A Christian Response to Vampire Obsession
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “A Christian Response to Vampire Obsession”.
6 Comments
Leave a Reply
-
The Boston 3-Day
I will be walking the Boston 3-Day the last weekend in July in honor of Gregg's mom, Ryta Gail, who died from breast cancer when he was a little boy.
Find me on Facebook
Safe Site
We are committed to keeping the content on this site
family friendly and child safe.
-
Gregg & Hallee
Find Me on My Author Blog
* 
Although this line in the article was “unsettling” to me, until later on, I think I could see where the author was coming from
Twilight isn’t merely the first novel in a four-book tale by Meyer; it was the catalyst for new vampire TV shows, movies, and novels marketed as Christian fiction.
Thanks for passing on the article Hallee! I’m one of the fortunate teen mom’s who’s teen has kinda bypassed the whole team edward/team jacob craze! Although she does like the Vampire Diaries! LOL
Kaylee’s all about it and is offended by the very thought of Team Jacob. LOL.
We’re going together to see it Sunday afternoon. So, I want to make sure that people understand that I’m not dissing the series by any means. I just thought that this article brought up some very valid concerns.
To me, this article doesn’t really say much. I can say that especially as I haven’t read these books or seen the films, and know very little about the whole phenomenon. After reading this I feel like I still don’t. It runs down the plot, and then makes the point that parents should discuss it with their kids. Which is good… but that is true of any movie or book. Parents who wish to take a hard line with fiction about the occult won’t have their minds changed about “New Moon” by this article; whereas parents who are more moderate probably already have their tickets for the film. I was hoping for some more opinionated commentary.
In a class on horror films I took, the professor argued that horror is based on a Romantic tradition, and tends to present an ordered universe that includes God. The awful things that happen to the characters are the results of defying this order. (A great example is “Frankenstein,” where the mad doctor works against the laws of nature.) One could argue that a film about vampire love is simply showing a metaphorical universe which contains morality and spiritual yearning, and would not be bad for kids to watch! But there might be some who think it’s bad to ponder occult things regardless, which I can respect.
I’m probably a lot more liberal with art and film than a lot of people who read this, but I won’t watch just anything. I demand some sort of morality or redemption from the films I take in. That matters to me more than subject matter. (Though I can’t stomach as much violence in my old age.) I can’t get into nihilism. For instance “No Country For Old Men” really bothered me, because it purposefully crushed all hope and redemption from the story. I can’t really see watching it again.
There is very little to the story. It’s a romance novel written for tweeny girls with perfect hero vampires and perfect anti-hero warewolves instead of perfect human millionaires like all the other romance novels out there – and little else. So, there’s no moral base to the story other than love is good. The whole series would probably make you want to poke sharp things in your eyes.
I was good with Harry Potter and I’m good with Twilight.
I’m not liberal with movies or entertainment in general. I don’t like most of them, and my standards for what is acceptable have gotten more stringent over time, especially in the last year. One of the things that I don’t watch and Gregg and I don’t allow the children to watch is anything that has premarital sex in it, adultery, or gratuitous sexuality. The only exceptions to this are historical films. For instance, we’ve kept Tombstone. Now, if they’d shown a love scene or something in Tombstone, it wouldn’t have made the cut.
Twilight is refreshing in that it’s a love story, with teenagers, and there’s no sex. My tween can watch it all day long. She knows God, has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and her faith is unwaivering. If she was confused about faith, I would probably be less inclined.
I love you!
Hallee
I enjoyed this article, Hallee. I like that you are honest and open with Kaylee and so happy that she is strong in her faith. For us, however, I personally will not allow my girls to read or watch this series. Of course, I say this while they are 3 and 1. I’m sure by the time they are “tween age”, kids will be onto other obsessions, but my thought process will be the same.
I came from a broken home. I was a “Bella”, if you will. I could totally have seen myself, as a 14 year old or whatever, developing an obsession with this series and seeking after “bad boys” for attention. Regardless of the strength of my children’s relationship with God, I simply will not give Satan the opportunity to use this type of thing to turn their eyes from Jesus, even for a moment.
The thing with them not having sex…well, it’s not really because they don’t want to. It’s because Edward is afraid he might kill her. And in the article here, the author points out that they live out eternity void from God. But what these readers aren’t getting is that separation from God…or hell…doesn’t include love. Bella and Edward would not live out eternity happy in their little love nest bubble. I think this series makes it all too attractive to girls to give up what is most important, God, family, friends, whatever, to risk it all for the bad boy they love. Then there are the boys who watch it. The character of Edward reminds me of a bad alcoholic or something. He loves his wife and wants to protect her, but sometimes evil wins out and he hits her…just a little.
I don’t know. We all make choices as parents. I will not judge yours. Just stating why I feel the way I do about it. Peace! :)
Khara:
I absolutely respect that.
I had a neighbor in Florida who was an amazing woman. Before she became a Christian, she had been an active witch, dabbling in all sorts of things of the occult. When she was saved and had her own children, she unapologetically and completely shut out anything to do with Halloween. She refused to make light and fun out of something that is very dark and very real.
As for the rest, I think many love stories offer that danger – that love between a man and woman surpasses all else. It’s something that I try very hard to not convey, even writing romance novels. Sometimes a love between a man and a woman is the least important thing.
Hallee