twilight:

A Poor Story, But a Good Question

by Courtney Anderson
I
do not know much about the Twi-
light books and lms, but this series
has become popular enough that
hearing references to it in daily conver-
sation and seeing posters publicizing it
are practically unavoidable occurrences.
Te subject matter is of great concern
to Christians, and I have heard a great
deal of well-deserved, Scripturally-based
criticism of it. Some Christian writers
have done a wonderful job of consider-
ing this story in the light of Scripture;
among others, I would recommend the
review by Eric S. Mueller, especially to
parents who may be considering allow-
ing their teenage daughters to read the
books or watch the movies. However, my
purpose is not to criticize the story, but
to highlight one of its main premises.
Te Twilight tale, which contin-
ues through four volumes, is centered
around the love of a vampire man for a
human girl. Vampires, supposedly, can
live forever. Part of the intrigue of this
story which has captured the attention
and, sadly, the adoration of so many
girls is the haunting question which
glides across the movie posters in misty,
dramatic letters. It reads, When you
can live forever, what do you live for?
Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 1 2011
14
Twilight: A Poor Story, But a Good Question
Edward, the vampire, leads an empty,
monotonous existence that stretches
across the centuries until he nds love
with a girl whose name is Bella, signi-
fying beautiful. Many modern love
stories present love as something which
gives some sort of meaning to an oth-
erwise meaningless life, but Twilight
presents love as giving meaning to eter-
nal life. Te books go about this theme
in a rather perverse way, but it is un-
deniable that the question is central to
the storyone might even say it is the
story. It has fascinated a huge sector of
our culture: middle-school girls to mid-
dle-aged women will talk about the way
the story has aected them to anyone
who will listen. But why are Christians
not asking themselves and others this
very question?
When You Can Live
Forever
Te Bible clearly teaches that the souls
of men will live forever. Men are not
eternal in the same sense as God, who
has no beginning or end, but they are
eternal in that they will have no end.
One of the many verses of Scripture
which clearly state this fact is Matthew
25:46, where Jesus says And these [the
wicked] shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into
life eternal. In John 17:3, Jesus denes
eternal life as knowing the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, who was sent
by God. True eternal life is only found
in God. Yes, all mens souls are eternal,
but some will go to everlasting punish-
ment that is called elsewhere in the
Bible eternal judgment (Heb. 6:2) or
everlasting destruction from the pres-
ence of the Lord (II Tess. 1:9). Tis is
the opposite of eternal life because it is
banishment from the Lord; it is an ever-
lasting death.
Who receives eternal life? Jesus said
that it was the Fathers decree for Him
to give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him (John 17:2). We are also
told in the Bible how we can know if we
have eternal life in Christ: And hereby
we do know that we know Him, if we
keep His commandments. But whoso
keepeth His word, in him verily is the
love of God perfected: hereby know we
that we are in Him (I John 2:3,5).
What Do You Live
For?
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lew-
is set forth this question well: Christi-
anity asserts that every individual hu-
15 Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 1 2011
Twilight: A Poor Story, But a Good Question
man being is going to live forever, and
this must be true or false. Now there are
a good many things which would not be
worth bothering about if I were going
to live only seventy years, but which I
had better bother about very seriously
if I am going to live forever.
1

Although both live forever, there is a
signicant dierence between human
beings and the mythical vampire: the
vampire remains in a continuous, un-
changing state of existence, but we will
be changed between the present life
and eternal life, though our souls them-
selves will not die. It is what we live
for in our short time on earth that will
impact our lives in eternity, and Lewis
is saying that it is extremely important
for us in our short lifetime on earth to
be concerned with things that will last
eternally. So what should we seriously
bother about? Matthew 6:31-33 tells
us to seek rst the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness, which are eternal
things, and not to think too much about
what to eat or wear, which are temporal
things. We should also bother about
the Word of God, which not only stands
forever (Is. 40:8) but is able to make
you wise unto salvation through faith
in Jesus Christ (II Tim. 3.15). Tus,
we should also bother about faith,
through which we have eternal life.
Finally, II Cor. 4:17 helps us put things
in an eternal perspective: For our light
aiction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Any trials we
encounter during our time on earth are
both light and brief compared with the
glory of eternity.
Te Valley of Vision, a book of Puri-
tan prayers, gives us another picture of
what is of eternal moment. Te word
moment, which is the root of mo-
mentous, signies great weight, signi-
cance or importance. Te Puritan says:
I hasten towards an hour when earthly
pursuits and possessions will appear
vain, when it will be indierent whether
I have been rich or poor, successful or
disappointed, admired or despised. But
it will be of eternal moment that I have
mourned for sin, hungered and thirsted
after righteousness, loved the Lord Jesus
in sincerity, gloried in His cross.
2
No-
tice that it is of no eternal importance
if we are rich, successful or admired, all
things which the Twilight books praise.
It is only those things which please God
that have lasting importance.
We live for love: not some roman-
tic, forbidden love between a vampire
and a human, but the love with which
God loved His own rebellious creatures
even as His own Son, so that we are
reconciled with Him and may know
Him. And I have declared unto them
C.S. Lewis
Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 1 2011
16
Twilight: A Poor Story, But a Good Question
Ty name, and will declare it: that the
love wherewith Tou hast loved Me
may be in them, and I in them (John
17:26). We live for love through faith,
not yet having seen the One who loves
us and whom we love: Whom having
not seen, ye love; in whom, though now
ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory
(I Pet. 1:8).
We do, in fact, live for beauty: not
Bella or any human being who is beau-
tiful to us, nor even the best representa-
tion of beauty that the human mind can
contrive, but divine beauty. One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek
after; that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His
temple (Psalm 27:4).
Ultimately, we live for God. Chal-
lenge yourself if you are truly living
for Him in all that you do, if you seek
rst His Kingdom and His righteous-
ness, and if you bother about things
of eternal importance; because if you
trust in the saving work of Jesus, God
is in you and you are in Him, and this
relationship is everlasting. However, if
you feast on the fantasies of this world,
you will never be satised; if you thirst
for the water of this world, its springs
are always running dry (Judy Rogers
paraphrase of John 4:13).
3
So the next
time someone begins talking to you
about the fantasy of the world that is
known as Twilight, and what a deep and
incredible portrayal of love they think
it is, ask them if they know that they,
too, will live forever, and must decide
what it is they will live for. Ten set be-
fore them the eternal love of Jesus: But
whosoever drinketh of the water that
I shall give him shall never thirst; but
the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life (John 4:14).
1
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Mac-
Millan Publishing Co., 1960), 73.
2
Ed. Arthur Bennet, Valley of Vision: A Book of
Puritan Prayers, Openness (Edinburgh:
Banner of Truth Trust, 2003), 246.
3
Judy Rogers, Hunger and Tirst, Blessed, 2009.
Courtney Anderson is 21 years old and
a recent graduate of Mercer University.
She and her family are members of
Providence Reformed Presbyterian
Church in Conyers, Georgia.
Courtney Anderson