During the last two months of every year, we see multiple depictions of Jesus laying in a manger. We sing about the scene in multiple church hymns. We see small Nativity scenes, life-size manger scenes, and paintings. In every one of them, Jesus Christ is an infant. What could be less intimidating than a one-day old baby? To have the proper attitude towards the Savior, we should both love and respect Him. Can you really respect a new-born infant? If you think of Jesus Christ as a baby, are you going to worry at all about the Final Judgment? Images of God are important. It is the reason why we don't have crosses and crucifixes in our chapels and temples. Our image of the Savior affects how we worship Him. We should develop the most accurate image we can, through prayer, scripture study, and meditation that will both comfort us and motivate us to do well.
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S1E11 – The Effect of Christmas on Our Image of Jesus Christ
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures Season 1, Episode 11, or “The Effect of Christmas on our Image of Jesus Christ”
Hello everyone, this is your host Scott Frazer and welcome to another episode of Science and Scriptures.
So, Christmas will soon be here. We are all in the midst of buying presents, putting up Christmas trees, and stringing lights. On one hand, I love the thought that Christmas time gets people to think about the birth of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, I wish Christmas wasn’t such a huge production every year. I have the typical complaint that Christmas is too commercialized, but I have a more serious complaint about it as well. Please know that I am not a Scrooge, so please consider my suggestion here.
When you say that you have a testimony of Jesus Christ, what is the image you have of Him? Images are important and the Savior you picture could be very different form the Being that I picture. Now its highly possible that you have the image of one of the famous paintings of the Savior that we find in our chapels and in our homes.
The most common painting I have seen of Jesus the Christ is the one in which He is wearing a red robe over a white tunic in front of a gray background. I like that image too, so your mind might go immediately to that. There is a very similar painting of the Savior in the exact same dress, knocking on the door of a house, perhaps reinforcing that image.
Maybe you think of the image of Jesus talking to the young rich man in “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann.
Maybe you are more 3-dimensional oriented person and immediately think of The Christus statue at the Church visitors center in Salt Lake City.
Or do you think of the image of “The Resurrected Jesus Christ” in which the Savior is dressed in a white robe, walking through the clouds?
Actually, there seem to be a lot of new paintings of the Savior lately, often of Him as a young man with cool hair and a well-trimmed beard. I have some reservations about this newer art, but I won’t criticize attempts to bring Christians closer to the Savior with new depictions of Him.
Images are important in our lives because it seems your image of Jesus Christ will affect how you worship him. I think the scriptures support this idea. The second commandment is:
“Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above…”
The reason is given in the next verse.
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…”
“Aniconism” is a word that means the purposeful absence of material representations of both the natural and supernatural worlds, efforts that may have arisen due to this commandment. Fortunately, idolatry is not a big problem for the church today. But we still make physical likenesses of God - paintings, statues, etc. Though we don’t bow down those likenesses, they do help us create mental images of our God in our heads.
In the history of mankind, the images of God we have in our heads have varied greatly. For example, the gods of the Aztec, Incan, and Mayan cultures demanded human sacrifice. Theirs were blood-thirsty gods. Can you imagine for a moment having that image of your God in your mind? It would undoubtedly change your attitude about the sanctity of life, kindness towards others, and what you must do to please God.
This brings us back to my problem with Christmas.
The reality is that many, if not most Christians think of the Savior almost exclusively at Christmas time. Many church members of various Christian religions actually attend church services only at Christmas - and maybe at Easter. During the last two months of every year, we see multiple depictions of Jesus laying in a manger. We sing about the scene in multiple church hymns. We see small Nativity scenes, life-size manger scenes, and paintings. In every one of them, Jesus Christ is an infant. We are so used to our celebrations of Christmas that we don’t recognize how strange our custom really is. At your birthday celebrations, do you routinely bring out the photos of your birth, your hospital room, and the people who came to see you there? No, it would be rather a strange thing to do. You are not that person anymore. To celebrate your accomplishments starting with the fact that you were born makes a strange list indeed.
So, if most people think only of Jesus Christ at Christmas time, what is the most prevalent image they have of Him? This fact was brought home to me one day when I was doing some missionary work and talking to an acquaintance about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her reply was, “How nice you named your church after the baby Jesus”. It was not even close to Christmas.
