Giving youth pastors the tools they need to make and shape disciples.

Comic Book Movies As A Catalyst For Spiritual Growth

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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

short rant:

Yesterday I was listening to the Iron Man 3 soundtrack (songs inspired by the movie)  and was saddened by the lack of inspiration on the songs. Looks like the bands did not see the movie. This is an action movie, but the songs don’t take me there. I mean really? Imagine Dragons Radioactive does’nt make the cut?

Let’s remake this soundtrack with songs that inspire, challenge, and rock. Leave your suggestions in the comments below. I’ll start: The new single from Saliva : In It To Win It, the clean version of course.

Onward

I just saw #BatmanvsSuperman and it was pretty awesome. I’ll have a post up soon about the spiritual preaching implications of the movie. For now, here is a post a wrote when Iron Man was hot.

I love comic book movies. Many of them tell stories that compliment the biblical narratives that already exits. The Avengers, Batman, and even The Green Lantern share themes that impact us all, the struggle between good and evil, self doubt and self confidence, and sin and redemption. If we  have a good knowledge of scripture, the lessons jump out at us.

Comic book movies are modern day parables. Some shiver at that thought because they think these movies will replace the parables Jesus taught, but that is an unfounded fear. Comic book movies are this generations parables and they give youth workers and children’s workers a great opportunity to connect life changing stories from scripture to students’ every day lives. Pastors, of a certain age, love to reference, or build sermon series around, examples of war and sacrifice in their messages to relate spiritual truths. Comic book movies are no different.  I learned a simple definition of a parable years ago that helps me discern movies today” Parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. If the movie has no spiritual message or redemptive value, if the movie puts us down instead of lifting us up, then it’s probably not a very good movie.

Although the directors of these movies do not intentionally (as far as I know) set out to tell a parable to help us in our spiritual growth, I believe God favors stories that compel us to realize who we really are and inspire us to take action to do good.  Connecting the dots between comic book movies and spirituality goes back to us knowing the eternal themes of scripture and God’s action in sending his Son Jesus, the ultimate hero, to redeem us from a fallen world. If we get this, we’ll have no problem drawing the biblical parallels to spiritual truths that our kids need to hear through a medium they are already familiar with.

Do you plan on using any upcoming comic book movies as a launching points for spiritual discussion?

Have you used comic book movies in the past to relay spiritual truth? Which movies have you used?

Which comic book movie(s) draw the greatest spiritual truths?

Don’t forget to add your song that SHOULD be in the Iron Man 3 movie.

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