The Twilight Book Series (Updated)

They say it’s addictive. Once you read one, you have to pick up the next one. And the next. Even if you know you shouldn’t, there’s just something about it.

I had never heard about this book before last night when a friend asked me if I would look into it. It’s called the Twilight series, a very popular teen fiction story (soon to be a movie) about a high school girl named Bella who falls in love with an extraordinarily hunky vegetarian vampire named Edward with good morals (i.e. resists the urge to suck her blood, etc.). It's written by an author who is said to be the new JK Rowling. She is a good writer, but are these good characters for young girls to be fantasizing about?

While researching this book, the very first thing that popped into my head was this verse: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

As the story goes, the author, Stephenie Meyer, had a dream one night and began typing. She would wake up at night with the conversation and story line continuing in her head, so she would get up and type. Only three months later, she had a book, a horror/romance for teens read by girls as young as twelve years old. But it’s clean, and so they say sends a good message. But does it?

The books are long, over 500 pages each, so there’s not a chance that I would have time to read them, but some teens are staying up all night to finish them. What is the draw? I did some browsing and reading this morning to see what the buzz is all about, and here are a few things I found:

One teen says this:

"About three of my friends have started reading them, and they are all obsessed with them. We even convinced one of our guy friends to try to read them,"

-Under a Twilight Spell (www.dailyrecord.com)

A CBC article says this:

Most fans profess to have romantic feelings for Edward or Jacob, and attribute their love of Meyer’s books to her “realistic” writing style. It’s not unusual in her books, which are 550 pages on average, for a scene to span twenty pages, long enough to mention every sound, every change in speaking tone, every infinitesimal change in facial expression. But what may come across as flat-footed to an adult reader seems to hold youngsters in a hypnotic sway. “It’s like you’re actually living it,” said a freckle-faced 13-year-old who skipped school to see Meyer.

-Teen scream -Twilight series offers young people a twist on vampire fiction
www.cbc.ca

So who is the author of this captivating series? Her name is Stephenie Meyer, and she is a devout Mormon.

Also from the above article...

“…Meyer is a former stay-at-home mom who preferred Jane Austen and the Book of Mormon to “scary stuff.” (As a self-described “extremely religious” Mormon, she doesn’t watch R-rated movies.) She said the idea that developed into Twilight, the first book in the series, came to her in a dream in 2002, when she was 29. She started writing it down and three months later she had a book, which she sent to ten different agents. Nine rejected her. One bit, so to speak.”

-Teen Scream (www.cbc.ca)

Meyer herself says that her Mormon beliefs are in the story:

“Unconsciously, I put a lot of my basic beliefs into the story.”

–Stephenie Meyer, Mormon who put new life into vampires (www.guardian.co.uk)

She also says this on her own website (www.stepheniemeyer.com):

Twilight

I am also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon, as we are commonly called—for more info on what that means, see www.mormon.org ) and that has a huge influence on who I am and my perspective on the world, and therefore what I write…

- http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bio_unofficial.html

So what, some might say. Mormons are clean living people who believe in God, right?

Well, they also believe that God had a goddess wife and produced spirit offspring on some planet, Lucifer and Jesus being two of them (which would make them brothers). [See what Mormonism really is about HERE.] So in light of that, the next questions is, are there religious overtones of Mormonism in these books that could influence Christian teens? And are the characters in this series the kind of role models you would want your teenage daughters reading about?

First of all, these are a few interesting comments I’ve observed on the web from teenagers about this book from teenage blogs and youtubes (not everyone likes the books):

• “Edward is controlling and mentally abusive”
• “My friends say I refer to Twilight as if it’s my Bible”
• “It’s sexist”
• “The main character (Bella) is weak and controlled is either going back and forth between her best friend and a vampire, or dreaming about being a pretty dead vampire” (apparently she can choose to be a vampire forever with Edward)
• “My favorite character (besides the obvious choices of Edward and Bella) would be Jane of the Volturi! I think she's really cool. Stephenie said she was burned at the steak for witch craft during the salem witch trials. So I read everything I could about them- and let me tell you, Jane had to be one tough chick!!”

You can see how some Christian teens feel about the series on this Christian teen forum:
http://www.christianteenforums.com/index.php?showtopic=37411

One mom who read the first two books has this to say about the book series:

“I read the series AFTER my 15 and 12 year old daughters read them (so I could find out what all the fuss was about). I also read the first and second books before I found out Meyer's religious background. Amazingly, half way through the second book, I remarked to my 15 year old that the whole thing reminded me of my childhood (I grew up LDS and remained in the church until I was 24). The entire feeling of the series is very Mormon, and the fourth book is rife with LDS imagery.”

