1. http://www.sparksflyup.com/2009/11/on-liking-twilight.php
2. http://www.hereticalideas.com/2008/10/book-review-twilight/
3. http://www.pluggedin.com/upfront/2009/darknessfallsaftertwilight.aspx
4. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734838,00.html

Thank you

First there is Jacob Black. I understand his pain over not being with the one he loves but does he have to be such a baby about it? Jacob act as if he’s the only one ever in the entire existence of man to ever feel the sting of unrequited love. He claims that in his pack, who are so close that they share a communal mind, that he is alone. This extreme self pity and doubt is very unhealthy for anyone’s self image. In Breaking Dawn (which I read after my initial revelation) Jacob still doesn’t recover until he imprints on Edward and Bella’s baby. Jacob never learns to stand on his own two feet he is permanently attached to another being for self fulfillment. The worst part is, that this comes off as totally acceptable. No one in the books seems to find any problem with the fact that Jacob has no faith in himself as a lone entity.

Next there is Edward. While he may be trapped in the body of a 17 year old he is, without a doubt, 107. Bella, on the other hand, is in a 17 year-old’s body and is in fact17. Thus Edward is a pedophile. His mind is that of a 107 year old man. As John Green (author of ‘Paper Towns’) put it, “The reason it’s wrong or old people to have sexual relationships with children is not because we old people LOOK old. It’s because we ARE old.” (1) And I really don’t see a counter argument for this. It isn’t as if he has continued to live the sheltered life of a 17 year old, he had been allowed to explore different interests. His maturity level is far beyond that of Bella’s. This in it self makes me question Edward’s love and motives. Edward is also a stalker. Before he and Bella become an “item” he would sneak into her room as she slept and would watch her. When Bella learns this fact she is instantly okay with it. I am deeply worried that many girls are accepting stalking behavior as “okay.” I also ask, what do we really know about Edward? The most common words used to describe him are glorious, heavenly and seraphic. Describing someone as only being perfect makes a character hallow. We know almost nothing about Edward’s personality. What makes him laugh? What does he like to do when he’s not stalking Bella? All these questions and more are left largely unanswered.

Next is Bella. Clumsy Bella. As Michele Catalano puts it, “We learn right away that Bella’s main trait is clumsiness, which is used more as a plot device rather than a personality quirk.” (2) What is Bella’s personality? What is it about her that has the majority of teenage boys in Forks, Washington begging her to go to prom with them? When she comes to Forks she instantly recoils from any attempts from people to be her friends. Instead she is attracted to the one guy who initially hates her. This thinking is a little backwards for me. It is my general opinion that girls deserve a lot in a guy. Most of Bella often sees herself in a bad light. Steven Isaac’s review of the series points out that Bella has an “unblinking conviction that as a human she’s nothing more than an awkward ugly duckling.” (3) Beyond that, Bella is a bad moral example. While it’s true that she and Edward never have sex before marriage in the series, Bella often asks for it and Bella carelessly allows behaviors that many parents would not be okay with. “You really want your teenage daughter to live inside the story of a girl who lies to her parents, invites a boy to sleep in her bed and trusts him not to take advantage of her?” asks Orson Scott Card (3). Lev Grossman (TIME) also discusses the topic of the sexuality of ‘Twilight.’ In one of his articles,
“But it is the rare vampire novel that isn’t about sex on some level, and the Twilight books are no exception. What makes Meyer’s books so distinctive is that they’re about the erotics of abstinence. Their tension comes from prolonged, superhuman acts of self-restraint. There’s a scene midway through Twilight in which, for the first time, Edward leans in close and sniffs the aroma of Bella’s exposed neck. “Just because I’m resisting the wine doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the bouquet,” he says. “You have a very floral smell, like lavender … or freesia.” He barely touches her, but there’s more sex in that one paragraph than in all the snogging in Harry Potter.” (4)
Also the reason behind their abstinence is not one that can be applied to the real world. The reason Edward and Bella don’t have sex is because Edward is afraid he would lose control and kill Bella, not because of any moral background.

And finally, I have a deep problem with Edward and Bella’s “love.” The problem I have with it is that there is no substance behind their so called love. John Green, a fan of the books, even agrees that “Edward and Bella’s relationship too often confuses obsession with love.” (1) My biggest question is why they love each other. No reason is ever given beyond claims that they were destined for each other. As for me I don’t want a love that was just “meant to be” I want a love with substance and feeling, where I share common interest with the person. If love is just obsession you, just like Bella, will lose friends, family, and all contact with the outside world. Spending every living moment with one person it’s healthy. People need other people, not one other person. A community is needed, not a couple.

