Discussing
Why Green Lantern is just as ‘Christian’ as Superman

Such an eloquent piece, Tim.

Ironically, one of the things I used to find more compelling about Batman over Superman was his humanity--that underneath his armor and all, he was just a regular guy like you and me. Rich and highly trained and incredibly cunning, yeah...but he put his enormous wealth and intellect to the service of an even more enormous vision. There's a lot to be said for the biblical echoes there, too.

I don't know the Green Lantern storyline very well, I'm ashamed to say. But I do wonder about the hero's motivation for taking up the light. Batman takes up his cloak largely to avenge the murder of his parents, and that often creates psychological tension as the worthiness of pursuing revenge comes to the surface in his drive to rid Gotham of evil. What is Hal's motivation for taking up the light of the Green Lantern?

Hal's motivation? In one sense it was to fulfill the wish of a dying man ... er ... alien. He didn't really know what he was getting into, much as I remember my own decision to turn to Christ: I didn't know what I was getting myself into, either. But, like Hal, I did have an inkling that it was for good and for goodness, so I went. So did he.

We each learned a lot more about this life along the way!

Cheers,
Tim

I've not been a Green Lantern fan (probably because of the awful recent movie), but your argument sure does make me look at it differently!

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