Touched by A Vampire

The book “Touched by a Vampire”  by Beth Felker Jones is a “must have”  for any Christian Parent or Youth Leader and a “should have” for Christians. Within the book the author systematically and comprehensively unpacks the “hidden messages in the Twilight Saga.”

A phenomonal best seller with book one already made into a film and book two opening in theatres November 20th. Not since Harry Potter has there been such a whirlwind of activity surrounding the release of a series of books. The draw is amazing, the marketing phenomonal. The target audience……  tweens, teens and young adults.  Most specifically young girls.  As the book is written from the perspective of a young high school girl named Bella….. most young girls want to read the books or see the movies….. and why not? ….. listen to some short reviews of  Touched by a Vampire.

“Like many who care about young adults, I’ve puzzled over the recent vampire craze. I applaud Touched by a Vampire for shining its brilliant light into a somewhat dark and mysterious world. Utilizing the existing teen fascination of the Twilight books in order to spark an open discussion about love, life, and faith is both smart and savvy. This thoughtful book is a much needed tool for parents, youth leaders, and teens.”

—MELODY CARLSON, author of the Diary of a Teenage Girl series

“‘But Mom, you’d like this vampire book. It teaches that true love waits!’ They knew which pitch to give, and Felker Jones has their number. This book is itself a page-turner, diagnosing vampiric love as meager fare. It turns out true love is not so much about waiting for Mr. Bite, but being abundantly blessed at God’s banquet.”
—AMY LAURA HALL, associate professor of
Christian Ethics, Duke University, and author
of Conceiving Parenthood and Kierkegaard and
the Treachery of Love

Today I will be posting some reviews from others and as the week goes by I will be posting personal reviews….. Please come back and read each new entry.

People around the world are asking the same question, enraptured with Edward and Bella’s forbidden romance in the Twilight Saga, a four-book serial phenomenon written by Stephenie Meyer. The bestsellers tell the story of a regular girl’s relationship with a vampire who has chosen to follow his “good” side. But the Saga isn’t just another fantasy–it’s teaching girls about love, sex, and purpose. With 48 million copies in print and a succession of upcoming blockbuster films, now is the time to ask the important question: Can vampires teach us about God’s plan for love?

Touched by a Vampire is the first book to investigate the themes of the Twilight Saga from a Biblical perspective. Some Christian readers have praised moral principles illustrated in the story, such as premarital sexual abstinence, which align with Meyer’s Mormon beliefs. But ultimately, Beth Felker Jones examines whether the story’s redemptive qualities outshine its darkness.

Cautionary, thoughtful, and challenging, Touched by a Vampire is written for Twilight fans, parents, teachers, and pop culture enthusiasts. It includes an overview of the series for those unfamiliar with the storyline and a discussion guide for small groups.

RELATED LINKS

• > Download the leader’s guide
• > Download the Twlight movie watching guide

This book has been provided for review by Multnomah Waterbrook Press.

You can purchase this book by going on line to: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601422781

The Author  Beth Felker Jones is Assistant Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.  She holds a Ph.D. from Duke University, Graduate Certificate in Women’ Studies, M.T.S from Duke Divinity School and her B.A from DePauw.

John Calvin wrote that “All right knowledge of God is born of obedience.” It is my privilege to serve at Wheaton College as a teacher of theology and to explore what may be known of God when the Spirit leads us to obey. The more I learn about the Christian faith, the more I am stunned by the beauty of what God has done and is doing through Jesus Christ. My goal as a teacher is to help students see that beauty in ways they may never have glimpsed before. That work of teaching is strengthened by researching and writing about the beauty of the gospel spread through time and space.

When not at the College, I can usually be found with my husband Brian, who is a United Methodist pastor, and our three children, Gwen, Sam, and Tess.

True Woman Sighting: Columbia, South Carolina

 

 This article was posted to the True Woman Site by Mindy Kroesche

For Leslie Bennett of Columbia, South Carolina, True Woman ‘08 came in “God’s perfect timing.” Leslie, the Woman’s Ministry Director at Northeast Presbyterian Church, attended the conference shortly after experiencing a time of brokenness and personal revival in her own life.

Since hearing the True Woman message, Leslie said she’s now experienced true freedom and is finding satisfaction in fulfilling her God-ordained identity as a woman. And because of the change it’s made in her life, she wanted to share that message with the women in her church and community.

