Rated PG-13

The Twilight Saga: Spiritual Truths, Part 1

There are some brief spiritual gems in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga that caught my eye. One of them was a quick statement in Breaking Dawn that opened up a spiritual parallel that has a subtle strength throughout the series—that of members making up a body that needs a definite head. There are good examples of spiritual leaders throughout this saga both on the werewolf side of things and on the vampire side.
Another spiritual gem that is quite obvious is the parallel of the vampire with spiritually dead man. Meyer presents vampires as walking, talking corpses, which makes an interesting picture of the spiritual condition of unregenerate man.

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Initial Reactions 2: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We just watched Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and have returned to the studio, along with our guest, Chris Jones, to give you our initial reactions. What did we think of the movie? None of us were impressed. Our overall opinion is to stick to the first movie, especially considering this sequel’s excessive sexual humor, foul language, and weak plot.

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Serenity (and Firefly), Part 2 – AYJW005

Our continuing discussion of Serenity and Firefly. Topics include River Tam, the “Companions,” a world without sin (utopia), the Reavers, and more.

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Initial Reactions 1: Star Trek

We briefly share our initial thoughts on J.J.Abram’s Star Trek. We both loved the movie, and caught a few things to discuss.

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Serenity and Firefly, Part 1 – AYJW004

We discuss the science fiction movie Serenity with a little from the TV show Firefly. In this episode, the conversation focuses on atheism in science fiction, universal government, belief, the directionless characters, and unconditional love.

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The Twilight Saga: Marriage, the Sanctity of Life, and Religion

There are a couple things that I really appreciate about the underlying worldview that Meyer’s reveals in her storytelling. First off, through her character Edward, she demonstrates marriage as a lasting and true commitment.

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The Twilight Saga: Origins and Ultimate Destinations

In my last post I talked briefly about how Meyer used the vampire myth in her popular series, but with the undead as main characters, it’s a given that death and eternity are going to be discussed, as well. I also found out after reading the saga that Meyer is a Morman, and so I’m sure her faith does influence her worldview, which is bound to have some influence on her stories. So it was no surprise to me that Meyers has her characters speculate a lot on spiritual matters—especially those having to do with death and eternity.

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The Twilight Saga: Vampires, Demons, and Angels

Taking into account that the Twilight Saga books are secular fiction and do not observe a Christian moral code, one of the only objectionable elements that could be argued over is the subject matter of vampires, so this is the first topic I’d like to discuss at length in my first of several critical thinking posts on this intriguing series.

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Batman: The Dark Knight, Part 2 – AYJW003

We continue our discussion on Batman: The Dark Knight. This time, the conversation focuses on how easy “good” men can fall, the Joker’s personification of Satan, Batman’s false messianic personification, and relative morality.

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Batman: The Dark Knight, Part 1 – AYJW002

We briefly review the process of critical thinking and then discuss Batman: The Dark Knight, with focus in this episode on vigilante justice and the condition of man.

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