Should we or shouldn't we?

So, I've sort of gotten myself into this debate--imagine that, moi in a debate--and I'm going to use this forum to discuss it. I need to let you know a few things up front. First, I tried to keep my mouth shut about it (I know, it is hard for me to believe too) because this general idea about what is acceptable entertainment for Christians has been beaten to death in cyberspace and other media, but I've heard enough falsehood that I feel the need to respond. Secondly, I'm addressing these thoughts to Christians. Third, its going to take more than one post to explain my position. Fourth, I realize that in some ways parts of this discussion involve gray areas; those things for which we might exercise Christian liberty. I don't want to break fellowship with those of you who disagree with me on this. I don't want us to look down on each other because of our differences.

So, what the poooh am I talking about? Well several of the females in my life have become big fans of the Twilight books. Someone in that population actually questioned whether it was a good thing for Christians to be reading a book about vampires. Naturally, the rest of them are trying to legitimize the books and their infatuation with them. Rather than argue with all of them about it, I've decided to just write my thoughts here and be done with it.

Right off the bat let's establish that the person who said this is not part of the occult is wrong. According to Merriam Webster Online occult is defined as: " matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them —used with the ". Clearly, vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, witches, fortune tellers, horoscopes, etc. all fall within the realm of the occult.

So, how should we think about such issues? We should go to God and his word for guidance. Deuteronomy 18:10-13 says, "10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God." In this text God is preparing the Israelites to enter the promised land and is giving them a lot of rules and principles to live by. The tribes that would become the Israelites new neighbors were completely pagan and God knew that if his children picked up any of the pagan practices that it would be to their own detriment. He was trying to keep his children pure for their own good and for the good of his larger plan in the world.

Admittedly, vampires are not specifically in that list. However, the vampire legends and occult practices are in the same vein as these things; especially, the idea of consulting the dead. I know people don't consult vampires, but they fall into that idea that if the dead are interacting with the living it must be a demonic deception.

These kinds of things are condemned in the New Testament as well. Revelation 21:8 says, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Many of the things listed in this passage are still practiced today in occult circles. They are essentially ways of investigating the supernatural world or trying to use the supernatural to manipulate the natural. They are all void of God. The only sources available to us regarding the supernatural are God and his angels and Satan and his angels. Since the practices listed here are an abomination to God we must conclude they come from Satan.

The first argument I heard from the Twilight-ophiles was that vampires are not real so this literature cannot be condemned along with the things these verses are condemning. I will admit that is a pretty good argument. Personally, though I don't feel like it works.

First, there might be a sense in which vampires are real. Historians think that the vampire legends got started when people observed corpses that had not decomposed as much as expected. The superstitious people explained this by coming up with ideas about soul-less bodies who had somehow come back to life to torment the living. That may be how the myths came about. But what if there were other cases of demon possession that caused people to behave in ways that we would associate now with "vampire" behavior. After all, Satan is in the business of counterfeiting God. It would be like him to want humans to think he could cause a body to be alive.

Also, we know that there are occult practitioners who have taken the vampire legends and tried to animate them. There are folks who sort of adopt the vampire lifestyle so to speak as part of their spiritual lives. I guarantee you these people are not worshipping God. And as you can see from the verses above, God is not pleased when we substitute other spiritual entities for him because he knows that it will end in our destruction.

So I think that even though vampires are probably not real, the idea of vampires is real. There are people who place vampires above God. In general vampires are representative of evil, they are antithetical to Jesus in most vampire mythology, they represent a demonic rip off of true life and the true God. They are not something to glorify. But can they simply be harmless entertainment? I'll continue rambling about that another day.