 |
|
|
|
|
June 14th, 2013
04:05 PM ET
Superman: Flying to a church near youBy Eric Marrapodi, Co-Editor CNN Belief Blog Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) - As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits. Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing "Man of Steel" to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, creating Father’s Day discussion guides and producing special film trailers that focus on the faith-friendly angles of the movie. The movie studio even asked a theologian to provide sermon notes for pastors who want to preach about Superman on Sunday. Titled “Jesus: The Original Superhero,” the notes run nine pages. “How might the story of Superman awaken our passion for the greatest hero who ever lived and died and rose again?” the sermon notes ask. (Disclaimer: CNN, like Warner Bros., is owned by Time Warner.) Similar campaigns to corral the country's large number of Christians into the movie theater have been used for "Les Miserables," "Soul Surfer" and "The Blind Side," all of which had at least some faith angle. Baltimore pastor Quentin Scott is among dozens of ministers who received an e-mail invitation from Grace Hill Media, a Hollywood-based Christian marketing firm, to an early screening of “Man of Steel.” “There was an actual push to say `We’re putting out something that speaks to your group,' ” said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore. At first, Scott said, he didn’t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore. “When I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story," said the pastor. "It was something I was very excited about that with the consultation of our senior pastor, we could use in our congregation.” CNN Entertainment: 'Man of Steel' director Zack Snyder on Superman's Christ-like parallels Grace Hill’s sermon notes are specially designed for churches like Shiloh that integrate multimedia into their services. “Let’s take a look at the trailer for `Man of Steel,’” the notes suggest after briefly introducing the movie’s history and themes. The man behind the notes, Pepperdine University professor Craig Detweiler, has prepared similar material for films like 2009’s "The Blind Side" and "The Book of Eli" from 2010. The spiritual themes in “Man of Steel” are abundant, Detweiler said, and his notes enable Christians to thoughtfully engage with pop culture instead of shunning it. “All too often, religious communities have been defined by what they're against. With a movie like `Man of Steel,’ this is a chance to celebrate a movie that affirms faith, sacrifice and service,” Detweiler said. It will be hard for even casual Christians to miss the messianic metaphors in "Man of Steel.” The movie focuses on the origins of Superman, who was sent from the planet Krypton as an infant to save his species. He is raised by surrogate parents who help him grapple with his special powers, even though they don’t fully understand the source of his extraordinary abilities. When he turns 33, Superman must willingly sacrifice himself to save the human race. Sound familiar? If that’s not enough, as a boy Clark Kent is shown wrestling with his superpowers, and asks his earthly dad, Jonathan Kent, “Did God do this to me?” “Somewhere out there you have another father and he sent you here for a reason,” says Jonathan Kent. Even the visuals hammer home the messianic motifs. During a fight with his archenemy, General Zod, Superman plunges down to Earth, his arms outstretched as if he were being crucified. Of course, he rises again. Detweiler writes in the sermon notes, “What Jesus and Superman both give us, through their `hero’ actions but also their `human’ actions – is hope.” “I think it’s a very good thing that Hollywood is paying attention to the Christian marketplace,” said Ted Baehr, who runs Movieguide, a website that reviews family friendly films from a Christian perspective. “Where it gets sticky is when they try to manipulate the market and when Christians try to manipulate Hollywood. But here I think we have the right balance.” But other Christians are heaving a supersized sigh at the movie marketing. "Any pastor who thinks using `Man of Steel Ministry Resources' is a good Sunday morning strategy must have no concept of how high the stakes are, or very little confidence in the power of God’s word and God’s spirit," writes P.J. Wenzel, a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Dublin Baptist Church in Ohio. "As they entertain their congregants with material pumped out from Hollywood’s sewers, lives are kept in bondage, and people’s souls are neglected," according to Wenzel, who said he was e-mailed information about the movie. Scott, the Baltimore pastor, said he knows that Warner Bros. Studios has a financial incentive in pushing the film to pastors. But he said that’s fine with him. “They’re using us but in fact we’re using them,” he said. His church won't show clips from the movie this weekend because it had already planned out its service. But he plans to use them later, during meetings with the church’s men’s group. “If you give me another opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus Christ, and I can do that because of your movie, that’s a win for me, because it is about spreading the Gospel.” CNN's Erin McPike contributed to this report. soundoff (6,545 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Next »
Next entry »How the 'Francis effect' could rescue the church
« Previous entryThe pope said what? Six stunners from Francis
|
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
don't b shy dodo. nothin wrong with smelly c v nts and donkeying palin in front of tarded lobed ones. what b the matter DM Murdock?
I'll give the directors' this......Both characters are equally real.
