Wednesday 9 May 2012

A counterpoint to Mark Driscoll

In the wake of the new Avengers movie, Pastor Mark Driscoll has written a brief article suggesting that perhaps all these superhero-loving moviegoers just want to meet Jesus. His claim that people seem to crave "a half-man, half-something else superhero was coming to defeat evil liberate the oppressed and usher in a new kingdom of peace and life" is intriguing, to say the least, but I would invite him to look at it from a slightly different point of view.

Maybe everyone who claims to want to meet Jesus just really, really likes superheroes. Perhaps the need for a good story, with a villain and with one who will save us, is simply so deep in human consciousness that there are those who take it too far, and actually believe their chosen superhero exists, and is working to save them, despite the utter lack of evidence that such a thing is true.

That these movies can be interpreted in similar ways as your holy book only goes to show just how pervasive made-up stories can be.