Twilight

I began teaching 8th graders two weeks ago. 8th graders are a unique lot, they really aren't quite high schoolers, but they are totally too cool to be stuck in middle school. Another interesting thing about 8th graders is the difference in the maturity levels. Some of them are very mature, capable of intelligent conversation, while others are still just kids. Interesting folks these 8th graders.
Several of the 8th grade girls are very much interested in the Twilight series. As a mother of a middle school boy who hates to read, I was fairly clueless. Almost immediately, I started catching wind of this book a lot the girls were reading. Prior to my class, they had already had a rather intense discussion in another classroom, the teacher lead the discussion, and it was obvious some of the kids just flat out disagreed. As time went on, and so did the discussions, I decided to read the book for myself.
Last weekend I read Twilight. I can see why 13/14 year old girls think it is wonderful. It is indeed written well and in a very entertaining manner. It is definitely about vampires. I have always been sorta ignorant about the occult and witchcraft, and frankly lots of other things. Before taking a class at church about other religions, I took all of this very lightly, it was really something that I thought didn't really exist. Guess what it does. Are there vampires who are eternal creatures, no (eternal life is achieved through acceptance of Jesus Christ as God's only son, who died on a cross for MY/your sins) there are no eternal life vampires, are there folks practicing blood letting and the drinking of blood, yes, is this of God, NO!! (that was one long run-on sentence) Is this God honoring? No, if our bodies are God's temple, I am pretty sure letting others drink our blood is not what He has in mind.
My thoughts are this, and if you disagree, please explain. That poor girl got dumber with every turn of the page. She meets a guy who she is strongly attracted to, figures out over time that he is a vampire, and rather than running in the other direction, she runs faster to him. He admits he has been sneaking into her room and watching her sleep at night, rather than being completely WEIRDED out, she asks him to continue to do so. After she grows to understand that he will live forever, she begins to beg him to "kill" her so that she can live with him for eternity. HELLO, I only intend to live in eternity with Christ and fellow believers, certainly not with a bunch of vampires.
All of that said, I glad my kid is not wanting to read these books. Scary how much a book can influence a kid. We should all read the Bible with such fervor.