April 30 is the 127th birthday of an artist whose name you probably don’t know, but his work may be the most widely distributed of the 20th century. Despite never leaving Chicago, Warner Sallman influenced how many Christians the world over, for better or worse, picture Jesus.
There are no portraits from life because Jesus and his followers were poor, semi-literate laborers and fishermen from a rural part of a remote province.
When you see an apparition, you see the life and word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, thus, His image lives in those who look and see His teachings, His biography and His promises. Magical thinking is finding images that mean something to you in everyday things.
Summary of Jesus’ life He was born to Joseph and Mary sometime between 6 bce and shortly before the death of Herod the Great ( Matthew 2; Luke 1:5) in 4 bce. According to Matthew and Luke, however, Joseph was only legally his father.
Jesus does not have a last name. Last names were not common in those times. Christ is not a name, but a title. Christ means “anointed” or “Messiah”, so Jesus became the “ Christ ” or “Messiah” when he got baptized at the age of 30.
The oldest known portrait of Jesus , found in Syria and dated to about 235, shows him as a beardless young man of authoritative and dignified bearing. He is depicted dressed in the style of a young philosopher, with close-cropped hair and wearing a tunic and pallium—signs of good breeding in Greco-Roman society.
Census in the New Testament The final census mentioned in the Bible was also recorded by the Gospel writer Luke, in the book of Acts. In the verse Acts 5:37, a census was conducted and Judas of Galilee had gathered a following but was killed and his followers scattered.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
Researchers have found that the phenomenon of “face pareidolia” — where onlookers report seeing images of Jesus , Virgin Mary, or Elvis in objects such as toasts, shrouds, and clouds — is normal and based on physical causes.
A religious image, sometimes called a votive image, is a work of visual art that is representational and has a religious purpose, subject or connection.
Religious symbols are used to convey concepts concerned with humanity’s relationship to the sacred or holy (e.g., the cross in Christianity) and also to the social and material world (e.g., the dharmachakra, or wheel of the law, of Buddhism).
In the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 3:14), Yahweh , the personal name of God, is revealed directly to Moses .
The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 .
We ask, “If all things have a creator, then who created God ?” Actually, only created things have a creator, so it’s improper to lump God with his creation. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible as having always existed. Atheists counter that there is no reason to assume the universe was created .