A Biblical Look into New Moon: Carlisle's Perspective

Bella’s birthday party at the Cullen house turns into a disaster. She cuts her finger. Jasper attacks. And all the Cullens must leave, except Carlisle. The exchange between Bella and Carlisle in chapter 2 of New Moon is packed full of theology (thoughts about God). Carlisle explains that his father was a pastor who practiced his faith in a “harsh” way. Carlisle falls to a vampire on a hunt for his father, and Carlisle turns into the thing that his father hates the most. We already know that Carlisle tried to kill himself for years, but his efforts were useless. Yet Carlisle didn’t give up. He looked for a better way. Even Bella as a human is perplexed by Carlisle’s philosophy. She doesn’t understand why anyone would endure such struggle and agony for living different than his peers.

Carlisle’s reply is the essence of his being. He shares his desire for living above his desires – to use his talents for the benefit of others. Carlisle believes that God must still love him and hopes that God will see Carlisle’s desire to follow Him in some way. Some readers may think that Carlisle is promoting a faith based on a person’s good deeds, but I don’t see it that way. Carlisle had already started to question his father’s rigid following of religion. I believe Carlisle knew that judgment fell into the hands of a powerful and graceful God. He didn’t limit God in His abilities to save people or other things.

Carlisle’s explanation for his lifestyle has similar language to a passage in the Bible. It is found in Ephesians 4:17-24. The apostle Paul is continuing his plunge into a contrasting view of the world. On the one hand, the world contains people who have jumped off the fence into a desert of selfishness and death. On the other hand, the world contains people who have jumped off the fence into a pasture of freedom and life in Christ. Paul clearly challenges everyone to get off the fence in the book of Ephesians.

Read Ephesians 4:17-24 as if Paul is addressing Carlisle with the human blood–eating vampires as the Gentiles. How does Paul describe the Gentiles? How does he describe those who live in Christ?