I hear you, Skye...

Of course, if they are going to send me free passes (and they do) I would vastly prefer Superman over the latest Queen Latifah movie! :)

I second Skye Jethani's profuse thanks, and would like to add that because of Warner Bros. restraint, I will go see their movie.

Yes! Thank you for not abusing our pulpits to promote your film. And thank you for NOT trying to convince us pastors that Jesus is equal to a super human man who wears tights, has an identity crisis, and wilts at the presence of a mysterious gem-like rock.

However, I agree with Bob...I'll take free passes to the movie. Just don't expect me to do a sermon series on it.

I've not read much about this yet, but my first thought in response to your questions is: The reason there hasn't been much said in advance of the release of this new Superman is the tone is essentially positive. Anything that reflects negatively on Christianity gets boat loads of press. The opposite seems to be true of the positive.

If I have to tell one more reporter what I think about the Davinci Code, what I think C.S. Lewis was trying to represent in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and so on...I am going to build a hermitage in the mountains and preach to the deer.

Christians need to be savy consumers...consumers of the Word of God. Word in on Sunday, and recycled in character on Monday. Potlucks on Sunday afternoon that give you so much heartburn you remember your favorite deacon and his wife for the whole week...preaching and eating, now that is down home religion...

In Australia Christians - let alone Evangelicals - are not such a large or discrete market, and have largely been spared the shrill pitch of marketers. I was unaware of the lengths film promoters had gone to in order to woo American Christians to their film, but on reflection am not at all surprised. While I doubt that they deliberately sought to hijack the church's mission, I wonder if the church is partly responsible for giving the impression that it would be open to some mutual back-scratching. Consider the ease with which the church has been co-opted by conservative politicians and the seeminlgy unquestioning acceptance of business strategies as church growth tools.

My thoughts are as follows: Many people accuse Hollywood of the shameless promotion of leftist ideals. To some extent I can see the point. But a movie like "Superman", or "the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" goes to show that, above all else, Hollywood is paying homage to the mighty greenback, not to liberal ideals.

The reason why Hollywood makes so many "left-leaning" films is that people, even fairly conservative people, often end up attending the movie, merely because it titillates them by "pushing the envelope".

People ask why Hollywood doesn't make more movies chalk full of conservative values. Well, this movie, as well as “The Passion of the Christ”, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and such just go to show that, if you will pay them for it, they will make the movies you want them to.

I think what more Evangelicals need to do is look themselves in the mirror and come clean about the kinds of movies they are actually (with their dollars) Hollywood to make. If Evangelicals have enough clout to elect a president, then certainly they have enough clout to get movies made.

I’m not trying to liberate Hollywood from responsibility; far from it. But I am saying that the culture is us, and we are the culture. Where are these box office sales coming from?

I find it interesting that while Hollywood despises the idea of a Christ, someone with a strong personal claim on our lives, it delights in creating a secular Jesus for each of its fantasy worlds - Neo, ET and now Superman. Hollywood likes Crucifixions and Resurrections, but dislikes the idea of a Kingdom.
Curiously, whilst I'll end up watching the film with my son Ben, I'm not looking forward to it. I think that X1 and X2 were unforgivably overrated. The mutants were far too attractive and powerful - I never felt that they were really under threat at any stage. They lived in a mansion, for crying out loud. The only injustice I could discern was that mutants weren't being given their rightful place on the front covers of glossy magazines.
In any case, I can't help thinking that "Superman Returns" has missed a trick. The big questions seem to be - can we still believe in truth and justice? Even in our dreams, can we equate Truth and justice with the American way? Given atrocities in Iraq, and the violent rejection of democracy in many parts of the world, do these dreams still make sense? As an Irishman, I'd be curious to see how American Christians would answer.

May i say, though, that I agree completely. I get nauseated at the amount of marketing to churches that comes with "christian" movies. And it's not so much that the marketing to churches takes place that bugs me. It's the fact that churches don't seem to mind being a pawn for the money-making venture.

I'll sue! Before anybody ever heard of Chris Reeve, before Marlon Brando moved to Krypton and gained 100 pounds, I was preaching the Christ-Superman connection. It was my idea, mine, do you hear!!

Okay, I feel better now. Seriously, though I've enjoyed Superman in all his, uh, incarnations (sorry), though I've mentioned the similarities between the Man of Steel and the Son of God in pulpit and print (with another article in the same vein soon to appear on the CT website--tell your friends!), to tell you the truth, I'm getting a little sick of the whole super-savior thing. Superman isn't Jesus. Jesus isn't Superman. Superman isn't real. Jesus is real, praise God.