So on four consecutive Wednesdays in July during a morning and an evening session, Leslie’s church hosted their own True Woman Columbia. During the sessions, over 200 women from 25 churches and nine denominations gathered to watch True Woman DVDs, hear personal testimonies, and have lively and honest conversations. Leslie said that the attendees left encouraged, convicted, and filled with hope. She shared just a few of the ways that God touched hearts, including:

• “Yes, Lord” hankies were spotted tied to a purse and a tennis bag. Another lady clutched hers while undergoing cancer tests. It served as a reminder to say “yes” to the Lord during the numerous medical examinations. Her hankie has already been washed several times!
• A career mom reported she was taking the next year off to devote herself fully to studying God’s Word and nurturing her family and marriage.
• A broken woman desperately seeking financial and pastoral assistance from their church was urged by their pastor to attend the event. Her utilities at home had been turned off but she exclaimed, “God put me in the dark so I could see!”
• Another woman heard about the event and attended alone. She was in despair over her troubled marriage to an American soldier who returned from Iraq as an abusive and alcoholic man. She received encouragement and prayer support and plans to enroll in an upcoming Bible study.
• A divorced, unemployed lady was invited by a friend to attend. She would have typically gone out to “party” on the night it was held but instead chose to participate. She didn’t miss one session and is experiencing a spiritual rebirth.
• A working grandmother received God’s confirmation in her recent decision to retire in order to help raise her grandchildren. She now desires to serve the church and enroll in Bible study.
• The Lord gave a cancer patient Romans 11:33-36 as special verses just two weeks before the event. She was amazed and touched deeply as she listened to the message “From Him, Through Him, To Him” based on those verses.

Leslie plans to continue to share the True Woman message through their Wednesday evening classes, as well as reinforcing the concept of biblical womanhood through their many Bible studies. She looks forward to watching how God will continue to work and move in the lives of those who attended.

“With linked arms, we move forward to continue growing and discovering the full beauty and majesty of God’s unique design for us,” she said.

 

 

See this and more at the True Woman blog:

http://www.truewoman.com/?id=809

 

Any woman here in the Low Country of South Carolina that are interested in a similiar event, please email: cindy@ word4women.com.

Feminism Unfulfilled–Why Are So Many Women Unhappy?

 

This was originally posted to Albert Mohler.com

“The woman’s movement wasn’t about happiness.” That judgment, attributed to feminist Susan Faludi, seems to be the blunt assessment shared by many other women. As numerous recent studies now indicate, a remarkably large percentage of women describe themselves as increasingly unhappy.

This issue came to light last month in a fascinating essay by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times. Dowd, whose columns often reveal the nation’s Zeitgeist, cited the fact that a number of major studies indicate that “women are getting gloomier and men are getting happier.” She asked: “Did the feminist revolution end up benefiting men more than women?”

A very similar set of questions arises from TIME magazine’s current cover story and special report, “The State of the American Woman.” As the cover of the magazine explains, “A new poll shows why they are more powerful — but less happy.”

Reporter Nancy Gibbs traces the vast changes brought about by the feminist revolution. “It’s funny how things change slowly, until the day we realize they’ve changed completely,” she observes. As she documents, these changes are easily visible in contemporary America:

In 1972 only 7% of students playing high school sports were girls; now the number is six times as high. The female dropout rate has fallen in half. College campuses used to be almost 60-40 male; now the ratio has reversed, and close to half of law and medical degrees go to women, up from fewer than 10% in 1970. Half the Ivy League presidents are women, and two of the three network anchors soon will be; three of the four most recent Secretaries of State have been women.

Along the way, Gibbs also traces more fundamental changes. With remarkable understatement she simply notes “the detachment of marriage and motherhood” among other transformations. “Women no longer view matrimony as a necessary station on the road to financial security or parenthood,” she explains.

Nevertheless, “Among the most confounding changes of all is the evidence, tracked by numerous surveys, that as women have gained more freedom, more education and more economic power, they have become less happy.”

Gibbs cites a growing body of research that documents this trend toward unhappiness. In “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” [pdf file] published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers explain that women in the 1970s “reported higher subjective well-being than did men.” Now, the opposite is the case.

The big question raised by these studies is this: Has feminism produced unhappiness among women? That question is inescapable when seen in light of the historical context. The great transformation of society by feminism took shape only after the 1970s. As a political and social movement, feminism has been stunningly successful. In the span of a single generation, the society has been overwhelmingly transformed. But, over the same period, women report themselves less happy, especially as compared to men.

As Gail Collins notes in her new book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, the pace of this transformation has been absolutely stunning. “The cherished convictions about women and what they could do were smashed in the lifetime of many of the women living today,” she observes. “It happened so fast that the revolution seemed to be over before either side could really find its way to the barricades.”