So, you may be wondering if there is something wrong with always thinking of the Savior as the Christ child. Yes, there is a problem if you think about it. What could be less intimidating than a one-day old baby? To have the proper attitude towards the Savior, we should both love Him and respect Him. Can you respect a new-born infant? If you think of Jesus Christ as a baby, are you going to worry at all about the Final Judgment? Babies are easily influenced, so if you think of your judge as an infant, you probably assume you can talk your way out of a judgement for your sins. Do you see what your image of God can do to affect how you live your life and how you obey the commandments?
Our best description of Jesus Christ is given by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in Doctrine & Covenants 110:2-4, where he describes the vision received in the Kirtland temple.
“We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.”
So how does that description align with an image of the baby Jesus? Which image is more likely to motivate you to do good, obey the commandments, and follow the words of the prophets?
Crosses and Crucifixes
This whole idea of images of the Savior go beyond Christmas. One of the most defining features of our chapels and temples compared to other Christian religions is the fact that we don’t have crosses or crucifixes. When I investigated the church, this feature of the church felt very right to me. The crucifixion of the Savior was quite certainly the lowest point in His life. I didn’t understand why other churches put grotesque statues and paintings of our crucified Savior in the most prominent locations of their churches.
In defense of crosses and crucifixes, I have heard the argument that they remind us of the pain and suffering the Savior endured for us. I have two arguments against that defense. First, the Savior has already told us how He wants us to remember His suffering and atonement. It is called the Sacrament. The Sacrament prayers are very explicit about that fact. You may recognize the phrases “…That they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy son” and “…That they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy son” from the Sacrament prayers.
The second reason is a bit more complicated. Jesus Christ had to die for a number of reasons. The Savior had to voluntarily give up His life as a part of His sacrifice.He had to be the first to be resurrected and overcome death. But the crucifixion itself was used only due to the fact that it was the manner of capital punishment used by the Romans to discourage crimes against the state. It was a horrible way to die. But tens of thousands of people were crucified during the reign of the Roman Empire. It was not special for the Savior. His treatment – the scourging, carrying the cross through the streets, the crucifixion, and even the soldiers gambling for Jesus’s clothes was standard operating procedure for the Romans in dispensing of criminals and rebels. There is certainly no special reason to remember the Savior on the cross. Yes, He had to die, but the Savior’s Atonement itself took place in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before.
Easter
I reconcile our grandiose celebrations at Christmas with the thought that we are REALLY celebrating the entire Plan of Salvation. The whole Gospel plan to come to earth to live mortal lives, to have a Savior atone for our sins so we could return to live with Heavenly Father - all of it depended on the Savior being born. In fact, that is the mindset I would encourage you to have about Christmas.It is so much better than recognizing the Savior’s accomplishment of… simply being born.
Given that mindset, let’s consider for a moment what we might accomplish by making Easter the time of the year that we celebrate the Savior instead of Christmas. We could then celebrate the Resurrected Savior. We could recognize the fact that He had grown up as a perfect man. We could appreciate that He had successfully carried out His three-year ministry, He had endured the Atonement, His arrest, scourging, and crucifixion. We could celebrate the day of His resurrection and that we could now escape the bands of death and have eternal life. DOESN’T THAT MAKE A LOT MORE SENSE THAN CELEBRATING THE DAY THAT THE BABY JESUS WAS BORN? With a celebration at Easter, we could have depictions of Christ walking out of the tomb instead of Nativity scenes. We could look at images of the Resurrected Christ and burn into our memories the depiction of an adult God who had conquered death. It would be an image of Christ that we could love, respect, and honor.
Images of the Savior
So, getting back to our subject, what image of Jesus Christ ought we to have? Again, let’s return to paintings of the Savior.
Several artists try to emphasize the meekness and humility of the Savior. They gave Him a diminutive stature, soulful eyes, and a weak beard. He looks very meek and mild, merciful, and soft-spoken, but I believe these artists have gone too far. By emphasizing the humility and meekness of the Savior, they have made Him look feeble.Like the image of a newborn Savior, with this image of a frail Jesus Christ in my mind, I won’t worry too much about my behavior on earth. Whatever sins I have committed, the Savior depicted in these images will assuredly forgive me whether I repent or not.
I would like you to consider an alternate image of the Savior. If you will, please call to your mind the painting by Arnold Friberg of Captain Moroni standing in front of the Standard of Liberty flag. Moroni is, of course, a military man, large in stature with a muscular build. His face is strong. He has a full beard and eyes that do not tolerate nonsense. He wears armor and grasps a large, two-edged sword in his right hand.
