Deforming Our Conscience
This was by far the most difficult book of the series for me to read. It took me less time to complete it because I couldn’t wait to be done with this series so I picked it up as often as I could. I prayed before and after I read it, because I was considering not completing this read. I know some may ask, “Why did you read it?”
As I mentioned in my first post on this series, Twilight Untwisted: A Catholic Mom’s Perspective I felt compelled to review this series and it has taken much discernment and prayer to make it through.
In my opinion, the series becomes more and more bizarre as the story progresses. While in honesty, I have come to understand how Stephanie Myer has been able to capture the attention of our youth, I fear for them, as they may have embraced the many fallacies expressed in this book. While older teenagers may be able to discern and disseminate the bad from the not so bad, I was constantly disturbed by the reminder that children as young as 10 -11 years old are reading this series.
I have three points I’d like to discuss: 1) The contrast between chastity and abstinence as it relates to the main characters; 2) the value of marriage & family; and 3) desensitizing of our conscience.
1) I mentioned in my last post ‘Relativism at Its Best in the book Eclipse’ that Twilight Moms have mistaken Bella and Edward’s choice to abstain from sexual intercourse until they are married as chastity. While chastity includes abstaining, one can abstain without being chaste, and this is what Bella and Edward do. Chastity would include purity in conduct and intention, along with restraint and simplicity however, while Bella and Edward deliberately avoid sexual intercourse they do not avoid the temptation, constantly creating opportunities and situations that could easily result into them giving in. Bella is not in full agreement with Edward and refers to the fact that his age, being 100 years old makes him old-fashioned. Is this the message we want our youth to embrace, that being chaste is old-fashioned? What’s wrong with Edward’s stance on abstinence? Why did I call him a puritan? While Edward’s stance is noble and conscientious, he is following a high moral code for the sake of following it, basing it on a law from his upbringing.
Chastity is a means to practice self-discipline and personal responsibility. It demands that people be treated with respect and dignity. We have to look at each other as complete persons and not as a means for our own pleasure. As human beings, with intellect and free will we can choose to act beyond our emotional and physical inclinations. We all have the inclination to sin and evil will present itself as a “good” and while sex is good it is meant for the enjoyment of married couples. Like everything else about our human nature, it serves a purpose and this purpose is a balance between an expression of love exclusive to husband and wife and procreation, without placing unequal importance on one or the other. However, to truly embrace this life, one would have to consciously avoid situations that could lead to temptation.
2) Bella views marriage much the same way she views abstinence as old-fashioned and unnecessary. It’s only because she wants to be with Edward so desperately that she begrudgingly marries him. With so many young couples choosing to live together before marriage, Bella once again represents the typical young adult who cannot see the value of marriage. I will write a whole other post on this topic, because there is so much to be said about the value of the Sacrament of Marriage. Another aspect of married life that Bella quite easily dismisses is openness of life. She initially is not open to life; until she finds out she is pregnant. Then she shares this thought…” I’d been unable to imagine that I would like being married until after I already was – unable to see that I would want a baby until after one was already coming…”
This comment struck me; before reading this series I had heard a few people mention to me that there was a pro-life theme in the series because while everyone is advising Bella to abort the pregnancy, she chooses to go through with the pregnancy. I don’t even want to get into how this story line fits into the pro-life theme because Bella is carrying a creature that is only part human. This is when the story takes on a bizarre turn of events. However, I mention it here only because I find that Bella’s comment holds a message for today’s young married couples who put off having children for some insignificant reasons. If more of today’s couples trusted in God, they too might be able to say, that while they couldn’t see themselves as parents, once they were pregnant they realized how much they wanted to be.
I can relate to this, as in our first years of marriage before our reversion in the Catholic faith, we too thought we had valid reasons to put off having children, until we realized we were pregnant. Even though it was unplanned and a result of our irresponsibility, when we miscarried we were genuinely saddened. This experience helped us to see, that we no longer had a valid reason to put off starting our family and 1 year later I gave birth to my oldest son.
3) Another character in the book, Jacob summarizes how we endanger our conscience when we constantly expose it to evil. While Jacob himself is a supernatural character, a shape shifter, he originally views the vampires as the “enemy.” As he finds himself in a situation where he spends more and more time with them, he shares this thought…” This was the problem with hanging out with vampires – you got used to them. They started messing with the way you saw the world. They started feeling like friends.”
There is truth in this statement. The “enemy”, satan has no power over us, we are saved through the blood of the cross, Christ bought our salvation with a heavy price of his own life. However, what satan can do – when we give him a doorway, by exposing ourselves to images, movies, books, etc., that damage our faith anddeform our conscience, – is confuse truth and lies. Satan cannot force us to do anything, we always have our own free will, but being the father of lies he can twist truths and present situations where we will be tempted to make choices that go against our conscience. That is why it is so important that we work to form our conscience well and that we rely on God’s help to make the right choices. We also need to rely on God’s mercy, as satan can also use our past mistakes to bind us in the chains of sin. When we feel hopeless, and begin to despair we can be certain this does not come from God.
I think this is the most important message of all, what is ironic is that I would place the Twilight series in the class of books that could deform our conscience, as it twists truths and devalues human dignity and human life. If you are searching for eternal happiness, for a man who fulfill all your needs, than I implore you to make room to get to know Jesus. We are both physical and spiritual beings, and we have needs that are both physical and spiritual, there is no human being that can fill those needs. God created us with a desire to seek Him, he doesn’t force us to love Him, but he does want us to choose to love Him.
Living Water 