The Gospel of Twilight

By Jess L. Norton

Many of you have probably read the books in the Twilight saga, and many more have probably seen the movie. But perhaps none of you would imagine that there could be lessons for Christians to learn from vampires. But think again. The Cullens have much to teach you about being a Christian.

No one could possibly understand better than the Cullens what it means to be just and sinful at the same time. After all, they are the so-called good guys while, at the same time, they are also still monsters. They are vampires. Regardless of how many times they suppress the desire to drink human blood, they still have that craving. They burn for a drink of that forbidden liquid.

The Christian is very much the same. We may not want to drink blood, but we are driven by our sinful nature to do other things—sinful things—because, just as the Cullens could not help being vampires, we cannot help being sinners. We inherited this sinful nature from our first parents just as the Cullens inherited their vampire natures from the one that bit each of them. They didn’t ask for it, but they received it. They simply had to learn how to deal with the situation in which they found themselves.

But, you may be thinking, the Cullens weren’t all bad, were they? They were bad, but they did not allow themselves to become as bad as they could have been. No matter what, they were monsters, and that would never change. The Christian’s situation is a little different. We are also bad; we are sinners. We will always be sinners as long as we live on earth. But that is not the end of the story for us.

You see, the Christian is always a sinner. It is his nature. He cannot help it. But as one of the baptized children of God, he is also justified. At one time, the Christian is both sinful and justified, that is, forgiven through faith in Christ. The Christian has no redeeming qualities. In fact, just like a blood-sucking vampire has no redeeming qualities, both are monsters in their own way.

In the books, the Cullens attempt to redeem themselves by use of their self control. Such an idea is surely fiction. The Scriptures clearly tell us that we cannot help ourselves. Every thing in us is inclined toward evil. We will always be sinners just like the Cullens will always be vampires.

But that is not the end of the story. In the books, we are told that Carlisle refused to drink human blood because he refused to become enslaved and debased by his nature. We sin. We are too weak. But the bond that was once upon us is now broken.We are no longer sons and daughters of darkness. We are the baptized children of God.

What does this mean? It means simply that we will always be sinners just like the Cullens will always be vampires. But the price for our iniquity has been paid. In the sight of God, we are justified. How can this be? It can be and it is because the waters of Holy Baptism washed away the stain of original sin and guilt from our souls. Our Lord gave us His righteousness. The Cullens try to become better by the exercise of their own wills, but we can’t, and we don’t have to try. Christ made us good when we could be nothing but sinful.

So is the whole idea behind the goodness of the Cullens wrong? I don’t think so. There is one point that we do well to note. Though they cannot stop being vampires, they don’t have to give themselves over to the wicked desire that is ever with them. They may be vampires by nature, but they are not as far gone as they could be. Some believe that just because we cannot stop being sinners, we should not try to stop sinning. “Christ has paid for this so I can do what I want,” they say. Absolutely not! That was St. Paul’s answer to a similar question. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!”

So which way is it then? Can we stop sinning, or can’t we? We cannot stop being sinners. We will always be inclined to sin, but that does not mean we should stop trying to avoid it. We do not have to give ourselves over to evil entirely. Baptism frees us from that bondage. We should remember that avoiding sin is not counted as merit for us. We will see heaven only because of Christ’s merit. But since we are children of God, it should also be our desire to live lives that are pleasing to God. And so, as forgiven Christians, we strive for holiness and expect nothing in return, knowing that we have already been given more than we could have ever earned or even hoped for.

Mr. Jess Norton lives in Indiana and is currently pursuing his Master of Arts in Religion from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He can be reached at jln83@aim.com