Do you think this picture is Jesus? Why or why not

[honey badger]

So how do you know the JW church and Mormonism is false if the Bible is not our sole guide for all matters of faith and practice?

i see you have subtlety changed your queastion and applied my previousv awnswer to it ... nice try ... but from where i am seeing from the snare is laid in vain ....

 

[eleos1954]

The pictures are idolatry , directly breaking God's Instructions. No good comes from it.

The picture God wants us to have of Him is His perfect character .... not our idea of what we think He might physically look like. We have not idea of this.

 

[Reasonably Sane]

I remember reading somewhere about how Billy Graham saying that when he prayed, he had the image of Jesus portrayed in his mind from actor who played Jesus in the Passion of the Christ. I cannot seem to find the quote now.

Anyway, there seems to be plenty idolatrous images of Jesus going around these days.
They can take the form of artist renditions to movie actors.

Whenever I see a post on the internet about a piece of toast of a cloud, etc. that is claimed to look like Jesus, I always respond the same way: That looks more like Jerry Garcia.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

i see you have subtlety changed your queastion and applied my previousv awnswer to it ... nice try ... but from where i am seeing from the snare is laid in vain ..

There is nothing subtle (deceptive) or wrong about asking more questions. In any event, your response here really does not answer my questions.

 

[Reasonably Sane]

So how do you know the JW church and Mormonism is false if the Bible is not our sole guide for all matters of faith and practice?

What evidence convinces a person they can be taken seriously?

 

[Bible Highlighter]

What evidence convinces a person they can be taken seriously?

True, but we should pray for them, and tell the truth of God’s Word to all so that others are not led astray. We should love all and warn them because we care for their souls.

 

[Bobber]

My parents have a print of this hanging in the dining room.

Ha. So when they get to heaven and see the real Jesus and discover he doesn't look like the picture maybe they'll ask well who was that stranger we had in our living room????

 

[BPPLEE]

It’s sad, but their love for their idol image of Jesus is more than what this passage says. Only God can reveal it to them and they would have to be willing to change. All we can do is pray for folks who cannot see it right now.

Lev 26:1 - Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up-a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

I think the bowing down and worshiping the image is the problem and not necessarily a work of art. As long as you don’t bow down to the picture of Jesus I don’t think it’s a problem. I’ve seen some statues that depict someone praying to the statue and I’m not okay with that

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Lev 26:1 - Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up-a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

I think the bowing down and worshiping the image is the problem and not necessarily a work of art. As long as you don’t bow down to the picture of Jesus I don’t think it’s a problem. I’ve seen some statues that depict someone praying to the statue and I’m not okay with that

I believe just having the idol is condemned.

The first part of the instruction in Leviticus 26:1 is not to make any idols or graven images, etcetera. So this suggests that just having the idol is wrong.

For example, in Deuteronomy 7:1-5, we learn that when the Israelites take the land, they are to destroy their Images, altars, graven images, etcetera.

Deuteronomy 7:1-5 (KJB)

1 ”When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;​

2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:​

3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.​

4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.​

5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.​

6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”​

If there was no problem in having the idol, then we would see examples of this in Scripture. When something was regarded as an idol by God’s instruction of what an idol is, it was to be destroyed. Nowhere do we see any example of a pagan idol being kept around and it was okay with God to have it as long as they did not worship it. God instructs idols not to be made and or to be destroyed. Granted, we are under a different covenant and we are not a nation led by God to conquer other nations like in the OT, but we should at least strive to put away all forms of idols out of our home. This could be any image that is an animal, which was generally regarded as idols to be worshiped by pagans throughout history. I know. It can be difficult. One’s very home could be decorated with these kinds of things, and it could have taken a lot of hard work and money to put these things in one’s home. But we serve the living God who is the true God, and His will comes before our own in all things.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

For example, would you not be disturbed if you came home one day and seen a 10 foot tall statue of Mary in your home?
What if it was a ton of statues of the saints on tables and shelves everywhere your house?
Would you not be convicted by God to destroy these things if you found them in your home?
I know I would because these are clearly idols in our world today.
People bow down to such statues thinking they aid in their prayers, etcetera.
They think the statue has some kind of power.
While an idol is nothing, we are not to make them or own them because we are to be holy and separate from this world. This world has no problem with idol statues or images that abound abundantly all over the earth.