In the end I do commend ‘Twilight’ for getting teens to read, but I also question if the reading is still the same when the quality isn’t there. I hope that I was able to help anyone who reads this quite large opinion of mine to see the fallacies behind ‘Twilight’ and the flaws of the three main characters.

(I would also like to add that Alice, Jasper, and Emmet are my favorite characters, their only downfall is not seeing through the main characters and their short comings.)

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Here are some links you may consider, showing many scientists who do not believe that evolution is to be taken as fact:

http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org/

http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/bios/default.asp

And what does “Baptized Christian” mean if you only believe in God, but not in what He tells us in His word? James 2 says,”Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: The devils also believe and tremble.” But their mere belief in God doesn’t save them.
Baptism is an outward showing of what Christ had already done in your heart. It is you identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. You see, you and I have broken God’s laws, having lied, disobeyed, etc. We deserve to punished for our sins. The wages of sin is death and the judgment of Hell (that is not swearing, that is its name). That is what God tells us. But God loves you so much that God the Son, Jesus Christ came to take your punishment. He poured out His life blood on the Cross to pay for your sins, and then rose again the 3rd day. That is what the baptism symbolizes.
If you haven’t believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, to save you from the punishment of your sin, then your baptism is of none effect. It is an empty show because you haven’t repented and trusted in what Jesus did for you. It is like buying a Boy Scout uniform with badges and all and wearing it, but never entering the Scouts or earning those badges. It doesn’t make you a Boy Scout. When the Ethiopian eunuch heard the gospel and asked “…what doth hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:36-37). Because of his acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he was able to be baptized, Identifying with the Savior.
All this to say, I am concerned for your soul, that perhaps you think you are a Christian, and yet are not. It is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:47) and not baptism that saves. Consider what the Bible says,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

I am grateful to be able to share the gospel, for I know it is true. I am a sinner saved by the grace of God through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7,2:8-9), and want everyone else to know how they can be saved too. Just in case you are thinking that I am just being religious, I tell you of a truth that I do not hold to a religion, but instead have a RELATIONSHIP, knowing the Creator God of the Bible as my personal Savior and Friend, trusting in what His holy word says, and pray that you too will come to know Him.

You know, if you say you say you believe in God, but you are skeptical of what He says, how can you really believe Him if you don’t take Him at His word?

Kevan
Psalm 119:160

Blockquote>
The old car sputters,
Its tank drained even of fumes.
Mitch’s rhetoric.

since when is evil good and good evil?!

since when is darkness light and light darkness and sweet bitter and bitter sweet?!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

isaiah 5

I’m a 17 year old female who has read all four Twilight books and I would never recommend them to other people. I loved the Twilight books in the beginning. I stayed in my room all day and did nothing but read those books. Then I went back and actually looked at what I’d read. I feel sick that I actually enjoyed those books so much.
To me there is a clear undertone that suggests a potentially dangerous/abusive relationship is alright so long as one “love him or her enough”.

I cringe whenever I think about the second book because of how it clearly highlights Bella’s obsessive, clingy nature. The girl jumps off a cliff so she can hear Edward’s voice in her head. She needs to be in a hospital, not running around with werewolves.

I found that the books lacked good morals. Everything’s about obsession and unhealthy love.
I do agree, however, that Edward’s show of self-control is admirable. But there also seems to be this slight undertone that makes light of the fact that Bella is practically throwing herself on Edward.
Being a girl myself, it’s almost embarrassing to read this story about a weak girl who throws herself at a handsome boy who could very well kill her at any moment. He is her world and without him the sun doesn’t shine.
Why would any self-respecting girl read this story? If the writing were on par with artists like Ernest Hemingway then I might understand, but Meyer’s books lack substance and plot. It’s about a bunch of vampires and werewolves getting chased by other vampires and the chasing only happens in the last few chapters of each book. The rest of it is Bella and Edward talking about how much they can’t live without each other. There’s no plot.

One thing I did approve of in Breaking Dawn was the fact that Bella kept the baby. But even then there’s a sick kind of fanatic love that makes Bella look like an idiot for keeping the child.

Overall, I think that if a parent wants to let their child read these books it should be to show them the damaging nature of obsession and unhealthy love. Twilight can be used as a learning tool, but I think parents should be careful about what they put in front of their child. There is literature out there that increases knowledge and extends vocabulary and actually has a message and moral worth reading. The Twilight series is not one of those books.

Luv all de twilight characters.