I heard a piece of news so shocking today that I had to look deeper.
At youth they posed the question. “Would you give up your soul, for the kind of love described in the Twilight.” The overwhelming answer was yes. Not just from the girls who are non believers or come from bad home situations... which shocked me even more.
I have never read Twilight, it is one bandwagon I have NEVER felt the urge to hop on. So I thought I would read a few reviews and find what the hype is about... the first review I read gave me all the answer I need to understand where the girls are coming from.
She said...
“Look, this book is bad. Shockingly bad. But it's bad in that epic, unselfconscious sort of way that makes me kind of obsessed with it, in the same way I'm obsessed with other ridiculous cheap thrill type novels. Although it's bad, it's not that surprising that it's popular. It's full of romantic grandiosity and shoots straight to the heart of teenage girl fantasies about being special and unique and being loved madly by a dreamy bad boy...
... If someone had told me that this book was written by a 15 year old who'd never kissed a boy, I would have said "well, that makes perfect sense. The tone and writing level is pretty much what I would have done when I was a 15 year old who'd never kissed a boy." It's the fact that it was written by a grown-up mother of 3 with an English degree that amplifies the WT* factor.”
I can’t speak for men, but I know girls/ women. There is something in us that desperately desires to be desired, to be desirable. We long for someone to come along that thinks we are extraordinary, that will lead us on adventures and say we are brave and strong and beautiful. We want that someone to be strong, to protect us... to know what we are feeling and still encourage us to talk about it. We want someone who will tell us how beautiful we are and show us how proud they are to be a part of our lives. We want someone who makes us the best version of ourselves, just because we are around them.
To be honest, what we are looking for is God in the body of an attractive man.
Twilight paints that kind of a picture. Here is an amazingly handsome, strong, eternal being that wants to be with one girl, for the rest of eternity. How lucky is she!!
I hate what these books do to girls. Not only does it create unrealistic expectations of what men should be. It is a form of idolatry. These young girls were so in love with the character... if they could find anyone close to that, they would give their life, their body, their soul to him. It’s so dangerous.
Unfortunately, it becomes a very short leap to, giving up your life and even your faith, to have a relationship with a man/boy who fulfills only a very small fraction of the “list.”
I can’t even tell you how my heart hurts for the MANY women that I know that settled, they married a Non Christian because of how he made them feel at the beginning. Because of how he loved them... Only to find themselves a few years down the road desperately lonely and wondering why the man is not filling the God shaped space in their lives... After all, he managed to do it in the beginning didn’t he... What changed?
I wish I could just help them see, before any life changing acts take place. HOW MUCH God loves them. I would share testimony of how God has protected me AND led me into adventure. How He has made me feel beautiful and cared for and loved. How I am the best version of myself, the more I spend time with Him. I wish He would reveal to them his strength, his power and majesty, his mercy and meekness. I wish they could see clearly that God, who knows every detail about them, still longs for them to talk to him. He wants to hear everything they have to say. He knows just how they feel but wants them to express it with words. He would never tell us to shut up, or leave him alone. He wouldn’t go out with the guys and leave us at home.
A husband IS NOT GOD, A boyfriend IS NOT GOD... we need to allow them to be men, on their own journey with the Almighty. We need to allow God to show His love to them through us and recognize when God is using a man to that same purpose for us... Never accrediting God’s love, power, strength, humility to the man himself. He is not God -I don’t think I can say it enough. You will NEVER know true undefiled love from anyone other than him.
But how can we encourage anyone to think this way, when it is so hard to do ourselves?
Oh Father, please reveal your heart to these girls. I pray they never trade their heart and souls for a weak imitation of Love. Protect them.
Be’shem Yeshua, Amen.
