Showing posts with label Strongly Cautioned. Show all posts
This fin
al installment in the Twilight Saga was again a step further into the cautionary factors. I enjoy the authors writing style, I just wish that the content of the stories was not so much "darkness" dressed up as "light".There was an increase in "soft language" (see below) and the relationship content leaned further into the disturbing realm. Having now read the entire saga, I would strongly caution any Christian away from reading them, especially younger audiences and those who are impressionable. Because the content starts out seemingly "harmless" it draws the reader into believing the ending to be a good and happy one.
With eyes fixed on eternity, it is anything but a good and happy conclusion.
Breaking Dawn (Book Four in the Twilight Saga),
By Stephenie Meyer
(2008)
754 pages
Summary: As Bella embraces her role as a wife, the decisions she makes will have far-reaching consequences. Her wedded union brings another dose of danger to her new family, old friends and her own life.
THEMES: vampires; werewolves; immortal children; prejudice; friendship and love; self-sacrifice; at-risk pregnancy; imprinting
FOUL LANGUAGE: ZERO occurrences
SOFT LANGUAGE (heard on cable TV): 25 occurrences (13 C-words, 8 uses of hell as a swear word, 4 D-words)
VIOLENCE: As is written in the prologue, Bella states, "When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it?"
There are two circumstances where Bella technically "gives her life".
When the audience part of me knew that in this fictitious world Bella would- in her mind- be "happiest" with Edward, I have never so entirely wanted my heart as a reader to break from the main character making a wiser decision.
SEXUAL CONTENT: There was marital intimacy without being graphic. However there was extensive contemplation and even a proposal of sharing partners in the hopes of solving a potential problem.
Yikes, that compounds their problems, it doesn't solve them!
DRUG USE: 1 unusual occurrence.
Without getting into too many storyline-spoiling details, there are instances where a character is prescribed to drink donated human blood from a cup.
While the Cullen family calls themselves "vegetarians" because they restrict their blood-drinking to animals, let's see what the Bible has to say, even about this:
"You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats of it shall be cut off." Leviticus 17:14
"Be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life..." Deut. 12:23
If those sound too much like an Old Covenant law, let's look at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, specifically verse 20: "Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from meat of strangled animals and from blood."
BLASPHEMIES: ZERO occurrences of God's name used in vain.
REFERENCES TO AND GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD: They have technically cut out any need or desire for God in the removal of death's inevitability, as if they could exist apart from Christ (He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17).
If these characters stood before God today, let's see how they would measure up to God's requirements...
You shall have no other gods before Me. ======> BROKEN (The God of the Bible is not their Lord and Master)
You shall not make for yourself an idol...======> BROKEN (they idolize and worship one another)
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. =====> No evidence of misuse.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. =======> They never set any time aside to honor God.
Honor your father and your mother... ======> BROKEN (continually deceiving Bella's parents)
You shall not murder. =====> BROKEN (by Edward in his early vampire days, and Bella's hatred reveals a murderous heart according to Jesus' words in Matthew 5:21-22)
You shall not commit adultery. ======> BROKEN (again, according to Jesus' words they have committed adultery in their hearts. See Matthew 5:28)
You shall not steal. =====> No evidence that I recall of this being broken.
You shall not lie. =====> BROKEN
You shall not covet. =======> BROKEN, BROKEN, BROKEN, and, Oh yeah, BROKEN.
Now keep in mind scripture says whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of all of it. (James 2:10)
Neither Bella nor Edward profess belief and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, therefore they are bound to stand before God as the judge of their deeds. He does not judge on a curve, He judges in comparison to the perfection of His SON. They fall dreadfully short.
Now would be a good time to examine yourself. How would you hold up in light of the requirements of God's Standard?
Are you trusting in Jesus as the Bearer of the wrath that you rightfully deserve?
Is God increasing your Christ-likeness daily?
Have you been made a new creation?
I pray that your desire is for godliness and the honor and glory of the God of the Bible.
If you are a child of God, celebrate the fact that Jesus prayed for you. He prayed this: "For You granted [the Son] authority over all flesh that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:2,3)
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The literary parallel of this book was Wuthering Heights. It is interesting how Stephanie Meyer draws out similarities while still writing her very own book. The writing style is engaging, quite clever and humorous throughout.
Having said that, there were definitely more mature themes in this book and so earns itself a Strongly Cautioned rating, bordering on Not Recommended, especially for younger audiences. (See the criteria and other items of note for reasoning.)
Eclipse, (Book Three in the Twilight Saga)
by Stephanie Meyer
Summary: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
That is a staggering visual. And a lot more powerful that verbose teen hyperbole based on the lust of the flesh.
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This book purposefully parallelled Romeo and Juliet in many aspects, and that was interesting. Again the inner conflict and character struggles were fairly well played out. The character jumps to wrong conclusions several times in her self-consciousness, but who hasn't done that at one time or another?
This book increased in language and mature content (see Theme and Other Items of Note) and so earns itself a Strongly Cautioned rating.
New Moon (Book Two in the Twilight Saga),
by Stephanie Meyer
563 pages
Summary: When the Cullens, including her beloved Edward, leave Forks rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost too much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible ways.
