Kryptonians, Time Travel, and God's Supremacy

Greeetings Warriors and Scholars!

Found on IMDB.com

I finally saw the Season 3 finale of Supergirl. At the core of this episode is her heart to bring freedom and act mercifully. Spoilers ahead. While facing three Kryptonian women and a final form of Reign, things don't go as planned. 2 members of her team are killed and she immediately regrets how the fight went. Feeling compelled to press on, she does something a bit to Christopher Reeve. She goes back in time by using a Legionnaire ring and a disturbance in space. Christopher Reeve's Superman did it in his first movie by flying around the world in the opposite direction of rotation really, really fast. His goal was also to save a life, that of Lois Lane. I am not sure that would work!

Time travel is something of an enigma. We know we are moving in a direction in time but there is no evidence we can move back in time or hit a fast forward button to see what is ahead. There is a Psalm that says that 1,000 years to us is like 1 day to God and there are a couple times in the Old Testament when God does actions that would suggest moving in time or slowing it down. Or in the least that He is controlling the celestial bodies that we use to understand the passage of time.

In Joshua 10 we find a story with a battle that Israel fights against several armies at once. In verses 13 and 14 there is this song and a quote from another record of Joshua asking God to hold the sun still for the remainder of the battle. According to Joshua it stands still for a full day, making the daylight last twice as long. The other document is quoted as saying there has never been another day like it.

In 2 Kings there is a story about King Hezekiah. He is sick and at first God says "Put your things in order" but then later decides to heal him and add 15 years to his life. Then, as a confirmation, Isaiah asks if he would like the shadow on some steps to go forward 10 steps or backward 10 steps. King Hezekiah is not foolish and realizing that forward would be "simple" he asks for the sun to go back 10 steps and it happens.

What we have in these events is 2 pictures of God operating outside of our universe to affect it. He is essentially affecting the rotation of the Earth in front of human eyes. I remember being at an outdoor concert a few years ago in Muskegon, MI at Unity Fest. There was a moment during a worship song when the sun, which was setting, got brighter and then went back to normal. Say what you want, but it was a beautiful moment. There is also an old story about the band Degarmo and Key. They were short on money and could not pay the band members. Sitting at a house meeting together they prayed and as they ended there was a knock on the door. A church had felt called to take an offering for them and the pastor was hand delivering it to them. That money had to be collected and he had to get in the car and leave before they started praying.

God is the creator of all things. Colossians 1:16-17, speaking of Jesus, says:

"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Time travel is not a normal thing for us. We don't get to go back and redo our actions like Supergirl did in that episode or as Bill Murray does in "Groundhog Day". But God is so much bigger than our time or our sin. He has already paved the way for redemption in Jesus and from time to time He does like to play around with physics. We call that a miracle. 

Training or Gifting?

Geeksaresexy.com has this great cartoon up right now about the difference between Japanese heroes and American heroes.

Ryu (yes, that Ryu; from Street Fighter) decides to prepare to protect Earth from alien attack. He makes a point about how he'll train really hard, even carrying a bolder to do so. As he is fighting aliens, he feels overwhelmed. Way to many for him to fight alone. In come 3 heroes, from our 2 biggest hero houses, DC and Marvel, to help him. As he compliments them on their skills, they all admit that they haven't really trained that much. Iron Man just has cool gadgets and money, Spidey got bitten by a spider, and Superman was born with it.

This is a huge over-generalization, right? Look at the X-Men. They have a huge room devoted to training and even a whole school. Wildcat has a purpose in DC comics of training younger heroes and vigilantes. Think about our other heroes, that we label under other things. Catniss Everdeen trains on various techniques before going into the Hunger Games.Luke Skywalker has to train with Yoda and Obi-wan.

On the Japanese side it doesn't seem so off, though. Almost all Asian heroes that I know of have a lot of training and a strong emphases on preparation. I am sure there are exceptions, though. Feel free to let me know of any.

This week we celebrated Veterans Day. A day when we remember men who trained hard and worked hard to keep our nation free. Now, in some cases, such as Word Wars, the training was quickened a little bit. And in other cases, such as the Vietnam War, soldiers arrive to a theater of operations to find out they need to learn a whole new set of lessons from soldiers who have been there for a while.

