Read Touched by a Vampire Online
Authors: Beth Felker Jones
Touched by a Vampire (18 page)
Don’t hear judgment in all this talk about desire. Don’t hear
me saying, “Shame on you. You have a love disorder. Shape up.” Instead, hear a message of hope. We can’t force ourselves to love God. We can’t transform our own passions, but we
can
trust in God’s overwhelming goodness to us. We can trust that the Holy Spirit can change what we crave. We can look at the promise that God will satisfy our desire, and we can find hope.
That boy or girl you want so much? You don’t need him or her to complete you. God will satisfy. That man or woman who seems like he or she would finally make your life happy? True happiness lies only in God. That perfect marriage or family or parent or child you wish you had? You can let that image of taunting perfection go, knowing that only God can fulfill. The new life and transformation you long for? It won’t come from self-help or from another person. But it can come from Jesus Christ. We can let go of our glittering Edwards and our other glittering idols and find freedom in Christ to passionately love this life as it’s meant to be loved—for the glory and love of God.
The prophet Isaiah talks about the way God fulfills our desires, promising that “the
LORD
will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (58:11). Picture that eternal spring, the flowing fountain that will never run dry.
In God’s love story, we find the only love that won’t disappoint, the river that won’t dry up, and the place where our passion will be returned.
All Bella Swan thought she desired to make her happy was Edward.
All we need is God.
THINK
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What kind of desires make the Twilight Saga tick? What role does desire play in other stories you love?
Describe Augustine’s idea that there are two kinds of love. Does his explanation give you insight into your own life?
Where do you see people who are passionate about God? How can you learn from those examples?
What would your life look like if your love story were
first
about loving God? What unexpected things might God do?
1.
Stephenie Meyer,
New Moon
(New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006), 312.
2.
Martin Luther,
The Large Catechism
, trans. Robert H. Fischer (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 9.
3.
The Large Catechism
, 9.
4.
Augustine, from
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
, First Series, Vol. 2, “City of God, Christian Doctrine,” ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), “On Christian Doctrine,” book 1, chapter 4.
Jesus, the LightT
HE
T
WILIGHT
S
AGA STIRS UP
the hopes of its many readers.
As I’ve led you through the themes of the saga, I’ve tried to point out that those hopes and desires aren’t bad things. It’s not wrong to dream of love (or marriage or family or transformation or any of the other dreams and hopes that are part of the saga). But if our hopes are raised by things bound to disappoint—as anything that isn’t God is bound to disappoint in some way—I worry that we’ll turn into sad cynics, people who look back on the dreams for love we once had and laugh at how false our hope turned out to be.
God can transform our hopes and desires, though, giving us a love story that will not disappoint. If this book has helped you begin to see some of those hopes differently or to ask questions about putting all hope in things that aren’t God, then I’m glad.
My own hope, as you finish this book, is that you might catch a vision of the great hope that lies in God. God gives us
a vision of hope in which we live in the bright light of Jesus’s love.
The titles of Meyer’s novels are all about light. Twilight is the time between darkness and light, the end of the day when the light is fading. The new moon provides just a sliver of light in the darkness. An eclipse blocks the light, keeping it from reaching us, but the breaking of dawn implies the coming of hope and the possibility of vision. Darkness threatens, but light breaks through. Stories of light and darkness capture our imaginations. They reflect our own stories, stories in which we struggle, in which we’re in danger of being unable to see when we long to see clearly.
We live in a world of light and darkness, a world where we sometimes find ourselves stumbling through the shadows, unable to see the way ahead. Scripture is full of promises about the ways that Jesus brings us light. Everything was created through Him. Life is found in Him, and “that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness…” (John 1:4–5). Scripture promises that darkness has
not
overcome that light. People can be witnesses to the light, but none of us are ourselves that light. Jesus is “the true light” and gives light to all people (verse 9).
The vision of hope in the book of Revelation is a vision in which darkness has been driven away and we can see clearly in the light of Christ. God’s “city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there” (Revelation 21:23–25). We have a great hope, and we can trust in God’s great promises. Darkness and evil will be overcome. God will destroy grief and death and sin and give us new life in the light of Jesus’s perfect love. We don’t have to look for anyone but Jesus to light the way for us.
This guide is meant to encourage you to discuss the material in this book in relation to the four books in the Twilight Saga.
The questions in this guide are meant to get you thinking and talking about the events and characters in the books and your own reactions to them. These questions are more plot focused and less focused on the themes of the Saga or relating those themes to the spiritual life.
For each particular novel in the Twilight Saga, I’ll suggest chapters in this book that would be helpful to discuss while discussing that novel. As you think about the themes of the Saga and the meaning of those themes for your life of faith, I encourage you to turn back to the questions at the end of each chapter in this books, questions that encourage you to think biblically about those themes.