THEMES: Vampires; werewolves; high school; Romeo and Juliet; suicide attempts; depression; co-dependency
FOUL LANGUAGE: ZERO occurrences
SOFT LANGUAGE (heard on cable TV): 20 occurrences [ 6 "hell" as an expletive, 6 D-words, 8 C-words]
VIOLENCE: Edward the male lead character asks for help in taking his life when he thinks that Bella is dead. When refused he plans a suicide attempt.
There is an old "royal" family of vampires who bring in unsuspecting guests, for dinner. Literally. This is not revealed in a glamorous light, nevertheless it is present.
There is verbal cruelty among some of the characters where they wound one another with the things that they say, this is usually regretted later, however.
SEXUAL CONTENT: Because the couple are separated for a good majority of the book, we do not see the indulgent intimacy to the extent that we did in the last book, until the end.
During their separation Bella spends a lot of time with her best friend, Jacob. Though she knows he has feelings for her she needs his comfort stronger than she wants to protect his heart. She toys with "making him belong to her" just so that she can keep him around, even though she doesn't love him as much as Edward.
Later, as in the first book, what is especially concerning is that when Bella and Edward are together, she can tell when Edward is "thirsty" because of the color of his eyes, and she knows that her scent is an exceptional temptation to him and yet she does not protect him or herself by keeping a mature and safe distance, or maintaining some modest integrity. He constantly has to push her away in order to save her life.
This is a situation that I would hope young Christians would not emulate in their own perseverance in purity. Love is not love when you cause the object of your affection to stumble and lust.
DRUG USE: ZERO occurences, though Bella's blood is described as having a siren call over Edward and smelling like his own personal brand of heroin. I don't think anyone under wise counsel would encourage a recovering drug addict to inhale, hug and kiss a heroin pipe and then set it aside only when it becomes too much of a temptation to indulge entirely in your addiction.
Very foolish. We are exhorted to "watch and pray so that [we] will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Matthew 26:41) The measure of our faith is not how close we can get to sin without crossing the line, but how well, by the grace of God, we flee from it.
BLASPHEMY: ZERO occurrences of using God's name as an expletive.
REFERENCES TO AND GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD: There are conversations that necessitate the existence of God, and yet they mostly avoid any truth.
pg. 36 there is a discussion between Carlisle (Edward's adopted father) and Bella. He says that in his nearly four hundred years he's never seen anything to make him doubt whether God exists in some form or the other. (see Romans 1:18-32, and James 2:19-- this general belief is not enough to save. Even the demons believe God exists, and they tremble. Yet they are still condemned.)
Bella admits that her life is fairly void of belief.
Carlisle hits the final nail when he says, "But I hope, maybe foolishly, that we'll get some measure of credit for trying."
That is salvation by works. No one can earn their way into God's kingdom by good behavior. Only salvation by grace, through faith, by repentance and clinging to the cross with the strength that the indwelling Holy Spirit supplies to those who are the Lord's.
There is a point where Edward says that claiming that he didn't love Bella was "the very blackest kind of blasphemy". I think they've confused the meaning of blasphemy. Unger's Bible Dictionary explains that blasphemy signifies the speaking of evil of God, to curse the name of the Lord, or to give the attributes of God to a creature.
Bella is guilty of this every time she speaks of Edward's "perfection". No one is perfect, but God.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE: There is an alarming aversion to marriage by the main character, Bella. Granted her parents made a mess of their marriage, and her mother drilled it into her to take marriage seriously and not marry too early. That is sound advice to an extent, but the character has made the mistake of making "marriage" the bad guy even though she has firmly professed her undying love for Edward and her intent to commit herself to him for "eternity" (a promise she cannot keep as a human). She has, as a result, a skewed and unhealthy view of the marriage covenant.
There is the continued admission that the characters (Bella and Edward) do not have the discipline to not do potentially hurtful things to the people they claim to love, and therefore they write off even trying for the sake of selfish indulgence. (pg. 513 is an example)
Bella repeatedly breaks her father's explicitly stated household rules, contending that she is legally an adult and threatens to move out (visibly hurting her father with the threat) whenever he tries to discipline or admonish her. Though she regrets hurting him, she feels completely justified in dishonoring him in this way.
on pg. 514 Edward tells Bella: "I'm not as stong as you give me credit for. Right and wrong have ceased to mean much to me."
Not a great message to be feeding the youth.
There is also a terrible amount of co-dependency happening between the two characters, setting the reader up to believe that when they fall in love, they will not be able to function with any degree of joy if the person they love is not with them. And that if they die there is no reason to go on living.
There is an ongoing struggle between the characters since Bella wants to become a vampire so that she can live forever with Edward, and he doesn't want her to become a vampire because he fears that you lose your soul when you become one, thus forfeiting heaven.
When the characters reunite, Bella foolishly states, "If you stay, I don't need heaven." (pg. 547) This elevates Edward in his importance and worth far above the value of being in the presence of God to worship Him and enjoy Him forever. I hope that this tragic (and ultimately evil) attitude never takes up residence in the hearts or minds of young Believers because it has been presented as sentimental and sweet in this book.
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