Nevertheless, Collins, also a columnist for The New York Times, concluded: ” The feminist movement of the late 20th century created a new United States in which women ran for president, fought for their country, argued before the Supreme Court, performed heart surgery, directed movies, and flew into space. But it did not resolve the tensions of trying to raise children and hold down a job at the same time.”

These tensions have erupted as flash points in our national conversation over recent years. Some feminists have accused women who decide to stay home with their children as “letting down the team.” Gail Collins cites Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of undergraduate admissions at Harvard University as saying, “It really does raise this question for all of us and for the country: when we work so hard to open academics and other opportunities for women, what kind of return do we expect to get for that?”

The essays by Maureen Dowd and Nancy Gibbs both raise the fundamental question of feminism – Has it led to greater unhappiness among women? Dowd and Gibbs remain committed feminists. Nevertheless, as Dowd notes, feminism has served to increase the burdens upon women, even as it promised to open doors.

Sadly, most feminists seem incapable, given their ideological commitments, of asking the hardest questions. “Progress is seldom simple,” Gibbs explains, “it comes with costs and casualties, even challenges about whether a change represents an advance or a retreat.”

In reality, feminism was never only about opening doors for women. In order to make the case for the vast social transformation that feminism has produced, the feminist movement aspired to nothing short of a total social, moral, and cultural revolution. Along the way, feminism redefined womanhood, marriage, motherhood, and the roles for both men and women.

Nevertheless, it appears that most women are uncomfortable with this total package. Instead of producing a vast expansion of happiness among women, the feminist movement must now answer for the fact that women, by their own evaluation, appear to be less happy than before the revolution.

The reason for this is probably quite simple. Women are in the best position to evaluate, not only what feminism has gained, but what it has lost. Maybe Susan Faludi is right – The women’s movement wasn’t about happiness.

_____________________

I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at mail@albertmohler.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AlbertMohler.

I discussed this topic on Thursday’s edition of The Albert Mohler Program with special guest Dr. Denny Burk, Dean of Boyce College.

Brunch and Chocolates…..

Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Sacred Friendships – Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the FaithBy Robert W Kellemen & Susan M Ellis / B M H Books

This book is a “must read” for Christian women.

I laughed, I cried…I was humbled.

In a time when women’s ministry is often synonymous with brunch and chocolate, we can all learn from the women in Sacred Friendships.

The wisdom, boldness, perseverance, love, and sacrifice displayed by these female heroes will make you want to put down that latte and get to work in the body of Christ.

This historical narrative presents the stories over 50 women and covers 2000 years of church history. The authors allow these women to shine their own light through their letters, diaries, and other writings. We also hear the words of those who were influenced by their faith.

These women teach us to balance life and doctrine, humble care and bold courage, content and character. They speak the truth in love. They teach, counsel, and encourage others through their words and through their actions.

The list of heroes includes mothers and sisters of the saints. It includes martyrs and deaconesses, wives of famous pastors, and women who quietly instructed and discipled followers in their rural homes. You will hear from women who boldly spoke out against and debated male leaders during the Great Western Schism, the Reformation, and the road to Emancipation. There are stories of those who endured slavery and those who fought against slavery. The book ends in a Nazi prison camp, where the faith of one woman encouraged and influenced those around her.

Diversity among the women in Sacred Friendships affirms that all women can serve in God’s kingdom. These women were married, single, and widowed. They included women of high position and political influence, peasants, prisoners, and slaves. Some were mothers and some never had children. All of them lived authentic lives of faith.

I am grateful to authors Bob Kellemen and Susan Ellis of RPM Ministries for including me on their blog tour.

I asked Bob:

Tell us about your speaking, writing, and consulting through RPM Ministries.

Bob: “I believe that most Christians care deeply, but struggle to speak the truth in love. RPM Ministries exists to equip lay people, pastors, educators, students, and Christian counselors to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. We do so by speaking, writing, and consulting about Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Our passion is to empower the church and para-church to care like Christ. As a result, God’s people enter deeply into one another’s lives and make a significant different in the lives of hurting and hardened people.

RPM is our acrostic for Resurrection Power Multipliers. We based the concept upon Paul’s prayer in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.”

We want to raise up a new generation of biblical counselors and spiritual friends who live out 1 Thessalonians 2:8. “I loved you so much that I gave you not only the Scriptures, but my own soul, because you were dear to me.”

How can people get in touch with you and how can they learn more about your ministry and about Sacred Friendships?

I can be contacted by email at: rpm.ministries@gmail.com

A free sample chapter of Sacred Friendships is available here

Sacred Friendships is on sale at 40% off for $12.99 here

To learn more about RPM Ministries, please visit: www.rpmministires.org

**** Please note the above review is from Tabitha’s Team site:

http://www.tabithas-team.com