Monday, November 30, 2009

Twilight - Part 1: Emotional Porn

To my sisters in Christ, please consider the following questions:

(1) Is it an affair if a husband has a relationship with another woman that involves hugging and kissing, but no sex?

(2) How about a relationship with another woman where hugging is involved, but no kissing?

(3) What about a relationship that is emotional only, with no touching whatsoever?

Obviously, the answer to all 3 questions would be "yes," and any woman - secular or Christian - knows the common-sense answer to these questions.

We hold our husbands to these standards, and we're right to do so. We are also very quick to get all up in arms - and rightfully so - over the scourge of pornography that is ravaging our men - both secular and Christian. But what about us? Do we guard our hearts with all diligence so that they belong to our husbands alone?

The heart is where our sin begins. Now, worldly wisdom says just the opposite, that we should "follow our hearts!" to find happiness. But as Christians, we know that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things (Jer. 17:9). We don't follow our hearts; we follow the Lord as He reveals himself to us in his Word. What else does Scripture say about our hearts? Well, Jesus himself tells us that when we look with lust, it is as if we have already committed the act of adultery itself. Does this not communicate to us how very important it is to guard our hearts with all diligence (Prov 4:23)?

Which leads me to the topic that recently has been so troubling to me: why are so many of my sisters in Christ becoming enamored of the Twilight series? For now, let's forget that these books are occultic and demonic at their core (although I'll come back to that in a later post). The sensuality alone in these books and movies should make them totally off-limits for Christian women, and most certainly for teenage girls. If anything, Christian women need to be seeing these books rightly and warning their daughters to stay away from them, and why. Instead, I am hearing of instances of Christian women actually taking their daughters to these movies, and reading these books alongside them. Unbelievable!

My pastor recently taught on the topic of guarding the heart. He did not directly reference the Twilight books/movies, but he mentioned the genre of romance fiction, and how it impacts women. He first mentioned how many men get hooked on porn because they love the fantasy of a little kingdom where a woman is sexually/physically obsessed with them. But on the flip-side, women can get equally hooked on romances stories where the hero is emotionally obsessed with them. As men and women, our pleasure sectors are triggered by different things...but it's the same sin. We all just want to be little gods in our own universes and be worshiped.

This is not a small thing. This is idolatry and very sinful, because when we do this, we are "stealing" worship from God. All through Scripture, when angels show up, they're so magnificent that people often fall down in front of them and want to worship them, but the angels always stop them and say NO - worship is for God alone!

Sisters in Christ, I implore you, please view these books rightly, biblically, and put them away. We need to see these books for what they are and where they want to lead us, and repent and tear down these idols of the heart.


 Additional Resources 

Twilight, Part 2: Satan's Grim Parody of Blood Leading To Eternal Life