Twilight ad nauseum

I'm bored with this Twilight stuff so I can only imagine how bored you must be if you are reading this. However, I need to finish it because I said I would.

I left off with I Timothy 4:7 which says, "...have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales..." However, we need to understand the context. Paul is teaching Timothy his job as a pastor and there were a lot of false doctrines circulating back then. By false doctrine I mean things that people were teaching as truths which scripture would teach us are not. A current example would be the modern practice of feng shui in which people try to arrange things in their home or workplace in such a way as to funnel the energy of the universe in order to benefit them or help them achieve their goals. People practice and teach this as truth.

So Paul starts the chapter by admonishing Timothy:

1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Later in the chapter he tells Timothy what it is he should teach the church. I will readily admit that most stories about vampires and werewolves are not taught as doctrine; they are stories meant to entertain (although, we must be aware that occult practitioners can use these stories to teach their ways). Therefore, they don't really fall within the realm of the strict interpretation of this passage. On the other hand, anytime one dabbles in the occult whether it be ouija boards, seances, horoscopes or whatever, one opens oneself up to the enemy. For that reason, for my own life, I take I Timothy 4:7 at face value and avoid all that stuff including vampire type literature, even for entertainment.

Should all mature adult Christians think the same way? Maybe, maybe not, as Jimmy pointed out in the comments. I surely would urge you not to let your children and teens use this kind of entertainment. Most of them are still working out their world views and still immature in their faith. Reading stuff like that has great potential to harm their relationship with Christ by distorting their views of spiritual reality and opening them up to oppression from demonic forces.

Let me give you a sort of challenge to close this post and then I will just have one post to go to finish out this topic. Someday we will all stand before Christ and our works will be judged (see I Corinthians 3:12-15). This is not where our sins will be judged, they were judged on Calvary and removed when we were born again. This is where God piles up all the time we spent playing Freecell, watching football, reading Twilight, playing golf, hunting, fishing, shopping for frivilous wants, watching worthless TV & movies, worshipping, serving, praying, witnessing, etc., etc., etc. and shoots it with his celestial flamethrower.

In a moment the only things left will be what we did for him. So, what do you want left in your pile? My challenge is, for every hour that you spend reading Twilight (or something similar) this week, spend an hour in prayer, Bible study, worship, or some similar activity. Do that for a couple of weeks and see if that affects your attitude about vampire stories. I'm not making an assertion that it will or will not; I'm just saying give it a try.