our culture is yearning for true love, and Twilight spotlights it. The reason it was so popular with girls is because 1) It's written from a girl's pov 2) No offense to anyone, but I think the quality of modern teen guys is pathetic over all. Most likely, this has to do with the number of guys who grow up without good male role models/dads. Think about it. Every girl wants to be loved--it's who are as women. Your average american girl has grown up with a crappy dad or no dad, and classmates/brothers, etc. who are either players or interested in video games instead of girls. Then comes Edward. Handsome and rich yes. But far more attractivly, some one who loves Bella because of who she is, not because of what she can give him sexually or otherwise. More than that, this guy loves her SO much that he is willing to die for her. Now what girl wouldn't eat that up? Girl's aren't into a sparkly vampire. They are into one of the first examples of true love that's been placed into their life.

Bella Swan says it best: “I love him. Not because he’s beautiful or because he’s rich! I’d much rather he weren’t either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit — because he’d still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I’ve ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand?”

Jesus paid for our Salvation. Edward and Bella bargined their lives for each other, and the whole Cullen family bargined their lives for their daughter/neice/granddaughter Renesmee Cullen. (How is putting your life on the line for another selfish?)

Matthew 25:40 "And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me."

John 15:13 "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."