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

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.

The first brief discussion that caught my eye was a quick exchange between Edward and Bella:

[Bella] “So where did it all start? I mean, Carlisle changed you, and then someone must have changed him, and so on ….”
[Edward] “Well, where did you come from? Evolution? Creation? Couldn’t we have evolved in the same way as any other species, predator and prey? Or, if you don’t believe that all this world could have just happened on its own, which is hard for me to accept myself, is it so hard to believe that the same force that created the delicate angelfish with the shark, the baby seal and the killer whale, could create both our kinds together?”(Twilight, page 308)

Of course, this caught my eye because of its very neutral approach to the evolution/creation debate. I was thrilled to see this in the book, that the characters didn’t immediately assume evolution. Of course, believing that God created a separate kind of people that live forever and do not age and prey on people is stretching the creation story a lot, but it was an interesting discussion for the author to include and perhaps takes us back to the fallen angel theory I mentioned briefly in the last post. (Incidentally, Genesis quite specifically records God’s command that man and all the animals are to eat plants and fruit (Genesis 1:29–30)—carnivorous habits in creation are a result of the Curse on sin (Romans 8:22).)

But what about humans living forever and not aging? Isn’t that what mankind would have been like if they had not sinned in the persons of Adam and Eve and had access to the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9)? What would immortality have looked like then? Man was created perfect and was not intended to die—it was sin that brought death into the equation (Romans 6:23). In this way, I suspect that God drove Adam and Eve away from the Tree of Life as a mercy—to prevent them from living with the curse of their sin forever.

The discussions of aging, death, and eternity in this series bring up interesting questions. Bella is particularly concerned about growing old. In her mind, there is nothing worse than being older than Edward:

I glared at him. “I may not die now … but I’m going to die sometime. Every minute of the day, I get closer. And I’m going to get old.”
He frowned as what I was saying sunk in … “That’s how it’s supposed to happen. How it should happen.”; (Twilight, page 476)

Edward’s comment about the appropriateness of aging and death is a reminder of how sin has changed our existence. Is this the way it is truly supposed to be? From a Christian perspective, the process of aging and death is very much a symptom of sin, and we are promised an eternity where these impostors will not intrude (Revelation 21:4). When Adam and Eve sinned and were driven from the Garden of Eden, they were also driven away from the Tree of Life, the fruit of which would have granted them immortality (Genesis 3:22–24). Their sin separated them from God, and brought a spiritual death upon them. I often wonder if physical death would have been held at bay if they had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life, and then I imagine an immortal physical existence in a cursed and dying world when one is at the same time spiritually dead. That sounds a bit like being a vampire, doesn’t it?

And this indeed does seem to be the dilemma that Edward and his family of “good” vampires struggle with. The vampires in Meyer’s story are effectively stuck in time. They are virtually indestructible, do not change in any way, and can, in this manner, exist in the mortal world forever, unless destroyed by fire (take note that fire is the ultimate end for Satan and his fallen angels. Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). But do they have a soul? Do they have a chance at heaven should they cease to physically exist?

The conversation between Bella and Carlisle that I quoted in my first post shows that Carlisle wants to believe that he still has a soul and hopes for an eternity that takes his “good works” into account. The discussion goes on from there:

“Edward’s with me up to a point. God and heaven exist … and so does hell. But he doesn’t believe there is an afterlife for our kind …. I look at my … son. His strength, his goodness, the brightness that shines out of him—and it only fuels that hope, that faith, more than ever. How could there not be more for one such as Edward?” (New Moon, page 37)

Of course, Christians should note the hole in this argument right away. The debate isn’t whether or not there is an afterlife for vampires, but how good one must be to get into heaven. If you’re trying to do it on your own, you will always fall short of the mark (Romans 7:13–25; 8:8). However, this view is fairly consistent with a non-Christian view of eternity. The “good works” or “karma” view of an afterlife assumes that one can be “good enough” to deserve some kind of reward on the other side of death. The difference between Carlisle and Edward is that Carlisle thinks he can somehow be good enough to deserve that reward (Ezekiel 33:10–20; Psalm 14:3), and Edward believes that he has already been taken beyond the point where his damnation can be overlooked by some greater power. But he’s basing this assumption not so much on the belief of the usefulness of good works, but his belief in the consequences of breaking the Law:

“We’ve had this discussion before, but humor me. How many people in this room have a soul? A shot at heaven, or whatever there is after this life?”
“Two,” I answered immediately, my voice fierce.
“All right. Maybe that’s true. Now, there’s a world full of dissension about this, but the vast majority seem to think that there are some rules that have to be followed.”(Eclipse, page 453)

He goes on to say:

“Now, of course, it might be too late for me, even if you are right about my soul. … ‘Though shalt not kill’ is commonly accepted by most major belief systems. And I’ve killed a lot of people, Bella.” (Eclipse, pages 453–454)

Unlike Carlisle, Edward seems to have grasped the consequences for even one infraction in following the Law (see James 3:10–11), and he does not believe in God’s grace or mercy (at least for vampires). In the context of the Bible, this statement is wholly true in that the Law accuses us before God:

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19–20).

On the surface, this conversation almost feels Christian, but take note of the key phrases “vast majority seem to think” and “commonly accepted by most major belief systems.” The author has Edward skew his statement so that it is all-inclusive of many relative “moral” codes that are reached through consensus. In truth, there is only one moral code—the one that is put forward in the Bible and based on the characteristics of God. All other faiths borrow this moral code from Christianity—for absolute morality cannot exist without the Christian God who is absolutely good—the standard by which man is judged by a lawgiver who is the only one fit to judge. All other moral codes are relative and self-contradicting. Using Edward’s approach, Bella could have easily refuted his statement by asking “What if the vast majority are wrong about those rules?” Rules, or moral laws, have no meaning without a lawgiver. A moral code based on consensus is too changeable, too flexible, and very unreliable to be worth anything. And would such a code based on consensus be acceptable to enter heaven? Are you going to say “Let me into heaven, I followed the rules that the vast majority said were the proper moral code to deserve reward in the afterlife”?

There’s much more that could be said on the subject of eternity, and I’m going to come back to it in my later posts on the less obvious spiritual elements in the Twilight Saga .

My next post will deal with the sacrament of marriage and the sanctity of life as presented in the Twilight Saga .

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