We are, too, praise God. So, brothers, in the words of the I AM to Gideon, "Go in the [less- than-super] strength you have." With Him behind us, that should be more than enough.

Ditto Skye! It's been a few weeks without the nauseating, non-stop "Christian" marketing firms pushing door hangers, bulletin inserts, web graphics and even sermon power point slides from DaVinci or something else. What a welcome break and perhaps the paper trail break even saved a few trees. Here's an idea, why don't we let God tell us through prayer, meditation, fasting and His word what we should be preaching, teaching, marketing, etc. I know that doesn't sell movies, or pad the P&L statements of these marketing firms, but it's awfully refreshing.

Although I would like to figure out how to get Larry the Cable Guy to use his "Cars" character voice for some church voiceovers, ha!

In our culture, everyone is bombarded with advertising, many times a day. So what's the big deal about someone targeting pastors? Do you think pastors live in a separate world? The solution is simple: If you don't want the stuff they send you, throw it away.

It seems to me that nobody can use the church or abuse the pulpit for commercial purposes without the cooperation of those standing in the pulpit. If pastors stop giving pulpit time to marketing efforts, the efforts will stop. Easy problem to solve.

I saw a story on the news yesterday and I have read multiple others about how many people are saying that superman is a homosexual character in the movie. I wonder how this controversy will be handled by the Church and the media since many have claimed superman is a "Christ figure".

This sounds like a pretty decent movie. I was unaware of the Christian overtones. Perhaps a SUPERMAN Bible study would've been a little too much for most churches.

Ryan wrote: "... many people are saying that superman is a homosexual character in the movie....

Some people will claim anyone is gay if it serves their agenda. My advice: ignore them. And enjoy the movie.

Something about this conversation bothers me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. We seem to be assuming that marketing to Christians is a bad thing. Why? Do we think marketing itself is inherently bad? I don't think it is, but I can't figure out any other reason why we would object to marketers approaching churches.

As for me, I loved the Narnia marketing blitz. My five-year-old daughter has now read through the series with me twice. (We began it in preparation for the movie and she wouldn't stop.) She and I talk candidly about the Christian symbolism and imagery. When she got a Narnia toy in her happy meal one day, she was surprised by joy.

It's perfectly fine not to market Superman to churches. But I wouldn't credit that to the studio executive's high moral standards. They just crunched the numbers and decided their marketing dollars would better serve them elsewhere. And who can blaim them? They have an obligation to their studios to make money. Wouldn't it be great if we all took our work obligations so seriously?

Our Redeemer can redeem anything. Yes even a movie. And I too am glad that the Christian media moguls haven't packaged it and are trying to sell it.

I'm grateful to Warner too.

However, I need to point out that it wasn't Sony who flooded my inbox with Da Vinci material, it was Christianity Today (and others) who seemed, in my humble opinion, to exploit the movie for their purposes.

Just another way of looking at the issue.

The marketing of "Christian" movies as the "next greatest evangelism tool" has got to stop. While they appeal to Christian audiences and often contain some truth, they give the illusion that all a Christian has to do to evangelize is to invite someone to the movie.

I did recently preach a series on The Da Vinci Code. Why? Because of the heresy that is misleading Christians. We've got to take the lie and expose it to the truth so our people can act on it. We've got to equip our people to share the truth in love with those who are deceived. That's a lot different than taking a package of "Christian entertainment" and slapping an evangelism tag on it.

I recently read in secular sources that people have stopped listening to radical environmentalists because of their radical alarmism. Are we doing any different when we cry out that, because Jesus is coming back, we've got to use the latest "Christian" movie for evangelism? Instead, let's take what's in our culture and use it to explain the things of God. Isn't that what Jesus did?

I remember Archie's comment regarding "Jesus Christ Superstar." "Jesus isn't a superstar, Engelbert Whatsisdink is a superstar." (paraphrased) One of the most ignored verses in the Bible is Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know..." (NASB)

No matter how hard we try we find it almost impossible to believe our own orthodoxy. "Jesus was fully God and fully human!" We still believe in some kind of chimererical, fantastical combination of God and man. While I do not believe Jesus was ever in His BEING less than God, He could not in His ACTING have done anything AS God. Otherwise, the main purpose of the incarnation would have been obviated.

Jesus didn't just come to make it possible for man to go to heaven, He came to make it possible for God to be manifested again in human flesh - to restore the image and likeness of God in humanity. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalms 8:5-6; Hebrews 2:6-9) He came to show us how a man ought to live and what a man can do in utter dependence on God.

