It's A Bird...It's A Plane...No, It's Jesus!

RELIGION IN THE NEWS

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This weeks item is from an ad in the Entertainment Ministry, the following are excerpts:Did you know that Superman and his father share the last name of El, the Hebrew word for God, or that his earthly parents were originally named Mary and Joseph, and that his arch enemy is a man called Lex Luther, a named suspiciously like Lucifer?Who is this superman?About the story:From above a father sends his only son to earth.The son is raised by adoptive parents in humble surroundings, yet he has a special destiny.He will use his unique powers to fight the good fight.He will wage a never ending battle for truth and justice.He alone will sacrifice his life in order to bring a better way to the oppressed and afflicted in all of humanity.This is the story of two saviors.About the study:Superman is not Jesus Christ, but he is a Christ figure, as we all should be.Thus this 3-volume study reveals the striking parallels between Jesus Christ and Superman, applies those points to our personal lives and equips us to reach those who are attracted to a superman, but don’t know their true savior is the superman Jesus Christ.

Tom:

You know, Dave, if I wanted to bend over backwards, in which I think I would have to, I’d say, Well, this person is sincere and he’s trying to do something good, whoever developed this, and so on, but I can’t go there.This is trashing the Bible, this is trivializing, I think, the Word of God. This is a cartoon character, you know, a comic strip character, and you want to relate this character to the Savior of the world, God the God/man Jesus Christ?There are a lot of problems with this, but you pick up on it and I’ll jump on it later.

Dave:

Well, again, I referred to Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, and she thought if we could just turn Jesus into a scientist—wow!Look how powerful he would be, he knows all the laws, and so forth.You’re demoting Jesus, He’s not a miracle worker anymore, it all works by laws and all you have to do is know the laws and you can do it the same.And that’s exactly what Pat Robertson taught in that book, and continues to teach, as far as I know.That we can do it because we can speak this word of faith.God said, Let there be light, well then, we can—think of the force, the power in your tongue.So now, Superman—Wow!Now if we could liken Jesus to Superman, wouldn’t that really, I mean, fantastic, you could see Jesus in a new light and you could see that He really is a superman.No, He is not a superman, He is divine.It reminds me of The Message.I think we are going to say a word about that, I guess.What is it? John:3:30He must increase, but I must decrease.
See All..., I think it is that says, well, in The Message: He that is from above is head and shoulders above all other messengers.What?He is above all, and you are demoting Jesus to bring Him down to the level of Superman. Superman, no!

Tom:

You see, Dave, this idea, this approach, not only is it superficial at best, but it’s misleading, you know, as you’ve been pointing out.Now we’re trying to identify Jesus with, as I said, a comic strip character.What are we learning?At best we’re learning something that’s dead wrong, missing who Christ is, as you said, this is God, this is the divine Jesus Christ.All right, so it’s misleading that way.The other thing is, it has reduced the Word of God, the living God, to trivia.Okay, but supposedly the attraction is, well you know, a lot of people like Superman, a lot of people like popular stuff, it’s entertaining.It doesn’t stop with Superman, this Entertainment Ministry, they have the Mayberry Bible Study.Now I know you’ve never been into TV, and so on, so you wouldn’t know some of these things, but this is Andy Griffith, the Mayberry Bible study, the Beverly Hills Bible study, the Lucy Arnez Show Bible study, the VanDyke Show Bible study, Gilligan’s Island Bible study, the Bonanza Bible study, A Christmas Carol Bible study.What!Look how we have, not just drifted away, we’ve been herded away from the Word of God.

Dave:

Well, we’re insulting God, He needs a little help.

Tom:

Demeaning, undermining.

Dave:

Demeaning is right.He needs a little help, and let me just read the last few lines of this news item.

Tom:

Well, it’s actually an advertisement.

Dave:

Right, this is an ad.This 3-volume study—wow!Three volumes reveals a striking parallel between Jesus Christ and Superman.Well, first of all, Superman never existed and Jesus did!And Superman—you couldn’t even begin to compare him to Jesus Christ.It’s an insult to the Lord.

Tom:

Well, at such an incredibly superficial level, and it can’t go any deeper than that, that’s the problem.

Dave:

Right, and it applies these points to our personal lives and equips us to reach those who are attracted to a superman but don’t know their true Savior is the Superman Jesus Christ.Tom, Wow, they preach the gospel from all kinds of fall out, the Force, the Star Wars Force.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

Somebody wrote a book about that.

Tom:

Right, The Gospel According to John Lennon, I mean, whatever seems to be attractive or that you can market, let’s put it in those terms, this is marketing, this is about a book, this is about something that might get popular because people are into it.It’s blasphemy, Dave!

Dave:

Blasphemy, and it’s the wrong motive.

Tom:

Right.