Welcome back to my continuing critique of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga from a Christian perspective. 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.

A Commitment to Marriage

In a culture where marriage has come to mean absolutely nothing, Meyer gives us an “old-fashioned” Edward, who is adamant that he wants Bella to marry him and make their love “official.” He even forces her to wait until after the wedding to make their attempt at the consummation of their love—a sentiment that is very rare in today’s popular media. As Edward says in his attempt to convince her, marriage is a far smaller commitment than becoming a vampire.

“Bella, if you compare the level of commitment between a marital union as opposed to bartering your soul in exchange for an eternity as a vampire … If you’re not brave enough to marry me, then—?” (New Moon, page 541)

A product of her culture and the society that we are all too familiar with, Bella simply claims to not believe in marriage:

“The thing is, Edward … in my mind, marriage and eternity are not mutually exclusive or mutually inclusive concepts. And since we’re living in my world for the moment, maybe we should go with the times, if you know what I mean.” (Eclipse, page 277)

This is a real depressing comment on our times. Bella is right in that the majority of marriages these days are not “until death do us part,” but rather until affection fades or someone else better comes along. It’s a sad reminder of how our culture has lost sight of what “commitment” means. Bella didn’t see marriage as necessary to sealing their love because, in her mind, marriage is not a seal, not a promise, and not permanent.

I also found it humorous when Edward explains their engagement to Bella’s father:

“We’re going to Dartmouth together in the fall, Charlie,” Edward reminded him. “I’d like to do that, well, the right way. It’s how I was raised.” …

Charlie’s mouth twisted to the side. Looking for an angle to argue from. But what could he say? I’d prefer you live in sin first? He was a dad; his hands were tied. (Breaking Dawn, pages 16-17)

These are all very shallow reasons for marriage, of course, and not exactly a good example of why a couple should get married, but I didn’t expect the Twilight books to be marriage counseling texts, so I’m not disappointed. To be honest, I’m just happy that the progression of Edward and Bella’s relationship in Breaking Dawn was done within the context of marriage. It’s a relief to see that concept upheld in such popular secular fiction.

Human Life Is Precious

In addition to upholding the sacrament of marriage, Meyer also presents a strong pro-life message. Not only does Edward’s family do their best to protect human life, despite their appetites, throughout all the books, but the final book has Bella getting pregnant with a child that is very likely to kill her. The half-vampire unborn child is tearing Bella up from the inside, and she and Rosalie are the only two who actually want the baby to survive until delivery. Edward and even Carlisle desperately want to abort the baby to save Bella, and yet all of them fall hopelessly in love with the child once she is safely delivered.

The idea that human life is precious is not actually stated in so many words within the published books of the Twilight Saga, but there is a direct quote from Carlisle in the unpublished partial manuscript of Midnight Sun (a retelling of the story in Twilight from Edward’s point of view). Out of respect for the author’s wishes, though, I will not post the quote, but I do think that the comments there are a good representation of the point the author was subtly making throughout the whole series. I do hope that one day Meyer finishes and publishes that book because I think it will give a very useful perspective on the story. (And to be perfectly frank, after reading the partial manuscript, I think Edward is a far more interesting character from inside his head than Bella is, and he makes the story far more intense right from the beginning.)

Religion?

Despite some of the spiritual types of discussions in the Twilight Saga, there are few places where faith and religion are addressed directly. One such reference is in context with Carlisle discussing his belief in some kind of god and an afterlife. Bella is surprised by the topic and briefly ponders for a moment her own experience with religion:

Religion was the last thing I expected, all things considered. My own life was fairly devoid of belief. Charlie considered himself a Lutheran, because that’s what his parents had been, but Sundays he worshipped by the river with a fishing pole in his hand. Renee tried out a church now and then, but, much like her brief affairs with tennis, pottery, yoga, and French classes, she moved on by the time I was aware of her newest fad. (New Moon, page 36)

This is, by the standards of fantasy, actually a fairly mild rebuttal of Christianity as a concept. The idea that a faith is really just a part of one’s identity that is a legacy from one’s parents, or that it’s just a fad that has no more impact on one’s life than a short-lived hobby is a sad criticism of the Christian church in the “Christianized” post-modern world. That so many people claim a denomination as a birthright or attend church as nothing more than a social function can be a really bad demonstration of what the Christian faith really is. How many of the supposed Christians in our culture fit into these categories? How many supposed Christians claim the identity and the society without the heart-deep faith? What does the world see in this shallow portrayal of Christ’s gospel?

The other major reference to religion comes when Edward tells Carlisle’s story to Bella:

“He was the only son of an Anglican pastor. His mother died giving birth to him. His father was an intolerant man. As the Protestants came into power, he was enthusiastic in his persecution of Roman Catholics and other religions. He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves … and vampires. … They burned a lot of innocent people.” (Twilight, page 331)

As I mentioned earlier about the brief research I did about vampires in the 1700s, I am saddened by this irresponsible behavior of earlier churchmen, such as the one described here. Our God is a God of compassion and grace. His love is a beacon that should draw all men to repentance. But when Christians act out of hate and fear, we give the enemy ammunition to use against us. As in this case, I do believe that many innocent people met judgment and a less than welcoming eternity because of the actions of the churchmen of past eras. Notice I call them men of the church and not necessarily Christians. Many true, believing Christians also met their end for supposed heresies committed against churches led by men who were either power-mad or fearful of things outside their understanding.

This is a good reminder to us to allow God to act in vengeance and judgment on our behalf as He sees fit and in His proper time (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10), while we continue earnestly in performing our duty in this life (Romans 10:13-15) with God’s love for everyone (1 John 4:17-21).

Believe it or not, I’m still not finished. In my next post on the Twilight Saga, I’m going to delve even deeper into the characters and stories to bring to light some hidden spiritual gems that subtly permeate the books.

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