I just never thought of it that way and it’s probably because of the way Bella and Edward are written. The books seem to have an obsession with eternal youth. Nessie ages rapidly but magically stops aging at 18, for example.
Bella and Edward both seem to have a selfish, self indulgent nature. I commend Bella for being willing to die for her child, but in the quest where Edward goes through his moral crisis of whether or not to change Bella into a Vampire, so many lives are destroyred, Victoria’s army for example. After reading The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, I disliked Bella and Edward even more. Why did this innocent girl have to have her life destroyed because the Cullens failed to go after Victoria when she was obviously a threat and Edward wanted to dally and try to convince Bella not to become a Vampire.

I love characters like those in the Harry Potter books, The Buffy and Angel shows, Charmed, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Star Trek, Star Wars, Terry Brooks books, Firefly, ect because they realize that there is a greater purpose beyond themselves (Ultimately God’s Plan whether literally or symbolically in these works). They suffer loss and tragedy in their lives yet still fight to protect others. Bella never really loses anything or anyone she cares about. She gives up everything to devote herself to a godlike creature. (notice Meyer spells it with a small g), but they just live together with their happy family unit. Do they Cullens ever really try to stop the Voltari if they aren’t going after Bella. They are the so-called keepers of morality, yet they allow Victoria to create an army and lure innocent people underground to feed of them. They don’t want Vampires to be exposed, but have no moral value (they certainly do not value human life except for a source of food or if they forsee them having a really cool power they want to add to the collective.
The Cullens hardly compare to the ragtag groups like Dumbledore’s Arms The Order of the Phoenix, the Scooby gang, The Fellowship of the Ring, the crew of the Enterpise, DS9 and Voyager (or Serenity).
It’s easy to love characters like Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Willow, ect. They are endearingly imperfect and have a desire to help protect the innocent. Bella and Edward lack those qualities. Bella is completely annoyingly helpless during mostly of the series and completely vain and in love with herself once she becomes a vampire. For those reasons it is difficult for me to see the Christian symbolism in the Twilight series where it is easy to see it in the other works I mentioned because of the personalities and actions of the characters.

Twilight (Childhood)–Bella’s story begins in Phoenix were she lives with her mother. At some point she says that her life had not yet begun. This tine would relate to a baby developing in the womb. Sacred time starts in the evening, so twilight is the start of a new day. The juvenile relationship that some have pointed out in this book seems to represent the whole-hearted but simplistic love that a child has for God. Note how accident prone Bella is throughout.

New Moon (Teens)–The darkest night of the month and the book is appropriately angst ridden. Edward has disappeared from her life, and the focus is on Bella’s relationship with Jacob, which represents the social attachments that we form in our teen years that will go on to shape the rest of our lives. Now Bella is not so much an accident waiting to happen as a reckless risk taker. At the end, Bella makes the journey that all mature believers must. She has to search out Edward (God) if she wants him back in her life, and he goes on to tell her that the only way he will ever leave again is if she asks her to.

Eclipse (Adulthood)–Just as something gets in the way of the moon during an eclipse, Bella & Edward’s relationship is eclipsed by a slew of problems that she has to deal with and overcome, but only with Edward (God) at her side. The danger to Bella is external like the illnesses or random accidents that Edward now worries about on her behalf. Bella even has a midlife crisis when she realizes that the death that she has been longing for for 1200 pages is nearly at hand and she is in danger of losing her loved ones. Her worldly ties (Jacob) and spiritual ties (Edward) pull her in opposite directions, but Edward refuses to come between her and those she loves (Jacob).

Breaking Dawn (Transcendence)–Through giving of self in marriage and childbirth she dies, goes through purgatory, and is rewarded with eternal life and perfect union with God.

Though there are many LDS ideas I have seen (mostly especially is the idea of the eternal family) in the Twilight books, I guess I hadn’t even really thought of Edward’s extreme age from hers as being any different from, say, the age difference of Arwen and Aragorn from “Lord of the Rings” … isn’t she something like 2,000 or 3,000 years old to his relative youth [I think he was about 20 when he first met and fell in love with her, and was 88 or something by the time he was eventually able to marry her], or at least, if I recall correctly. That age difference never bothered me, as they were both adults. (Of course, as a reader, I was more able to identify with Eowyn and Faramir than with Arwen and Aragorn.) Back to Twilight comparisons … though Bella is not quite an adult, she does have an “old soul” and both *mostly* wait for an “adult” relationship (the aforementioned sharing of the same bed at night putting more than a little temptation in the mix). Also, of course, there was no way for Aragorn to live forever with his beloved, unlike Bella, who can be made “immortal” … i.e. not quite immortal, as vampires can still be killed. Something to think about, if these random musings of mine make sense to anyone.