1. Why did you pick up the book? Did someone recommend it? Did you read it quickly?
2. Talk about the feelings reading the novel stirred up for you. Excitement? Annoyance? Longing? Cynicism? What events in the story contributed to those feelings?
3. When we first meet Bella, she is leaving her mom and home in Phoenix, embarking on a new phase in
her life. What do you think of Bella’s independence? Does it represent something we long for as we grow up? Is it something more frightening?
4. Spend some time talking about Edward. Describe his character. What draws Bella to him? What frightens her about him?
5. Imagine you are in Edward’s shoes when he first meets Bella. What factors contribute to the look of hatred he gives her?
6. Why does James fixate on Bella as his prey? What emotions does this raise for Bella and the Cullen family?
7. Think about
Twilight
in relationship to chapter one, “Forbidden Fruit: The Allure of Dangerous Romance.” How is romance portrayed as a) dangerous, b) consuming, and c) fated?
8. What makes Bella and Edward soul mates? Are you more likely to question to the idea of the soul mate after reading this book?
9. In relationship to chapter two, “Dazzled: How Love Works in the Twilight Saga,” how does Bella act as a satellite to Edward? What aspects of their love should raise questions for us?
1. How does Edward’s response to Jasper’s attempt to
attack Bella change their relationship? Should Edward have responded differently?
2. Why does Edward’s departure come so close to destroying Bella? What things, specifically, change for her when he leaves?
3. What role does Bella’s friendship with Jacob play in her response to Edward leaving? What do you think of the way she deals with that friendship?
4. When they think they’ve lost each other, both Edward and Bella court death. What does this reveal about their relationship with each other? Their relationships with friends and family?
5. What do you think of the idea that the werewolves in the series exist for the purpose of fighting vampires? What makes the two groups natural enemies?
6. How does Victoria’s pursuit of Bella contribute to the plot?
7. Discuss the role of the Volturi in the story. Why are the protectors of vampire society so feared and dangerous? What is implied by their old relationship with Carlisle?
8. What do you think of the reunion between Bella and Edward? How do they deal with the hurts that have passed between them? How will it change their future relationship?
9. In relation to chapter four, “The Superhero and the Girl Next Door: Gender Roles in Twilight,” what gender stereotypes are at work when Edward leaves Bella to protect her? When she falls into depression without him?
10. In relation to chapter five, “Baseball and Loyalty: Twilight and the Ideal Family,” how does Bella’s loss of the Cullen family contribute to her despair at losing Edward?
1.
Eclipse
provides many background stories about the vampire world that we, as readers, didn’t know before. How do the stories of the characters’ pasts, the vampire wars, and the nature of newborn vampires contribute to the themes of the Saga?
2. Why does Victoria raise a vampire army to threaten the Cullens? What does their response to the situation reveal about the family?
3. Tension about whether Bella will become a vampire grows in this novel. What were your reactions to this tension? Did you want Edward to give in and change her? Were you hoping for a surprise?
4. What does Bella’s love for both Edward and Jacob say about the nature of love? What do you think of the way she deals with the situation?
5. Why does Bella choose Edward over Jacob? What do you make of her choice?
6. How does the alliance between the vampires and the werewolves contribute to the plot and themes of the novel?
7. In relation to chapter three, “Body and Blood: Twilight’s Take on Abstinence and Sex,” what happens in the book to increase the sexual tension between Bella and Edward? How did you respond to their choice to wait to have sex until they are married?
8. In relation to chapter eight, “Inhuman Strength: Twilight and the Good Life,” what events in the book portray the vampire effort to be good?
1. How did you feel when reading about Bella’s wedding?
2. Why do Edward and Bella have such different reactions to her pregnancy?
3. Describe the effects pregnancy has on Bella physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
4. When she is transformed into a vampire, why does Bella hide the excruciating pain? Do you think she did the right thing?
5. What is so surprising about vampire Bella?
6. What do the special gifts of the vampire characters,
especially Bella’s shield and Renesmee’s way of communication, say about the characters? About what is of value in their world?
7. What is the importance of the Cullens’ gathering vampire friends from around the world in preparation for their stand against the Volturi? What light do these various vampires shed on vampire society? On the Cullen family?
8. Can you explain the Volturi response to the Cullens?
9. In relation to chapter six, “For Eternity: The Good, the Bad, and the Reality of Marriage in Twilight,” do you think the story in
Breaking Dawn
tends to despise marriage or to romanticize it?
10. In relation to chapter seven, “Monster Spawn or Precious Child? Children in the Twilight Saga,” how does Bella becoming a mother impact your own thinking about parenting and children?
11. In relation to chapter nine, “My True Place in This World: Bella’s Search for Purpose,” why is vampire life the right life for Bella? How does it help you think about your place in this world?
12. How could the series have ended differently? Are there characters you’d like to hear more from? How does the ending Meyer chose reflect the themes of her Saga?