Superman

I watched the trailer for the new superman film thinking, 'it would be ok for my kids to see, there's nothing wrong with Superman' however the trailer told me exactly what the film is about...

2 quotes from the website:

"The world doesn't need a saviour and neither do I" - Lois Lane

"They could be a great people Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all -their capacity for good- I have sent them you... my only son" - Jor-El (Supermans real dad)

A bit worrying, really :-o

Ste

Superman has always been a godless, blasphemous movie.

I only ever saw Superman 2 before I became a Christian. I wouldn't go to see this one or any other they might make.

Give the time and money to the things of God. The day of judgment is fast approaching. Let us not sleep, as it says in scripture.

I'd hate to be watching Superman when Jesus returns, or any other movie for that matter!

Sometimes it scares me, thinking about what I might be doing when Jesus comes, if I'm alive at the time.

Don't turn what I've said into another rapture debate, use the thread that is already there! God bless.

enid wrote:
I'd hate to be watching Superman when Jesus returns

I will be watching superman when Jesus returns but I will be watching the "REAL" superman. :-)

Good one! Scripture says every eye shall see Him.

Let's keep looking. God bless.

I have noticed many similarities to the fallen angels of Gen 6 in the Superman movies, Lilo and Stitch, etc. It was actually one of the kids in my Sunday School class that brought up the similarities to Superman, after we were discussing how the Greek and Roman gods were most likely direct references to the 'giants in the earth in those days...mighty men...men of renown.'

It is very easy to see in mythology. Gods having children with earthly women, birthing beings on earth that were half-man, half-god that were extremely powerful and revered. Some were only able to be killed by extreme measures. It was this reference that made one of my kids bring up that Superman was exactly that. A super-being from the heavens that fell to the earth, with extraordinary powers, who gives no thought to any being above himself. He is the one to be adored, the savior of mankind. Yes, very humanistic.

I must say, though, that Superman or Spiderman don't make me wary half as much as the witchcraft stuff. Maybe it was different for you guys, but we had kids in high school, when witchcraft wasn't half as popular, that carried around the Book of the Dead, wore pentagrams, declared themselves Satanist, etc. I try not to sweat it, as it is all prophesied, but it is still disturbing to see the trend.

One of the Superman movies (from the early 80's) even had the character Superman walking on the water. Does anyone remember this? It was like a purposeful jab at Christianity.

JennRich

I remember the Superman movie you are talking about. It wasn't actually Superman himself who walked on water, it was a character by the name of General Zod.

In another scene in the movie, when the president is on his knees before General Zod, the president exclaims 'Oh, God!', to which General Zod replied, 'Not God, Zod'

Nothing but blasphemy.

"The world doesn't need a saviour and neither do I" - Lois Lane

"They could be a great people Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all -their capacity for good- I have sent them you... my only son" - Jor-El (Supermans real dad)

A bit worrying, really

I see it this way: a bit worry, yes, but a LOT opportunity!

A missionary, Don Richardson, shared in his book, “Peace Child” how he struggled for a long time to find a way to explain the gospel to a savage, primitive tribe in Iran Jirah. They were very resistant. Then one day he saw a tribe offer up a newborn child as a peace offering to a hostile neigboring tribe. That was exactly the analogy Don needed in order to share the gospel. And it worked. At last, many were saved. They understood the gospel because they UNDERSTOOD the analogy that had been built right into their culture.

Many years later that missionary wrote a book called, “Eternity in their Hearts”. He explains how there are spiritual analogies within every culture, and it is the responsibility of the Christian to discover them (with divine enlightenment), and use them to explain the gospel.

Superman has a lot to teach our hardened, rational, humanistic culture. There may be bad stuff in it, just as there are in the analogies of primitive cultures. But how tragic it is if we miss the opportunities to use a potentially helpful analogy in our own culture because we are so worried about the flaws. Weren’t the Pharisees like that? They were constantly missing redemptive opportunities.

Superman was true to his destiny. He was sent from another world. He looked quite ordinary most of the time but in the hour of need, he was there – right away! There’s an analogy! ……….But “Christ is not fictitious like Superman”….. (or however God would lead a conversation)

By the way, from reading these posts, it looks like the scriptwriters are trying hard to discount God, but their attempts seem like pathetic efforts. The darkened souls won't see through it and will buy it, but those who are thinking deeply just might ask some good questions.

Compare Superman to Batman (a rather sad figure). Now, there’s another opportunity to get people thinking.

Here is a challenging question for us all: What are we doing with all the “toys” strewn around in our culture. Are we missing opportunities because we have tunnel vision like the Pharisees, or do we recognize those very things that we find ourselves tripping over as golden opportunities?

I will be watching superman when Jesus returns but I will be watching the "REAL" superman.

Amen, brother. That's a good response!

Diane

I do sometimes enjoy Christian symbolism and allegories

I’m not sure if you are responding to my post per se, K_day, but I decided to make a clarification anyway. I was on a different tangent. I was not speaking about enjoying a symbol or picture – but of SEEING something within a cultural practise or event that contains an integral hint of divine truth - as warped as that may be.

A missionary, for instance, would never find it enjoyable to watch a tribal mother throw her child over a cliff to appease the spirits. This is horrible sin, after all – whether it’s in reality or in a movie. Yet that very event may be of utmost value in bringing divine truth to light. It would be such a shame if the missionary merely analyzed the practise, or tried to explain its wickedness.

Do you see where I’m going? We are not here to be entertained – even by the most delightful of allegories. We are here to bring the Good News of salvation to the hell-bound - those whom God has placed in our lives.

Jesus could see all kinds of pictures in the lives of the people he encountered, and he used them brilliantly to help people “get it”. In fact, he rarely used spiritual words in themselves without attaching them FIRST to life pictures. If he were here today, he would have capitalized on the movie industry because THAT is where the minds of so many people are.

I don’t watch movies, but I know those who are clever at using them to enlighten truth. Some of them are pastors.

Of course, we know that this effort, like any, would be quite vain if one is not accustomed to hearing the Spirit's promptings. After all, none of us really knows what works best. But God does. Now, to cooperate with him………. that is our challenge.

What the devil means for evil, the Lord uses for good. How might God use Superman?

Diane

While I do agree with you Diane, I am wary that people will use what you are saying to say that we should be going to films and suchlike so that we can 'interact' better with the world. This, as I am sure you know and is not your intention, brings us into carnality and compromises our aim at Holiness. I will stick to my original post that I don't like the suggestions put forward in the trailer (who knows what else is in the film), and choose to leave it alone.
However I value the point you made and if sometime Superman comes up in conversation, or other super hero's, then I will try to use the analogy to give the Gospel.

Ste

I am wary that people will use what you are saying to say that we should be going to films and suchlike so that we can 'interact' better with the world.

I’m not sure how I feel about it

maybe it is OK to use worldly examples to teach and relate to the world, but not the Church.

I would challenge this. To those who are very churched, spiritual phrases, terms, and scriptures can lose their potency through familiarity. So the Lord drives a point home through something totally outside anything Christian. He did that for me several times! And if I were to share some of them to Christians, they would be quite appalled, I’m sure. Our God is not concerned about being tidy. He’s concerned about our eternal destiny.

God has often led me in ways that made absolutely no sense, and seemed unreasonable. In fact, that's sometimes how I could tell it was HIS leading. It sure wasnt' mine. The outcome proved that God knew what he was doing.

Diane