Super Subs?

In the sports world, super subs are a good thing: they keep the team rolling at full speed while the primary starters are out. But this is a different kind of super sub: the super hero.

On the surface, super heroes seem harmless, posing as childhood fantasy and childlike fun. But as I continued to watch super heroes and their shows, I became bothered by the increasing likeness of the characters to Jesus Christ. Oh, sure, Jesus is better than any super hero, but, to this world, super heroes are more appealing than Jesus. Jesus gave us the answer why in John 7:7:

"The world cannot hate you," He told His earthly brothers, "but Me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil."

You see, a super hero will rescue a single mother from her boyfriend, but won't tell her that the reason for her dilemma is that she was committing adultery. Nor will he tell that she needs to repent of the white lies she tells in order to receive a pardon from God. A human hero will give his life so that others may receive his organs, but he will also commit fornication with the woman before giving her his heart, and he will give this defiled woman to a man whom he says is a good person and deserves his eyes.

You see, we can identify with this kind of hero, because he isn't God and won't demand perfection from us: he just does enough good for other people that his own sins may be atoned for--sins such as fornication, selfishness, and lust. A man can assuage his conscience for his dreadful error in taking his eyes off the road long enough to kill his wife and many others by killing himself and donating his organs to "good people"--including the woman he slept with.

Of course, those of you who know the movie I'm primarily referring to (Seven Pounds) may object that I'm being too cynical. After all, didn't Jesus say, "Greater love hath no man than this, than that a man lay down his life for his friends"? Yes, He did. But the act of defiling the woman for whom he supposedly gave his life undercuts any love he professed to have for her. Furthermore, his reason for doing so was not for her, but for him. It was his own way of paying for his sins, especially the sin that cost him his wife. Noble? Hardly. Redeeming? Not so. Selfish? Absolutely. And a terrible substitute for the One who gave up His throne in Heaven to become like the rebels who hate the God who gives them every breath they take and not only to suffer at their hands but to atone for their sins so that He could bring them into His kingdom to bless them forever.

"The world cannot hate [them], but Me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." Like fornication.