As Christians, we are told to train. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4:8 that physical training is of some value, but the training in Godliness holds much more relevant value. This is one of the reasons we have the Bible. To train in righteousness. In 1 Corinthians he tells us about the proper uses of spiritual gifts. These gifts are given to all followers of Christ freely, but we don't always look for them.

You see, real heroes have a mixture. God freely gives all his followers gifts to use in fighting spiritual battles and in serving. Yet we still need training. We need to learn how to use those gifts, when to use the gifts, and we need to learn wisdom. But it isn't only training.

In the cartoon mentioned above, Spiderman, Superman and Iron Man somehow all come at once to aid Ryu. What did Jesus do when He sent the disciples out to teach? He sent them out 2 by 2. They went out as teams. Paul's treatment on spiritual gifts in his letter to the Corinthians comes in a context of unity. He discusses order in worship during this time as well as the beauty of the diversity of the Body of Christ.

In order to be real super heroes, we need all of these. We need training. We need natural talents and spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit. We need each other. That is the recipe for true heroism.

**Quick Note: This Saturday, Nov. 15, is a gathering at Cornerstone Univ. 6:00pm. Come join us for a chapel service and some gaming after that.**

Clark Kent and Christians

Found at cinefantastique.com. 

 
"It's another way of saying it's not from this world, and neither are you.  You are the answer to are we alone in the universe. ... You were sent here for a reason. ....When that day comes you're gonna have to make a choice.  A choice whether to stand proud in front of the human race or not."

"Can't I just pretend I'm your son?"

"You are my son.  But somewhere out there you have another father who gave you another name. And he sent you here for a reason Clark.  And even if it takes you the rest of your life you owe it to yourself to find out what that reason is."

A conversation between a young Clark Kent and Jonathon Kent in "Man of Steel."

As Christians we have a many similarities to Clark in this conversation.

1. We are not from this world. "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await our savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."  Phil. 3:20  We are simply passing through, hopefully bringing others into the Kingdom as we do so.

2. We often to want to pretend that we are someone other than we are.  Think about it.  Read Paul's words in Romans 7:14-17.  We have this pull toward sin that we must fight regularly.  Yet sin is not our real identity.  "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  BY NO MEANS! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"  Romans 6:1 (emphases added).

3. We have a father who gave us another name.  Revelation 2:17 talks about a stone with a new name that will be given to those who follow Christ fully.  God actually has a special name just for you...and it will be just for you and Him to know!  That is how much He loves each of us.

4. We are sent here for a reason. Now, we don't owe it to ourselves to find that reason, but we owe it to our redeemer.  Romans 12 says we should be living sacrifices. 2 Timothy 3:17 states that we have the Bible to be prepared for every good work.  2 Corinthians 5:20 says we are "Christ's ambassadors as though God was making his appeal through us."

Identity

Who are you?  I am not asking how you view yourself or what you think your identity is, but who are you really?  Why do we love the characters we love?  For many it is that they know who they are.  The Doctor knows exactly who he is.  Sure, he still finds limits he didn't realize he had (or does not admit that he has).  But he never questions who he is.  Think about the difference in Clark in "Man of Steel".  He begins not knowing who he is.  He knows he has powers but he doesn't know exactly why.  Many of the flashbacks really are about him finding his identity.

When Loki is talking with his adopted mother in "Thor:The Dark World" she comments that he is "so perceptive about everyone but yourself".  Have you ever felt like that?  Do you see who everyone else is?

Right now identity is a big deal.  Many people are finding their identity in so many things.  Nerds try to find it in our hobbies and in our community.  But should our identity be in what we do?  I think for many of us it is not just in the hobbies themselves, but in the persona equated with the community around it.  We enjoy the community so much that we think our identity is all in this just because we enjoy this and feel safe there.

Genesis says that God looked at the first human he created and said "It is very good."  Then, later, after man fell, after many tried to gain something which could make him more like God, this same God stayed with us.  He loved us enough to send His son into the world to experience death on a cross solely to save us.  So, who are you?  Don't lie about it.  Be honest. 

Your identity is not in your hobbies or your actions or your relationships.  You might be tempted to think that it is in your sins and faults.  Although I encourage you to be honest in these, God sees much more in you! 

You are a child of God.  Simple as that.  As Kalel came from Jorel and the Doctor came from Gallifrey, we come from GOD!  Find yourself in Him.