The Ugly Side of Twilight

This is something I wrote two years ago and posted on Facebook and you can only imagine all the angry feedback I got. Enjoy!




Now, before you say to yourself, "Oh my goodness, really?" just hear me out. I have watched Twilight the Movie, and I saw for myself what everyone is so excited about. I thought it was a cute love story until the whole creepy vampire theme settled in. Now one thing I will NEVER understand about Bella and Edward's relationship is how she can be "in love" with him when he wants to kill her! If I were she, I'd be running back to New Mexico where I came from, but that's not in the script. 
We learn from the Bible, God's Holy Word, that true love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. For those of you who have not seen the movie, I'll set the scene for you. The Cullens, the "friendly" vampires, and Bella decide to have a fun little game of baseball. Because of the vampires' strength, they have to play when it is stormy to make it sound like thunder when the bat and the ball meet. While they are having a friendly game of baseball, some "bad" vampires decide to join the group and play. To make a long story short, one of the "bad" vampires smells Bella, realizes she is human, and wants to rob her of her blood. Bella and Edward run away while the rest of the Cullen family fight off the "bad" vampire. On the car ride back Edward tells Bella the two of them have to get out of town. After much protesting, when Bella gets home, she lies to her father about why she is leaving and won't be back. She says some mean things and hurts her father badly. The Bible specifically tells us"Children obey your parents for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth." Eph. 6:1 That scene is a negative example, showing that the characters do not have true love. Edward should have used that situation as a chance to help Bella honor her father by telling him the truth. 


Another thing that bothered me was that at night Edward would sneak into Bella's room and sleep with her. No, they didn't have sex; they were both fully clothed, but if the theme of the book is about "purity," that scene is definitely not in keeping with the theme. I pray that none of you would ever lay in bed with a person of the opposite sex, clothed or not, before you are legally married to that person. Romans 13:12-14 says, "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity or sensuality. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." 




Honestly, lying in a bed together was the worst thing they could have done for their relationship. If Edward was trying to live a lifestyle of purity, like he says he does in the books, then they would not have been sleeping in her bed at night. 


The other serious problem I have with the books and the movie is that the author ties in scripture and completely twists it. The main theme for the whole movie is "Forbidden fruit never tasted so good." I take this from when Adam and Eve are in the garden, and God tells them they can eat from any tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (See Genesis 2). As Christians, we are to refrain from the things God forbids us to have, whether it's a matter of love or just everyday life. We see from Adam and Eve's mistakes that there is a reason for His restrictions. Another piece of scripture that Meyers takes and twists is "And the lion fell in love with the lamb." Talking about the Lion of the tribe of Judah and Christ the Lamb. The "lion" in this illustration is Edward, and the "lamb" is Bella. It makes me angry when the things of this world try to pretend they are in line with the Bible. 




One other thing I will never understand about the books is that if Stephenie Meyer is a Christian, why does Edward have to be a vampire? Why does Bella want so badly to forsake the way her Creator created her? I know some people will answer, "Well that's what makes it fun and interesting!" But for those of us who are Christians, are we really supposed to want to look like, read, and watch the things of this world? Why do we want so badly the things of this world? It is in our nature! However, that does not give us an excuse to act like the world. So the next time you sit down to watch or read one of the Twilight series, think to yourself, “What is the true meaning of this book? What makes it so interesting? Does it bring honor and glory to God?” 

I Love Tim Tebow!

So, all over the internet lately I've been noticing a lot of Tim Tebow bashing lately?? I mean, yeah a quarterback is going to get bashed whenever the team suffers a loss, but this is about his personal beliefs!? People try to say he acts "holier than thou". Have you met the guy?? Do you even know how he treats people??? Or are you going off what you've "heard"?? (BTW, my favorite quote: "Believe half of what you see, and nothing that you hear.") Or is it the fact that he was clever and wrote "John 3:16" on his eye-black strips (that sent 92 million to google it)? That my friend is called free speech!! Just because he is proud about what he believes, and it's totally different from what you believe, does not give you the right to call him, or anyone else for that matter, "holier than thou." To be perfectly honest, I wish there were more famous people like Tebow. People who proudly proclaim God's name and give Him the glory and honor. When he thanks God for a good game before his other team mates, that's only right!!! Who gave them the strength and stamina to be his offence? Who gave all them the opportunity to even play football?? GOD. A christian is to always give thanks to God before others, or esteem Him higher than the others. I loved how a few years ago the feminists were getting their panties in a twist due to him and his mom's commercial. If you ask me it was absolutely adorable!! She said all these sweet things about him, and how she was glad she chose life! What's the big deal? The word abortion wasn't even mentioned. Woman's "right to choose" was never questioned. I think Tebow has been very Christ-like and not let what these self-proclaimed "haters" say get to him. It's probably because he knows that he doesn't need man's acceptance to be happy. Form his actions, he appears to be the kind of man who believes that he will one day be rewarded for the way he treats other's now. That's the kind of QB I want to cheer for!

Blind Faith?

