LDS supporting Stephenie Meyer discussion

Yesterday I was driving to the mall with my daughter, listening to a local radio station, and a song came on that seemed to be a love song, but I suspect it was actually written by a Christian rock band (you get that occasionally in Iowa; I don't know about the rest of the country). It was saying things like (loose paraphrase): "You are so incredible"; "I can't believe you would notice me"; "You have become everything to me"; "There could never be anything like this"; "There is nobody even remotely like you." It seemed apparent to me that the female singer was singing about her newly discovered love affair with God, but that the message crossed over enough to the way we sometimes feel when infatuated with human lovers, that it was picked up also by a mainstream radio station.

Since I recently finished Twilight and the characters and relationships are on my mind a lot, I couldn't help noticing the parallel with Bella and Edward. She can hardly believe that a being so beautiful and talented as he would stoop to noticing her. She is obsessed with him, can't stop thinking about him, and can't imagine living without him. She immediately flutters at the thought of him, at the sight of him, and at the touch of him.

There are a lot of Meyer fans who seem to delight in the idea of ever having a relationship like that--with an Adonis-like person who is so far out there in beauty and ability that it is like dating someone from another world.

It occurred to me while listening to the song that we each have the opportunity for something exactly like that. Jesus is so far beyond what Edward is that there is no comparison, and yet He offers an intimate, personal relationship with each of us. He actually wants to communicate with us individually, notices our every thought and word, and wants to be with us all the time. How unbelievable is that!?

It seems to me that if any of us actually caught the full realization of this, we would be so bowled over by it, that it would make Bella's response to Edward seem tame by comparison. Not only would we not be able to stop thinking about Him, but all of our actions, thoughts, and desires would be driven by the desire to stay as close to Him as possible, so that He would never leave us. There would be a prayer in our hearts at all times, an ever-open two-way line of communication, always sharing whatever was on our minds, rather than hiding from Him and ignoring Him the way we usually tend to.

Needless to say, these thoughts come as a surprise to me, and the implications have brought me some joy already today--a prayer in my heart doesn't seem like such a hard thing to do, especially when I'm thinking about how wonderful and amazing He is, rather than how lowly, uninteresting, and silly I am. It's a love affair that never has to end, and the eventual outcome promises to be much better than getting bitten and becoming a vampire--but He certainly does want to make me just like Him!

A few more thoughts, about how Jesus wants to make us like him, without all the nasty side effects that come with Edward's condition:

Last night as a family, in our evening Book of Mormon study, we were reading 3 Nephi 28, when Jesus gives each of his disciples 1 wish. It was neat to discuss with my children what they would wish for if they could have just one wish (so "more wishes," the idea of my 9-year old daughter, wouldn't work; besides, I told her, you don't get cheeky with Jesus). Shauri, my wife, has recently been telling them the story of Twilight, so it was fun also to discuss the amazing gift that the Three Nephites got, in terms of what Edward's characteristics are. They can never die. They can't be hurt by anything (including fire). They cannot be held in even the deepest pits (they smote the earth with the word of God, and were delivered from the pits). All animals are friendly toward them. They can converse with angels at will. They can ask the Father to be able to show themselves to and talk with anyone. They apparently were able to cross oceans (Mormon said they would also minister among the Jews, and the Jews would know it not--that's on the other side of the world). They can feel no pain, except sorrow for the sins of the world. All of this, and it isn't even as good as we're all going to get when we're resurrected; Mormon states that the change that happened to them is inferior to the one that will occur at Judgement Day, when they will be fully celestialized.

My kids loved the discussion, and wanted to talk about length about what resurrected people can do--fly, move at the speed of thought, stand in the middle of the sun--their imaginations were running pretty wild with it.

So as long as we're comparing Jesus to Edward (I know, poor comparison), isn't it incredible what he offers us? The Three Nephites are a cool example, a concrete example, of what is in store for all who develop a close relationship with Him. "Come unto me," is His constant open invitation. And that's no fantasy.