Just this morning, I saw a post on my Facebook wall by a Christian friend, about Twilight and its series. It included a link which I didn't really take notice of. I completely ignored it and checked all my notifications and took my time answering messages and confirming friend requests. That was about 10:00 AM.
Finally a few hours later, I checked back on the net and did my usual tab-opening of Tumblr, FineArt America, Carbonmade, Deviantart, and others. (Where am I going with this? Don't worry, you'll find out soon. Just hang in there.) Then, I checked back on Facebook.
There it was again. The link my friend posted about "The Darkness of Twilight" kept surfacing to my wall updates, even though I've clicked the "Most Recent" filter. I still didn't bother with it. "It's gonna waste my time," I thought.
I decided to go to blogger and make a new post about the new month of July and how it was going to be (as I expected). But then, THERE IT WAS AGAIN! It turned out that the same Christian friend had posted the same link on her blog! It occured to me that maybe, maybe, God was trying to tell me something through this link, as I am admittedly such a fan of the Twilight series.
I clicked.

Here are some of the quotes I've found very helpful/true/striking:


>>"Fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire"? Consider what vampires are, in the vampire genre that arose in the 1800s: demon-possessed, undead, former human beings who suck blood from their victims to sustain themselves. A vampire is evil. And the vampire who came to Stephenie Meyer in a dream is not only supernaturally beautiful and sparkly, but when she awoke she was deeply in love with this being who virtually moved into her head, creating conversations for months that she typed out until Twilight was written.


It wasn't hard for me to "fall in love" with Edward Cullen, the hero of the book. In fact, the idea that his being a handsome, caring vampire made this kind of feeling stronger. Something just seemed to draw me closer to him. Maybe it was because he seemed to be the kind of guy every teen girl would ever want. He was a gentleman, and he always did the right and noble things. And another thing, he waited until him and Bella were married until they made love. But getting to the root of all this, Edward is firstly a blood-sucking creature. No one would've wanted someone this creepy in her life, right? It occurs to me that what happened here and to millions of Twilight fans was brain manipulation.


>>The Twilight vampires all have various kinds of powers that don't come from God. They are supernaturally fast, supernaturally strong, able to read others' minds and control others' feelings. Some can tell the future, others can see things at great distances. These aspects of the occult are an important part of what makes Twilight so successful.


One other aspect that had me hooked on Twilight was their extraordinary abilities. Especially with Edward's and Alice's. Edward is the fastest among his family, and he can read minds. Read minds. Yes, I believe that I would LOVE to have a guy like him who doesn't need to ask me what I want because he already knows. But I also like the fact that Edward couldn't read the mind of the one he loves - and that makes Bella extra special. Who wouldn't want to be in her shoes? And Alice - she's the one who can see the future. Wouldn't everyone want to know what their future is? Just thinking of how SWEET it would be if these were real makes the emotions run high.


>>One of the reasons Twilight is so dangerous is that readers can long for these kinds of supernatural but ungodly powers; if not in real life, then in their imagination. And this is a doorway to the demonic, which is all about gaining power from a source other than God. Twilightglorifies the occult, the very thing God calls detestable (Deut. 18:9). This is reason enough for Christ-followers to stay away from it!


This was what I meant when I said "wouldn't it be SWEET!". We humans love to live in a world of fantasy, because that's the only place where all our greatest desires can come true. If I wanted to fly and have laser power like Superman, I'd have them in a flash. That's the reality of make-believe. But it is true that anything else apart from God is evil, and seeking power from something/someone else is entirely "demonic".
I admit that turning away from Twilight entirely is going to be a very HARD thing for me, because, as a writer myself, I know what type of stories get people interested and what makes a novel great. I've been victimized. And worse, the third book, Eclipse, is already showing in cinemas. I've read all four books already, and knowing what will happen in the third one is getting me very excited.


Sometimes I do believe what I say, that Twilight is pure fiction, and that I shouldn't be bothered by people who say I should be careful when reading it. After all, I AM a deeply-rooted believer in Jesus. But I can't outrun the fact that more often than not, I get confused about how I feel. It's like I'm Bella, torn between the good truth of life as a human and the sweet poison of death and living eternally with my love. Sometimes, I fear that if I keep reading the books more again and again, I'd turn into an obsessed fan.


Let me share a shaking experience I had after reading all four books of the Twilight series.


I had just finished reading Breaking Dawn from our laptop. The week before, I had downloaded the files from the internet, and I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe that I was going to the first among my friends to read this incredibly popular series. So, after opening the files and copying them onto the hard drive, I began to read.
The first chapters instantly had my attention. Meyer really knew how to speak to a specific age group, specifically tweens and teens. Before I knew it, I had finished the first book in ONE DAY. And mind you, I started reading in the afternoon, after lunch. That's how crazed I was then. I neglected my responsibilities at home just to finish the book. When my mom arrived from work, she scolded me for being irresponsible.
The same events happened as I read and finished the next three books, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. You know how I felt after reading them? Hypnotized and in a great love-lust for this 'angelic' vampire. I was in a daze! In a matter of one week, I had read four thick books. And back to love-lust, it wasn't a normal type of affection. It was addictive. I'd bump into stuff at home, almost breaking a few of mom's vases, just because I felt all "glowy" inside. I remember taking long showers just playing a certain scene in my mind where I actually see Edward face to face and have him by my side at all times. I used to have dialogues with myself in the bathroom, pretending that he was the one mouthing my words. Even when I was with my friends, I'd keep smiling, never once doing anything else. They thought I was in-love. And I was - but with a fictional character. They had demanded to know who it was, but what could I tell them? That I was lovestruck by a vampire? By a make-believe guy? It would be hilarious to admit that to them.
I even wrote this two page account in my diary about my undeniable feelings for Edward. I wrote,
"It's been days since I last saw him. But still, my heart beats and pumps blood for his pleasure alone, and that he may still find me attractive. I can't believe I'm in-love with a vampire! I wish he would just take me away and be with him always. He doesn't know I exist, yet I feel every breath he breathes, and I feel every emotion he has gone through. I want him to know that I exist." I was so paralysed for my "love" for this seemingly incredible guy. I suddenly wanted to become Bella. I wanted to experience everything she had, no matter how deadly. I just wanted to feel so loved and wanted by someone so perfect. And I know I speak for millions of girls when I say this.
I thank God that this trance only lasted a week. I then wrote a sort of forget-and-leave letter to myself, saying how relieved I am to finally be able to let go of him. I made him into a person, other than the fictional character he really was, and gave him life in my head. I felt relieved that I'm no longer the clumsy girl I was the past week, and that I'm seriously over him. Writing that made me feel a whole lot better.


I guess I called it a shaky experience because in that period of time, I was controlled by unreal emotions. I wasn't myself any more, and what was frightening is the fact that I knew what I was becoming yet I didn't care. I was ready to be a new person just for that loved feeling I had. It felt so real and yet so unreal at the same time. If ever, I was in a positively depressed state of mind.


That was my battle with Twilight.
How about you?