What an original comment
lying mambas making more biz for the boneless chickn market too
other lawsuit will put those cloners in prizz
or we could discuss smelly c v n ts
that's a fav topic of dodo. she likes smelly c v nts
This wouldn't even be a story if it was comparing Superman to Satan, but
compare him to the Son of God, and the media flails its arms.
Jim Slim, you still there? I got different glasses in the spring 🙂 Apparently the black ones were a bit much. Anyway, well said and you proved your point. Thanks for not elaborating.
All he did was google the shit out of your username. You are so gullible.
Extremely gullible. It took me all of 10 seconds to find the same info on you. Google your username and click on the second result. You weren't hacked, just easily tricked.
look at all her girlfriends defending her when they don't no what she is. explain that dodo, u sick lying black mamba haha
too easy
You leave Kobe out of this!
Are you drunk?
Lance = Athy
Lance = Lance. Sorry.
Athy = Athy.
Superman = Jesus
Jesus = Superman
this is the end my friend
say goodbye murdock. at least u could have been honest as u pursued ur lies
The man of steel who uses a rod of iron to rule.
How did a belief column article get on the front page??
Because God wanted it there!
(Disclaimer: CNN, like Warner Bros., is owned by Time Warner.)
That's why, lol.
CNN does this every Sunday. EVERY SUNDAY YOU CLUELESS CATTLE FART! Try visiting more than once or stay over at fox.
No. Nothing like Jesus story.
He's a superhero made up by two Jewish guys. Get over it.
Anything to avoid talking about REAL news (NSA) eh CNN.
JOFFERY! WHY DID YOU KILL NED?!
You realize that this blog is the Belief Blog? Try the other CNN blogs for updates on the continuing 2006 saga of NSA. If they're even covering something that is VERY old news.
Unless Jesus is coming via CGI I don't care for the comparing the two. The movie was amazing to look at, but lacked any kind of warmth or heart, unlike Jesus 😉 also the acting of the lead was terrible, as was the chemistry between him and LL as in there was none. Drumming up interest in a mostly lame film by trying to use religion is rather crappy. Thank God for CGI, this film dearly needed it and it is it's star, however I severely doubt that Jesus would need any.
RichardSRussell – Sorry I took a while to respond. My other I.P. apparently got blocked. hmmmmm. I don't mean any offense Richard. My point is that the net is not very secure. Especially on a server like this which has no https. By the grey beard, receding hairline and black glasses you wear, I imagine you are computer savvy and already know this. The net is a funny place. So many people assume it is anonymous, then make statements they normally wouldn't if they were face to face with someone. I hope that little bit of information helps you in determining my credibility. Have a pleasant evening.
La la la liar.
Lance, I can't do anymore, sorry. Time to sign off. That was four in a row. Just thumb through the comments. If that doesn't convince you, nothing will. I am not going to post I.P addresses. That could be construed as unethical. Adios.
He's not going to post IP addresses because he doesn't have them.
He's just a kid googling and finding facebook and other links on those idiots who use the same username all over the internet like a senior citizen shuffling down the middle of a freeway.
Jim Slim is one of our regular christian idiots who is convinced that all of us are just two or three people posting under different names, when the real number is much higher, and he's bluffing and fooling the more clueless of you into thinking he's got x-ray vision. He doesn't. That's why he doesn't post any IP addresses. He doesn't have server access.
CNN has actual IT people. Jim Slim is not an IT person or hacker, just a kid pretending to mysterious knowledge he conveniently never reveals to the gullible idiots who swallow what he is shoveling.
Nothing but The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell all over again. Stories live on by being retold, whether it's Superman, Jesus, or the intersection where they meet.
This is actually setting up up to believe the false Christ. Christ did not come back to fight evil in this way. Good does not fight evil by doing evil. Christ isn't coming back with a sword to set up his kingdom by fighting. Christ comes and the Bible says the faithful meet him in the clouds, he never touches the earth. This movie is preparing our minds for the fake Christ who will come and attack those people who refuse to follow the beast power(Vatican).
Matthew 10:34, though.
I think you're the one who's feet aren't touching the earth.
Seems like the ones that are smart enough to know that Jesus never existed give some of the stupidest replies on here.
I love how they all "know" he didn't exist, and know so much more about Jesus than I do
Sounds like they're trying to drum up interest in a movie that's getting mixed reviews.
Using the pulpit to sell a product. Thinking (way) back to Sunday School, I seem to remember a similar story. Just saw a cool painting of Jesus locked and loaded and about to bust some dude's nose when I looked it up.
superman ur amazing powers of deflection astound me..ever actually answer to any concerns people have about athiest? or do u just twist it to ur benefit and gain?
Do Christians ever answer to the logical concerns people have about the Christian faith or do they just twist it to their benefit and gain?
What's an athesit?
You had two chances to spell atheist correctly. And you blew them both.