Now consider with me that this as an image of the Savior, in His role as the bringer of justice. I realize that the artist was not trying to depict Jesus Christ in this painting, but images are flexible. With this Moroni-like image of the Savior in your mind, notice how your attitude towards God shifts. My dedication to obedience certainly increases. I am not going to be nearly as nonchalant about my faithfulness, because this depiction of the Savior will certainly hold me accountable. I admit that I rather like this image of Jesus Christ. If this is what the Savior looks like, the first time I see Him, I know I will drop to my knees—not because I am told to do so, but because it will be the most natural thing to do in the presence of my God and King.
I don’t know that this image of the Savior is that far off. In D&C 121:5, Joseph Smith prays,
“Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs.”
Joseph may have been thinking of a symbolic sword – or it could mean that the Savior actually has a sword. From other scriptures, I think it is probably two-edged.
This image will probably not be for everyone. But let me make one more observation about how our image of the Savior affects our perceptions of who He really is. I have heard many members in testimony meetings and classes exclaim that as soon as they see the Savior for the first time, they will run up to Him, throw their arms around Him, and give him a hug. I understand the sentiment of love that is being communicated by this declaration, so please don’t be offended if this is your plan as well.
But I don’t think you will be allowed to give the Savior a hug when you first see him. It’s more ridiculous than thinking you could walk up to the President of the United States or the Queen of England or even President Russell M. Nelson and give them a hug. The Savior is our God. He is not your kindly grandfather that you can hug anytime you want. Additionally, as a king, my image of Jesus Christ includes an honor guard. They may act much like the President’s Secret Service and prevent the Savior’s most enthusiastic fans from hugging Him. I rather think the honor guard will look something like the 2000 stripling warriors depicted in the painting by Arnold Friberg. Imagine trying to get past them to give the Savior a hug.
Again, our image of the Savior affects how we worship Him. We should develop the most accurate image we can, through prayer, scripture study, and discussion.
As you Teach your Children
In conclusion, I understand that the world is not going to stop making a big production of Christmas. We are not going to move our Christmas celebrations to Easter, though I still believe it is a much more reasonable time to recognize what the Savior has done. So, if we must continue living under the present status quo, I would like to encourage you to teach your children about the adult Savior this Christmas. End each lesson with a picture of Jesus Christ as an adult and reinforce to your children that He is no longer an infant. We should realize that every lesson we teach and every prayer we offer reflects our image of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Thus your children’s image of God will be much like yours.
Though Christmas traditions would lead us to believe otherwise, the Savior is not an infant.With his birth, life, and then atonement, the Gospel plan became a reality that allows us to claim eternal life, should we meet the requirements placed on us individually. The birth was the first page of the Savior’s earth life and I don’t know why we so enjoy overemphasizing that page.
Epilogue
I would like to add one more personal note about images of the Savior. Many books and other podcasts spend a large amount of time saying how wonderful Jesus Christ is. Obviously, I won’t try to argue with the point – Jesus really is wonderful. But in my writing and this podcast, I try not to go on and on about how wonderful the Savior is. I don’t use different words to express this same concept over and over again. That is because in my image of Jesus Christ, He would have little patience for such repetition. I think that if Jesus Christ were sitting in my Gospel Doctrine class, and I started to gush about how great He is, the Savior would say, “Thank you Scott, but you’re getting a bit tedious. Can we get on with the lesson and discuss the Gospel?”
I realize this is a rather strange part of my mental image of the Savior. But the Jesus Christ in my head has important things to do.Listening to repetitive compliments just delays Him from getting them done. Weird, huh? Do you have any characteristics that you attribute to the Savior’s personality? I hope I am not the only one…
So, that is all that I have for you today. I hope you are preparing for a wonderful Christmas. The commercial world would have you believe that the most wonderful part of Christmas is the joy of giving, family gatherings, etc. Those aspects are admittedly nice. But by far the most wonderful part of Christmas is Jesus Christ and His Atonement that allowed the Gospel Plan to be carried out. At Christmas, I celebrate eternal life because that is what the arrival of the Savior meant to the world.
Please always remember and remind your family of that most wonderful part of Christmas. This is Scott Frazer of the podcast “Science and Scriptures”. Take care.
THE END