-from a comment under this article:
Twilight, Or, The Sparkly Alpha Mormon Vampire
http://lilithsaintcrow.livejournal.com/274742.html

Another interesting thing that I noticed was that the music chosen to play in the background of many teen sites which seem to be enamored with this story are songs about falling in love with angels. Also, like the Harry Potter series, this book is promoted on Wiccan websites.

In regards to the good Mormon morals and the role models promoted by this book, well, this is what the Mormon's themselves say about it…

“Meyer, 35, is a devout Mormon. So there's no smoking and no drinking in the books. And no sex either.

That, however, doesn't mean the characters -- or their readers -- aren't thinking about it.”

-The Mormon Times
http://mormontimes.com/MITN_entertainment.php?id=1742

So much for that.

If you want to find out more, the official Twilight website is here: www.thetwilightsaga.com

Twilight the Movie will be released November 21, 2008. Here is the link if you want to check it out further: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

Watch trailer clips here or here.

Watch Stephenie Meyer talk about Twilight on youtube here.

By the way, Stephenie Meyer has also written The Host, an adult novel about a species that has invaded the earth to take over the minds of their human hosts. At first I thought there was a parallel there, as it's much in the same way demonic entities might possess and take over people. But since I've found out more about the author, it looks like this idea might come from the Mormon belief that "preexistence spirits come down and inhabit babies at the time of birth and their memories of the preexistence are lost at the time." (See Mormon Beliefs, are they Christian?)

It was a challenge trying to find a Christian commentary on Twilight. There is not much out there. But I did find something very helpful from a great little blog called Worth the Wait ~ Encouraging teenage Christian girls to live the way GOD would want them to live, where there are two posts about the series:

The Twilight Series

More on the Twilight Series

These are well worth taking the time to read if this issue is a concern to you.

In conclusion, after reading all of the above (and please go to all the links to get a good idea of what this is about), I think that Christian parents should talk to their teens and advise them not to get hooked on this series. In reading some of the teen sites, I found it interesting that many of these girls who are reading them said their parents had no idea what the books were even about. So if you have teenage girls, and if you happen to see these books lying around the house (here's what they look like), I hope you encourage them to find a spiritually healthy alternative.

And one more thing...

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Phillipians 4:8

~~~

*Update:

Found another Christian review here (not sure I agree with the conclusion after watching the movie trailer):

‘Twilight’: A Positive or Negative Influence for Teens?
www.christandpopculture.com

MORE REVIEWS:

Here are some more new warnings about this series and the movie:

Twilight - Seven reasons to shun this vampire tale
by Berit Kjos
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/twilight.htm

Twilight Book and Movie Review
by Eric Barger
www.ericbarger.com

Special Report on Twilight Movie
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Dangerous liaisons
www.guardian.co.uk

*New update:
Jan Markell: December '08
The Movie "Twilight's" Seduction Part 2 Eric Barger, Caryl Matrisciana and Jan consider the new film "Twilight" and how it has even seduced Christians. Several Christian ministries are named who if not blatantly back it, have favorable things to say about a film about vampirism. How much more can the culture tank when the church does not denounce such things? Youth ministries are taking their kids to see it and then having a "Bible study" around it!
*Listen to Part 1 of this interview on christianworldviewnetwork.com HERE.
*Part 2 HERE.

Here's an excellent review by Caryl Matrisciana:

The "Twilight" Phenomena
http://carylmatrisciana.com/x2/content/view/81/119/

Here is an insight to this series on youtube:

Twilight Phenomena
www.youtube.com

Here's the latest from Discern It:

Twilight - Evil vs. more Evil - by Eric Barger
Jan. 27
(Plus Lia's notes on Twilight)
http://kimolsen.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/twilight-evil-vs-more-evil-by-eric-barger/

Here's an April'09 review by Jill Martin Rische (daughter of Walter Martin):

Twilight Series Review
www.waltermartin.com

June 2009:

Attention believers of 'Twilight'-like romance, you're being summoned (warning: rated PG13)
www.examiner.com

August 2009:

Vatican newspaper offers its take on 'Twilight'
www.examiner.com

November 2009:

'Twilight': Selling your soul for puppy love
www.wnd.com

Nov. 2009:
Some Light On Twilight
www.crosstalkblog.com/2009/11/some-light-on-twilight/

Dec. 2009:
‘Twilight’: A Spiritually Confused Reminder For Christian Parents
“The Twilight Saga: New Moon”
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=493

Nov. 2009:
Twilight New Moon...is it for Christians? Does Stephenie Myer promote the occult?
forthetimeiscoming.blogspot.com

June 2010:
The Trouble with Twilight and Eclipse
www.christiannewswire.com

Avoid Twilight
http://www.avoidtwilight.com/