I am sick of the 'laughing Jesus' pictures I am seeing everywhere. It seems this is an attempt to make Him more like us. So, we resort to featuring him as 'fun dude'. Could this be an attempt to rationalize the entertainment culture in our churches? How else could He be marketed in these days of Cheap Grace.Jesus Christ was God. In the flesh. He was perfect and I know He felt joy but to turn Him into a belly laughing jokester is more than I can take. Simply put: He did not come to earth for fun.
"For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground;he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. " Isaiah 53:2-4Think about the last part of that verse, "...we esteemed him not."
We still don't.
4 comments:
I'm sure even Jesus had his moments of laughter. He was, after all, human as well as divine. He wasn't always the somber-faced, contemplative person we hear about. I am not a Christian, but the laughing Jesus is a Jesus I can relate to. There are thousands of others out there like me and who knows, it may be this very picture that you seem to despise so much that will be the means of setting them on the path to Eternity.
Please dear friend, show me the scriptures where you see this. We cannot make up what we think Jesus is all about. It is all in the Book.
I agree that churches too often chase after culture and dilute the message of Jesus in order to appeal to the maximum number of people. It's bad for the church and the cause of Christ.
On the other hand, are you really saying that Jesus didn't do anything that the Bible doesn't specifically say he did? He didn't laugh because the Bible never says, specifically, that he found something funny? What about going to the bathroom? Do you think Jesus held it in for 33 years? The Bible doesn't mention it, after all. I am not sure it ever mentions him breathing, either.
By reading the events of his life, it is clear that Jesus was "acquainted with grief." That doesn't mean, however, that he lived his entire life without laughing.
I think this denies, not only his humanity, but also his divinity. "Every good and perfect gift comes from above." God is the author of joy and humor. He is the great composer of laughter.
To suggest that Jesus did not laugh simply because the Bible does not mention it is to distort the words of Scripture into something they were never intended to be. It seems to turn the Bible into...well, an idol.
The Holy Scriptures an idol?
Do you mean the paper, ink and leather? Or the Words that are Divinely Inspired? Which one, friend?
Where the scriptures are silent, we must be, too. If we add or subtract anything from the Word we are not rightly dividing it and are in danger.
Of course Jesus felt joy. Why do we insist on taking joy and turning it into a back slapping belly busting jokester?
I find the rest of your descriptions repugnant and totally unnecessary. Please do not ever forget that Jesus Christ, the Lord was fully God, too.
Go in peace and Worship a Holy God with reverence and fear, my friend.
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