(Personally? I am not a Twilighter, but did end up buying them because I could never find them on the shelves at the local libraries.)

Sorry.

From what I read online, Pardes Four Level reading of Scripture is largely washed out by the Reformation. In art and literature it survives because of the models of such artistry in Dante and Shakespeare and because the “discarded image” or traditional four level worldview and epistemology endures much longer than it does in formal scriptural exegesis.

Or so I think. I stand ready to yield to authoritative correction! RevGeorge? Travis?

To me, the “perfect boyfriend” thing didn’t bother me as much as the level of emotion Bella experienced toward Edward all the time. I married a better man than Edward–protective, self-controlled, and incredibly loving, but not so prone to morbid overreaction and he’s never killed anyone. Love, for me, has been more the deep, quiet waters of utter trust than wildly irresponsible torrential passion, and it is not a weaker bond. Our culture is making a big mistake in teaching its young to seek addictive emotional highs as the ultimate good, and Twilight can really contribute to this for anyone not experienced or discerning enough to know better.

Honestly, the sensuality was one of my least favorite parts of the books. I thought I read romance novels, but apparently Jane Austen doesn’t count. (Yes, I was homeschooled.) I realize Meyer is mild compared to some–even some of Madeleine L’Engle’s adult novels have descriptive sex scenes–but as one article I read pointed out, there’s more sex in some of Edward and Bella’s conversations than in “all the snogging in Harry Potter”. I can’t imagine giving that to an 11-year-old. Even 14 seems awfully young to me.

For mature readers, I think the books provide an intriguing look at self-control (though Nzie is right about the morality of constantly putting oneself into situations of temptation) and some literary techniques that I have found fascinating. Mrs. Weasley, I tend to think the fourth book isn’t particularly comprehensible without looking at it through alchemy; on the surface level, it has real weak points and is certainly creepy.

As much as I enjoy the books myself, my recommendation of them comes with far more limitation than my recommendation of Harry Potter, and I think even Harry Potter is sometimes given to those too young to handle it.

All of that to say I agree.

For those of you who read Midnight Sun or Eclipse, did you notice that Lauren’s last name was Mallory? Bitter, marginalized, jealous Lauren? Was that a Freudian slip? or coincidence? or not-so-subtle jab? I somehow missed that in my first reading.

Reading a Newsweek they said, “The vampire books and movie did what Falwell and Dobson couldn’t: make waiting for marriage cool.” I thought that was an interesting quote for this group if anyone has any reaction to it.

I was also listening to a podcast by a Messianic Jewish ministry (I had to look it up to make sure what they were) and they thought that Twilight was the next Harry Potter, so there’s another connection for you. Of course, they thought both series were engaged in spiritual deception, so you know they didn’t have a high opinion of either series. This has probably been discussed here before, but is this just a religious reaction to popular culture and/or the fantasy genre? Has this changed over time? Anyone, have a nice website/source that might address this?

Last thing, John, do you have any suggestions for some books about reading the bible and other texts on the “four levels?” Thanks much.

John and Janet, I share the same concerns as you, having read all four books at the same time as my 15 and 17 year-old daughters. My 11 year-old daughter won’t be allowed to read them until she is at least 16. I’ve posted some comments about this over on Travis’ Hogs Head site. To me, it gets worse throughout the series, and I find the 4th book just plain creepy (and full of too much information).

Red Rocker – another “Finding Nemo” moment I had when reading the first Twilight book – Bella’s mom reminds me of Dory; easily distracted by shiny objects.

Here’s an example of hooks and meat in Twilight: the unfortunate truth of removed, self-absorbed adults. Hook–”I can get away with stuff; I’m capable on my own (because I’ve had to be).” The unseen meat–kids need involved, loving, grownup parents to prevent or balance harmful influences. And with a healthy, intact family, kids won’t look for other “families” to fill their need.

There is far better literature, as Janet says, to introduce girls (and boys) to healthy young love. I’m glad I read some of those, before gravitating, in my mid-teens, to the absurd gothic romances of the mid-60s. I could recognize them as romantic fantasy apart from real life. Nevertheless, lacking a healthy family, or involved parents, I devoured a lot of trash, unaided by helpful guidance or discussion about romantic love.

Which makes me wonder, what Twihards will gravitate to next. I can’t think these books drive the reader to great ideas and literature as Harry Potter does. Instead, I think they’ll read more of the same, ramped-up.