Why do so many people insist on blind faith? What happens when you need legit answers to legit problems? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about having faith, it's very essential to being a Christian. But merely believing something just because one person, or ONE verse in the Bible says it? Shouldn't we have more to back ourselves up on? I'm not questioning the Bible's truth, either. But seriously, if you're gonna be a Christian you need to have REAL reasons for believing what you do. That's why Christians have such a bad rap, for so long the message from the pulpit has been "Love, peace, tolerance!" Love and peace are things a christian needs, but there is not much room for tolerance in Christianity. The prophets of old were not tolerant of Israel's sin. Jesus was not tolerant of the hypocritical pharisees. Paul was not tolerant of any backsliding Christians. So why are we okay with people not repenting of their sins? Why are we not leading our new converts DEEP inside the Bible? We stop and marvel at how "cute" the stories are that we teach our children, when we forget how REAL these stories are. These aren't stories, this is HISTORY! Why is the Bible the last book we want to read? People are DYING to get their hands on that precious book. I too am guilty of this. When will we wake up and realize that God is waiting for us to pick up our shovels and dig and search for Him? He has promised if we seriously search for Him He will show himself to us. Are you ready to search deep?

A Fragrant Aroma

Hello everyone, so I've been gone awhile, life have been crazy! And with craziness comes blogging ideas!! ;) I just wanna share what God's been doing in my life as of late.  The past couple of months I've been pulling a Dr. Phil, and "getting real with myself" and just throwing out the junk and hard things in my life and giving them to God. Well, when anyone does that satan comes along and starts telling you lies that are soooo easy to believe!  When you start to believe them you realize they are the same lies you believed before.  When you come to realize that you are so confused and mentally exhausted you just wanna sit down and cry!  I know, that's a little dramatic, but at least you got my point.  Let's go back to the lie.  The lie that tells you you're not good enough for God, God doesn't love you, how could a perfect God possibly love you...etc. (catching on?)  That lie makes us want to work harder to be everything God would want.  It's working out of guilt, that's when you start pulling your hair out cause NOTHING you do can make you a perfect person.  There aren't enough little old ladies to help across the street, there aren't enough church services to go to, nothing you can do can do will kill that feeling of self loathing.  One night this was EXACTLY what I was feeling.  I messed up and satan was using it against me.  I felt this way until I came across Galatians 3:2 "This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?"  Was it something you did that bought your salvation?  Was it something I physically did to grant upon myself Jesus' free gift of salvation?! I think not!!  It's all by faith and faith alone.  Our mess-ups don't determine our future with Jesus.  Every bad thing that we do, or is done to us is only truly bad if we never learn from it.  However, we shouldn't take that and just go do what we want. 1Corinthians 10:31  says: "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Everything a Christian does should be for God, and if we fall short of that we need to get on our faces and repent, we serve a personal, forgiving God who will forgive us.  I don't want this to seem like a "dooms day" blog post, I hope this really encourages you!  If there is anything in your life keeping you from walking in freedom with Christ I hope you will get that taken care of.  If you just don't know Jesus and wonder what on earth I'm talking about, search!  Leave me a comment and I'll answer any questions you might have(:


"...a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God." 
Philippians 4:18b

Recovery

The last year has brought soooo many emotions, pain, hurt, sadness, depression. What I sometimes forget are the happy and joyful times that have gotten me through. Yes, I have stumbled along the way, but God is always there to pick me back up. He is not just going to leave me in misery and sin, He wants to pick me back up and He will if I let Him. Lately, I have heard Him saying "I know you messed it up a bit, but I still love you and I want to help you." I am slowly realizing that God will help as much as He is asked. That does not mean He is limited, sometimes He would just rather us as for help than Him automatically fix everything for us. Life would be too easy if it worked like that,  I am finding that not everything comes naturally. Somewhere along the way I have lost my joy. Happiness that I once could not explain has been gone. I have been praying for God to give it back, and slowly but surely, He gave it back to me. Having the Fruit of the Spirit cannot just be something you work for, it has to be something you pray for. On my own strength I have nothing, no love, peace, joy, mercy, nothing! What I am starting to learn is that I cannot do anything in this life completely on my own.

A Glance at Christianity

America's existence is circulated around Christianity. More than likely not the same Christianity people practice today where they go to church on holidays and special occasions, or when bad things happen to them. But the Christianity where people went to church and lived like they believed everyday of the week, not just Sunday. Christians today have a bad reputation, which is not surprising, some Christians can be the most two-faced, back-stabbing, prideful, judgemental, people you will ever meet. Being a Christian, I'm sad to say that, but are those people really acting like Jesus? That's what the word "Christian" means, "little Christ." In the beginning stages of Christianity it was an insult to be called a Christian, the Christians started liking it because it linked them to Jesus Christ, who is the foundation of their faith. But, let's look at how Jesus acted, in John chapter 4 Jesus talked with a Samaritan woman. This back then was something a Jew would never lower himself to do, they found themselves higher than the Samaritans, let alone talk to a woman. He offered her eternal life! After talking with her for a little while, she went into the city she lived in and brought them to Jesus. In Mark 2:15-17, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, something no pharisee would ever be seen doing. In John 8:4-11 the pharisees found a woman cheating on her husband, the law of Moses commanded them to stone any women committing such an act. Insead of having them kill her, he told the perfect people to throw stones at her (since there weren't any) he forgave her of her sins. Jesus taught about justice, repentance, and mercy. Punishment when needed, and mercy when needed. Christianity does not promote tolerance to any other god or religion. Deuteronomy 5:9 talks about God's jealousy for our love, He asks for our whole heart. For those of you readers who are not Christians that have been treated rudely by "Christians", I would encourage you to find a Bible and read about the real Jesus. He is merciful and loving, and wants nothing but the best for you (Jeremiah 29:11). To the Christians who might be reading this, have you looked down on someone for not looking or acting a certain way? We cannot expect to turn others to Jesus if we act better than everyone else. Jesus looks on the inside of a person. Why shouldn't we?

