Jesus: 218,000,000 google results
Twilight: 133,000,000 google results
"Jesus Christ" gives even worse results, 34,200,000 hits.
If you are like me, but hopefully not, you haven't gone a day for the last couple weeks (or months) without hearing about the series Twilight in one way or another. In fact, I am so confident you have heard about it at least once I am not going to bother to describe it. I imagine that you have heard at least something like one of these examples:
"So-and-so was up all night reading Twlight." (From a facebook status update.)
"Have you seen the Twilight trailer yet?" (I was asked by a friend.)
"You have to read the books and then go watch the movie." (I was told by a young mom from church.)
"So-and-so was up all night reading Twlight." (From a facebook status update.)
"Have you seen the Twilight trailer yet?" (I was asked by a friend.)
"You have to read the books and then go watch the movie." (I was told by a young mom from church.)
On Sunday I listened to one of my high schoolers from the youth group I volunteer at tell me that she had read the entire series of Twilight 7 times. SEVEN TIMES.
Let's take a little excursion here...
There are about 2,400 pages in the entire series of Twilight, and there are about 250 words per page in a modern novel. That's about 600,000 words in the series. Give or take 100,000.
There are about 800,000 words in a KJV Bible. (Someone actually counted and came up with exactly 783,137. How'd you like to be that guy?) About how many times could this young girl have read the Bible in the time she read Twilight? 3-4? (I do not recommend she read it from the KJV though. Try the New Living Translation, the Contemporary English Version, or the TNIV.)
People are enthralled by this stuff, and it leaves me thinking some things about the Bible, Jesus, and people.
-I can't remember the last time someone told me they were up all night reading their Bible, and just couldn't put it down. I have never met anyone, except some of my professors at school, who has read their entire Bible 6 or 7 times.
-Which is better news: That the newest movie on the series will be out in a little less than a year (Nov. 20, 2009, OMG!!), or that Jesus Christ has risen. For some, I think that the latter gets their heart rate going more and is probably more on their mind during the day. (Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.)
But honestly, what drives this kind of passion for a series of books, and why does it seem to affect Christians just as much as nonChristians? How is it that a series of novels about the romance between a vampire and a girl has become so enchanting?
Now I understand that the passion someone has for Twilight might not last a lifetime, hopefully like a person's passion for God, but isn't it tragic if for even a moment we become more engaged with something, in thoughts, words, or actions, other than Jesus Christ?
We can readTwilight, we can go to the movies, but we can't ever let it become a passion that outshines God, inwardly or outwardly, even for a small bit of time.
Next week I will be covering Harry Potter...
J/k.
Let's take a little excursion here...
There are about 2,400 pages in the entire series of Twilight, and there are about 250 words per page in a modern novel. That's about 600,000 words in the series. Give or take 100,000.
There are about 800,000 words in a KJV Bible. (Someone actually counted and came up with exactly 783,137. How'd you like to be that guy?) About how many times could this young girl have read the Bible in the time she read Twilight? 3-4? (I do not recommend she read it from the KJV though. Try the New Living Translation, the Contemporary English Version, or the TNIV.)
People are enthralled by this stuff, and it leaves me thinking some things about the Bible, Jesus, and people.
-I can't remember the last time someone told me they were up all night reading their Bible, and just couldn't put it down. I have never met anyone, except some of my professors at school, who has read their entire Bible 6 or 7 times.
-Which is better news: That the newest movie on the series will be out in a little less than a year (Nov. 20, 2009, OMG!!), or that Jesus Christ has risen. For some, I think that the latter gets their heart rate going more and is probably more on their mind during the day. (Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.)
But honestly, what drives this kind of passion for a series of books, and why does it seem to affect Christians just as much as nonChristians? How is it that a series of novels about the romance between a vampire and a girl has become so enchanting?
Now I understand that the passion someone has for Twilight might not last a lifetime, hopefully like a person's passion for God, but isn't it tragic if for even a moment we become more engaged with something, in thoughts, words, or actions, other than Jesus Christ?
We can readTwilight, we can go to the movies, but we can't ever let it become a passion that outshines God, inwardly or outwardly, even for a small bit of time.
Next week I will be covering Harry Potter...
J/k.
-John
(I hope you understand the enormous amount of sarcasm in this post, and realize I am not trying to hate on Twlight as much as look at how even very small things can sidetrack or delay us on the journey. If we all took a moment to reflect each of us would find the real "Twlight" in our life. That is the idol we need to smash and not Twlight. Although...)
6 comments:
Thanks for your words John...I appreciate your perspective a lot. I was thinking about these things just the other day. For me it's a time issue; how much time do I devote to doing things in the name of vegging out and how much do I do things on purpose? It's kinda like what Sir Andrew Andrew says, "Passion without purpose is pointless..."
anna
Sarcasm noted! As the husband of the young mom most likely quoted, I am aware of the hype that is around Twilight (movie and book series). It's a good movie for being a "teen romance" and for being "low budget". But I also remember the same hype with Harry Potter, Jonas Bros, Hanna Montana, iPhone, the internet and texting. I like the reminder John brings to us that anything can become an idol that needs to be demolished when it takes the place of God. But it's also interesting to note that instead of really helping people gain a desire/reason to read God's Word, we just rip them for not reading it or reading something else. Christians tend to be known for what we're against and not what we're for. Maybe we need to see that people can read (that's good) and they have a craving for a good story (which the Bible is). If we are in charge of teaching God's Word (as I am), I must be responsible for teaching it well and pointing people towards the ultimate story of God's value-giving love for them--a story that they are a part of!
I appreciate the perspective given and insight gained.
To ask ourselves how much different our lives would actually be if we invested the same amount of time, energy and effort toward our relationship with Jesus Christ as we do the temporal things of this world is a question that I believe we need to ask, explore and implore.
So now what? Now that we see things might be a bit skewed, where do we go from here?
Hmmm...
Good stuff. I really like the stuff you post. Keep it up. You should write a book!
Erin, great point. I was apprehensive about writing on this subject because I knew it was a negative remark, when what is really needed right now is positive encouragement towards God, and building people up.
Like you were getting to, this post should probably have a sequel... Jesus and Twilight: How the series reveals a great desire to live in a great story. Or something like that.
Peace and grace!
I totally get what you are saying here. We allow all sorts of things to take the place of our relationship with God.
A few years back, my personal pet peeve was the left behind series. Never mind the questions I have with their theology and doctrine (that could get into a whole messy conversation that isn't intended here), people were obsessed with the series.
I read most of the series (don't remember which book I quit on) and so people would often engage in conversation with me about them. And the strange thing... as obsessed as they were with the book series and as much as they wanted to talk about "the end times", most had not even read the gospels, let alone revelation or any significant portions of scripture. Talk about ridiculous.
For me though, the biggest realization I have had in my personal walk was that sometimes the very things I say I am doing for God become a distraction from God. And worse, my efforts to "do ministry" sometimes get in other people's way as they attempt to follow God.
Certainly reading Twilight less (or in my case LOTR) and our Bible's more is a good thing. But the danger in church is often that we encourage "church" more at the expense of true discipleship.
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