As long as we see Jesus as some kind of superman we will never be able to see ourselves as what God created us to be. The supernatural ought to become the normalspiritual!

Can someone explain to me why "...family values like truth, justice, and the American way—one could imagine mild mannered Clark Kent attending a church potluck" are defined as "red-state" characteristics? Do people in blue states go to church, love their families, worship God and attend church potlucks? Absolutely! Has Christianity Today been co-opted by the Republican cartel, too? Is "Jesus Christ Superman a Republican? A Democrat? A Liberal? A conservative? Or a comic book character, the creation of an author? Let him be Superman, let him be a film character. but let's not lay our political agendas on him, or on Jesus.

"Instead, let's take what's in our culture and use it to explain the things of God. Isn't that what Jesus did?" quote from previous post...

Good stuff. It's also what Paul did. A good start would be to tear down the dichotomy between sacred and secular...so that we might see the redemptive character (however small) of movies even the likes of the DaVinci Code, Brokeback Mountain and Syriana. Even these movies can stir our souls and point us to the cross if we allow them.

I applaud Warner Bros for their mass marketing approach...although it's also possible they didn't realize the christological connotations of their movie either.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie. One thing I noticed from some of the news stories about this is that Superman is sent to Earth because humanity is basically good and just needs a helping hand. I do not think this is the message of the gospel at all. This is at least one point where the symbolism would fall flat with this viewer.

I'm not so sure about the image of Christ in the new Superman. I haven't seen the movie yet but have heard that Superman now has a 5 year old child who is on medication. Having a child out of wedlock is far from something that Christ would do.

The only true depiction of Christ is in the Scriptures so let's just focus our energy on seeing Him through those pages and those stories. Anything made by man just tarnishes His image.

Brothers,

We have to meet Hollywood half way! They seem to be trying to reach out to us. We've complained for years about the vulger nature of the movies they produce, now we should find a way to let them know that they are on the right track. Regardless of whether they are doing it solely for the money right, they are investigating the Truth in doing so. "The Passion of the Christ" was an outstanding movie. It helped me picture (just a little perhaps) what our Savior went through for us. Mel Gibson did a great job with that movie. None of us really knows what God did in Mel's heart. Is Superman pictured as a type of Christ? I don't know; I have seen the movie. If he is depicted as such; praise God, Hollywood had to learn about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (a little)to make this movie. They had to come face to face with the nature of sacrificial love. They probably understand (a little at least)the sacrifice God had to make for all of us. Would Superman ever want to be stabbed with the very thing that can cripple and destroy him? Of course not! But the producers are telling the audience that Superman did it in order to save mankind. Bravo! People need every illustration possible to understand what God did for us. God uses even instruments that we would throw away to reach the lost. Remember, God's will is that no one should perish, but that all would come to know Him, to have a relationship with him. Check both the Old and New testament again, God has used some very bizarre vessels. Forget having to even go there, look at yourselves; God uses you and me! What? Me? How could He?

Is God doing something special to reach Hollywood? I do not know. (They do need to be saved too remember?) Is God using one of the church's greatest attackers to do His will? Is He using the enemy's own weapon against him? I don't know! What I do know is that if the movie consists of the parallels that you have stated, I will use some as illustrations. I served in the Army as part of the Georgia National Guard and I always planned the following: to complete my mission and to stay alive, I will pick up and use the enemy's weapons against him if I have to do so. . I’m going to pick up this illustration and use it to complete my great commission.

Thank you Lord for using dirty vessels such as us and for breaking down all doors to help us bring the gospel to all ethnic groups.

Randolph Prudent

The best way to deal with a mosquito bite is to ignore it...don't scratch. If you scratch it will swell to gargantuan proportions and give you more grief than ever. If you ignore it it will eventually dwindle and disappear. I have found that's the best way to treat all the claims and comparisons made by people who neither understand nor accept Christianity. Superman is just a movie; the Da Vinci Code is just a movie, entertainment, nothing more. If I focus on teaching the truth of the Word of God, and not spend my time in embroiled in endless debates, false claims won't get the time and attention they shouldn't get, and Jesus will get the attention He deserves. That's just my point of view, of course.

I also saw the analogy with the Christ crucifixion.
Although I was alarmed to see that some basic christian values were torn apart by this new Hollywood blockbuster.
I'm talking about family and marriage principles.
Who would represent for Lois Lane?
Having a child after a one night relation with Superman and quickly get with the guy from the daily planet so he thinks the child is his!!!
It doesn't seem to shock anyone, but her idea of sentimental relationship is a bit confusing!! I know, I know, things have changed, we got to accept modernity in the couple, but I think this a bad example.