True Beauty

When people think of beauty what comes to mind is more than likely all physical attraction. Beauty in today's society all depends on how skinny you are, how much make up you wear, and what clothes you wear. For a generation that is becoming obsessed with "being yourself" we are really obsessed about looks. If we look at the "You have to be a size 2 to be beautiful" thought, that is so not true! If we look at it from a "worldly" perspective, the 50's sex icon, Marilyn Monroe, was a size 14! Models today are fake, if they haven't had plastic surgery, then the computers "fix" them to look perfect! Today she would be called "plus sized," back then women would kill to have those curves, now they are killing themselves to loose them. If we look at it from a Biblical perspective, God made us perfectly, just the way He wants us. We are His master piece. When we complain and make drastic changes to our bodies: it's like Mona Lisa telling Leonardo da Vinci to make her cheeks rosier, or painting her hair a different color. Telling an artist he has his artwork all wrong is like a slap in the face to them. So keep in mind, when criticizing others or even yourself for being a little "fluffy" think of who you're really criticizing. As far as make-up goes, I am so sad by all the younger girls of my generation plastering their faces with so much make up that when you see them without it, you can't recognize them! You have little 13 year olds wearing so much make up they look 16 or 17. Make up was created to enhance beauty, not completely change it! When it comes to clothes, most of the time it's all about brand names. I'm just gonna say it. Who cares about what brand you're wearing!? Those clothes are cheaply made, over priced, and not to mention, made by child slaves! Hollister, Ambercrombie, Nordstrom, Nike, most brand names use child slaves to make their clothes. That is one major reason why I don't shop at those stores (plus I can't afford it haha). Think with me for a minute, let's say you have a kid (girl or boy, doesn't matter), and maybe he/she doesn't have a high metabolism, doesn't look as handsome/pretty as the other kids, and doesn't really like any of the brand name clothes. Are you going to completely disown them for not being "perfect" the way you want them to be? I should hope not, so why would you treat others so badly? True beauty comes from within.
“Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:29-31

What is Love?

In our society the word "love" is thrown around like it's going out of style.  After one week of being in a relationship, most teenagers are posting facebook statuses that say, "Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE HIM!!"  I can't gelp but ask the question, for how long do you plan on loving him??  Then you have other people who are so scared of the sacred "L" word, that they don't tell anyone they love them, what kind of life is that?  We all need a little love, we are humans made in God's image and if God is love, wouldn't that mean we need love in our lives?  Now the question is, what is love?  Is it really just a mere feeling or action, or is there more to love than that?  A friend of mine, Anna, said that love is "‎1,Knowing that someone isn't perfect, but loving them anyway, and 2, Loving them enough to follow God's plan for what happens between you and the other person, instead of what you want."  For both parts of her statement, we can use this love in marriage, friendships, family, etc.  For teenagers, "puppy love" is oh so common, all you can see is that person and everything good about them, they have no flaws, and are just the perfect person for you.  In marriage, I'm sure after awhile you find your spouses faults rather quickly after you say "I do", but when you have your first argument do you just leave them?  I would hope not!  No, if you really love them you stay and settle your differences by talking and coming to an agreement.  In friendships, it often works the same way.  My best friend Emily and I recently had our first fight, we talked about what happened and turned out someone misunderstood the other.  Sure we were mad at each other for a couple days, but that didn't make us "not friends" anymore, we worked it out.  With family, knowing from a lot of experience, this can take a lot of practice.  When people, especially family or super close friends, let you down it hurts. C.S. Lewis said "Anger is the fluid love bleeds when you cut it."  However, when people hurt you, you can use the experience to your advantage.  If you put a lot of faith in just one person, or a group of persons, you will always be setting yourself up for a letdown.  For the second part of Anna's statement, when you really love someone you will listen to God to tell you what to do about/for that other person.  I find this to be more relateable with pre-marriage romantic relationships.  To truely love another person, you have to learn to look out for their best interest, and what God wants for their life.  Love is something you have to work at, I don't believe people just "fall in love" one day, because if you can fall in love you can easily fall right back out, and that's when heartbreak takes hold.  My discription of love would be: 1) A feeling for an object. Example: Oh how I love Dr. Pepper!  2) A feeling you express for another person by: being there for them, always being honest with them, and putting them before yourself.