I'm sitting at the CC's on Perkins in Baton Rouge. It's Friday, and I've taken the day off from my grueling summer class. I'm here to relax, read a stack of books and comics at Barnes and Noble, visit the local Toys R Us, and...write a blog entry.
I've been meaning to sit down and write this entry for a while, but it's the same old story: the hierarchy of priorities. Ramblings isn't too high on the list, so it doesn't get that much attention.
Before I begin, let me say this: I've received some complaints of late. My stuff is too long to read. I get that. I'm going to fix that. So please keep reading. Please respond when you read, even if it's "good job" or "I'm printing this out to use as emergency toilet paper." Whatever. Just give me some feedback. I received some from one person who said they delete my emails because they just don't see my blog as fitting into their hierarchy of priorities. That's fine and all, but please, at least read before you decide it's not worthy of your time.
Superman and Jesus. This has been in the news of late, especially with Superman Returns. There's a guy who wrote a book all about how Jesus is in fact supposed to be an allegory for Jesus. After all, this cat says, Superman was sent by his father to Earth to save people who can't save themselves. And Superman did in fact die and rise from the dead. So...Superman=Jesus.
Here's the problem: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the two Chicago kids who came up with Superman, were Jewish. Jew.ish. Not Christian. They admitted in interview after interview that Superman was influenced by only one religious figure: Moses.
Let's see how that works. Moses was sent away as a baby to save his life. As was Superman. Moses took a trip down a river in a basket. Superman took a trip down an intergalactic "stream," if you will, in the "basket" of his spaceship. Both arrived as infants to the welcoming, caring arms of foster parents.
So Superman isn't a Christ allegory. I'm sorry to this kid who spent a lot of time writing a book the main conceit of which is false. I'm sorry for Bryan Singer, who put a lot of time and effort into drawing parallels between Superman and Jesus in his movie. Same goes to Richard Donner, director of the Chris Reeve movies.
It's not that I'm against the idea of finding Christ-like qualities in Superman. Far from it. I am against this mentality that some Christians have today: nothing has merit unless it looks like our own beliefs. That's fine if it's your personal opinion, but to write an entire book around a falsehood to push an agenda is just annoying. It's actually insulting, really. And I'm not saying Singer or Donner were pushing a Christian agenda, as I don't think either of them are practicing Christians. But folks like this Steve Skelton are another matter entirely...
I think our Jewish brothers and sisters should be getting the attention because of this Superman movie, not Christians. We get enough attention as it is. Why haven't there been any news items anywhere about this? Instead, everyone's going on about how gay Superman seems and how much like Jesus Superman is. I find this disturbing as well. Superman has some gay appeal, and he's like Jesus? It boggles the mind.
I think it's beautiful that these two young men decided to create a hero patterned after someone I'm sure was a hero to them, a person of great religious significance. And remember, Moses is also important to Christians. We're all in the family, so to speak. I'm not writing this to preach or to judge, just to give you some food for thought. Just to give you something interesting (I hope) to consider. If not, well, at least you can tell those people who keep asking you how much you read that you read something today. Enjoy the waning days of the summer. Chris
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