 

[Reasonably Sane]

I think so also. Did not someone sneak an idol into their luggage, and there was a penalty for that , even though it was hidden ? It might have been an object that was not an idol though - thousands of years ago - all I remember specifically is the woman hid it by sitting over it , concealing it , and then saying she could not rise because it was 'that time' of the month....

This "idol" thing is pretty broad and squishy. Is that fully restored 1960's Corvette Stingray in ones garage an idol? Is it something you enjoy driving and see as an investment, or is it where you get your worth? If the latter, well, you know...

 

[Bible Highlighter]

It is interesting that we are to put the Word of God (the first greatest command) in our hearts, and write it down to keep on ourselves, and to put such words on our gates and doorposts.

Deuteronomy 6:9-9

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:​

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.​

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:​

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.​

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.​

9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”​

​

In short, when one feels down or off focus in life, we need to focus our attention and energy in loving God with everything we have. Truly we will find the peace we are looking for rather than the empty idols of this world. Only the LORD truly satisfies by His love. Jesus says if we keep His commands we will abide in His love. This would of course be the New Testament commands and not the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament laws of Moses. Christians do not have to keep the Saturday Sabbath, dietary laws, holy days, circumcision, and animal sacrifices, etcetera. We are not under the Old Law, even though certain moral laws (like do not murder, do not covet, etc) had carried over into the New Covenant.

So seek the LORD my friends.
Worship Him in spirit and in truth.

 

[BNR32FAN]

My parents have a print of this hanging in the dining room.



Where does it mention his looks? I don't remember that. Thanks

Revelation 1 gives a description of Him but I highly doubt He looked like this during His ministry.

“His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

 

[Reasonably Sane]

It is broad, but not squishy. Yahweh and Scripture is very clear.
Yes, even an unrestored Corvette is or could be an idol.
===================================

Chapter 2​

The Trend Away From God​

Having every one of us been in bondage to sin, we readily believe that sinful things are Satanic; but do we believe equally that the things of the world are Satanic? Many of us, I think, are still in two minds about this. Yet how clearly Scripture affirms that "the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19). Satan well knows that, generally speaking, to try to ensnare real Christians through things that are positively sinful is vain and futile. They will usually sense the danger and elude him. So he had contrived instead an enticing network, the mesh of which is so skillfully woven as to entrap the most innocent of men. We flee sinful lusts, and with good reason, but when it comes to such seemingly innocuous things as science and art and education, how readily do we lose our sense of values and fall a prey to his enticements!

I mean it can be squishy in people's minds. The problem is that people don't spend a lot of time analyzing how they view every little thing in their life to see if it is an idol. It can make one neurotic. I've been a professing Christian since 1981. I've found that the more I study and pray, the more laissez faire I get, if only to keep myself from going mad. I know God's got it covered, and if my conscience convicts, it's time to do (or not do) something. So I kinda throw a lot of it into "if you believe it is a sin, it IS a sin." But I also don't bow to the "tyranny of the weaker brother". Again, it would push me toward neuroticism.

God said, "it is good" after creating this world. I'm taking Him at His word, doing my best to avoid the bad when it comes, but knowing I can never save myself from the death of the man inside my body. Only He can do that, and it is because of who HE is, not what I do.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I think so also. Did not someone sneak an idol into their luggage, and there was a penalty for that , even though it was hidden ? It might have been an object that was not an idol though - thousands of years ago - all I remember specifically is the woman hid it by sitting over it , concealing it , and then saying she could not rise because it was 'that time' of the month....

Indeed.

Genesis 31:34-35

34 “Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.​

35 And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.”​

 

[Tinker Grey]

I believe just having the idol is condemned.

Sometimes a statue is just a statue.

 

[Tinker Grey]

Right.
Exodus 20
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

Why did you stop there? Verse 5 says

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,​

Sometimes a statue is just a statue.

 

[Tinker Grey]

It is not required to list two or more commandments/instructions,
when the first one is the one that matters here.

Verse 5 is a continuation of one thought.

 

[RDKirk]

Jesus had recieved the 'loving' attention of the whole guard. They had 'gently' used him as a punch bag untill as he was unreogniseble.

And He was still unrecognizable after His resurrection (Luke 24:13-35). He still had the marks of His mistreatment.

I believe He still does.

 

[RDKirk]

Having a picture of somebody isn't idolatry.

If it were a real likeness. But one of the problems with idolatry giving reverence to an image that is not a true image.