The Gospel According to Stephenie Meyer

Wow! One Twilight quote and a mention that I am working on a message series with illustrations from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, etc. and you'd think I was preaching from the Satanic Bible.

Listen folks, the books are for the purpose of illustration. Meyer is not a theologian. She wrote some really good fiction with excellent character development and complex relational interaction (not to mention it was a good story). I will not be teaching the Meyer Gospel (to my knowledge, no such work exists). Why do we have to go through this every time there is something popular that hits the market that doesn't read like Pilgrim's Progress or My Utmost for His Highest?!

Listen to this:

• Obsession - "You are exactly my brand of heroin" Edward Cullen, Twilight, Chapter 13, p 266
• Love - "I'm here ... which roughly translated, means I would rather die than stay away from you." Bella Swan, Twilight, Chapter 13, p 274 (this is the image of the crucifixion. I really like that one)
• Pain - "Like everything in life, I just had to decide what to do with what I was given." Carlisle Cullen, New Moon, Chapter 2, p 35
• Identity - "What I am was born in me. It's a part of who I am, who my family is, who we all are as a tribe - it's the reason why we're still here." Jacob Black, Eclipse, Chapter 4, p 111
• Reality - "What kind of place was this? Could a world really exist where ancient legends went wandering around the borders of tiny, insignificant towns, facing down mythical monster? Did this mean every impossible fairy tale was grounded somewhere in absolute truth? Was there anything sane or normal at all, or was everything just magic and ghost stories?" Bella Swan, New Moon, Chapter 12, p 293
• Purpose - "I'm sure all this sounds a little bizarre, coming from a vampire. But I'm hoping that there is still a point to this life, even for us." Carlisle Cullen, New Moon, Chapter 2, p 36

You mean to tell me you couldn't go somewhere with these as conversation starters!?

Check out Paul in Athens, Acts 17:16-34. When he wandered around Athens, taking a look at their societal condition and their religious practice, he found many altars to many gods, but the one that struck him was the altar to an unknown god. In verses 22 & 23 he says:

• Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. (NIV)
  

Is he advocating idol worship or the sacrificial practices of pagan religion? Is he somehow affirming this practice as "equally valid"? Was he particularly concerned that someone might rush off and make a sacrifice to a false god simply because he mentioned it and used it as an illustration?

Look at the numbers. They've already read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. The ones who don't read have already seen the movie. They are already on Team Bella, Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Communication is just as much about cultural relevance as it is about language. Words are metaphors and images. Ideas are grown in a garden of rich, relevant, culturally literate loam.

For those whom I have offended, why don't you stop by The Shack and we'll talk.