Christian Heroism, and Superheroes

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." -1 Timothy 4:7-8

The mentioned Scripture and accompanying picture may already be exceedingly offensive to many, but please hang with me for a bit.

If most of our children's superhero's and general fascinations are with fictional characters made up for entertainment purposes only (or indeed our own fascinations), it isn't for lack of available faithful patriarchs in Scripture or elsewhere in human history. It really just depends on what we are choosing to guide and expose them to in what is heroic.  From David, to Jesus, and many all around and in between, I sometimes wonder why with so many real truly heroic examples, we find ourselves perpetuating the myths we do to our children.  I wonder, "What do I believe?"  Because truth be told, it really comes down to what we personally find to be heroic. So we know and believe, so we teach. That is key. Who are our personal heroes? That may be the hardest part to swallow in all of this. Why am I doing what I do, and what am I truly cherishing? It's a hard thing to address, and our pride will oppose the conviction often at every turn. It's possible that we find godly truths too boring and a creating or craving an available substitute is more appealing or convenient.

I get a little fun in fantasy has a place, perhaps. Make believe has a place, just maybe, when it has a point. It can be hard to determine I know, and to get lost in it all. I don't know that I have a hard fast rule, but only words and thoughts to take under advisement. Consider if our children (and yes, we ourselves) have been given over to godless myths. Is it the driving force in our celebrations and free time? Where there are godless myths, we would do well to avoid that altogether. I'm not saying all fantasy is a godless myth... but godless myths are godless myths. We would do well to consider what the myths are we are absorbing and giving to our children to be absorbed, and make adjustments accordingly. If we are offended by the thought of this, we should consider whether that is because our pursuits of things for entertainment purposes only has just gone on for too long, or if we really are walking soberly because of our actual love of the truth.

It would be very naive to think that entertainment driven heroes will not result in entertainment driven pursuits.  At the end of the day, our Maker knows, and He desires us to know that He has been exceedingly heroic above all we could ever ask, hope, or think.  Pursue Godly heroics, and not godless myths... whatever those may be.