If it is bought for the purpouse of placing in ones home as a sign of reverence to Jesus as you would do with either a statue or an icon, then I see nothing wrong in that.
My parents had small plastic statues of Mary and Jesus when I was a child. I played with them all the time. I used to use the nativity scene to act out entering into Bethlehem, being turned away at the inn and ending up in the stable. (I will admit I felt a little silly having Mary ‘walk’ around as she was stuck in kneeling position.)
You were acting out Biblical events, so there is nothing wrong in that and I agree a child learns by play; but the manufacturers are selling this as an action figure, and to me and especially when I was a child an action figure was something that you would battle another action figure with.
Whether or not it is meant to be an action figure is irrelevent, the fact is that it is being sold and labelled as an action figure and not as a religious item; if the purpouse of the manufacture is to not sell these as action figures, but as a learning aid then why not name them ‘educational figures’.
What are people planning on doing, having a race along the table top
I can see where you are coming from here. Though in current society ‘action figure’ is just the politically correct way of saying, ‘a doll a boy can play with.’ I will agree with you that a boy would be more likely to ‘take Jesus into battle’ than a girl. I know there are some who would disagree, but boys are still boys and girls are still girls. From that perspective I could see a problem. I would still like the ‘deluxe Jesus’ for myself. You gotta love those loaves and fishes!
My sentiments exactly.
I woudl venture a guess that the same number of people who buy this toy for their children is about as high as the number of people who buy a statue of Jesus for their child and either way, it’s not something I really see kids playing with. This is definately something made with adults in mind.
My thoughts exactly. Though to be honest, the figure looks rather ugly; they could’ve at least made a better one. There are lots of figures of Jesus in Catholic shops; the least they could’ve done was get one and copy it. Would’ve been better IMO. But the Cleopatra figure looks nice…
**He Rules!!! ** The description of the Papal tiara as a fancy Pope hat made me cringe…anyway, can we request for a Pope John Paul II figure? Or at least a Constantine the Great one would be good…
Yep this is exactly what I would expect from Jesus…now the real question is Does his neck turn so he can turn the other cheek?
That’s actually a good point; one I hadn’t thought of when I first read these posts… but kids can indeed learn through play. I’m still a bit leery about the whole Jesus action figure thing, though. I guess I just have a mental image of some bratty kid setting his Jesus figure on fire or something, so I’d prefer if they didn’t make them. I’d seen one just the other day with Jesus giving the thumbs-up sign. I just don’t think it’s right.
I think what may seem disrespectful is the fact that it’s called an “action figure.” How can Jesus be an action figure? I think the soft little plush dolls, like for a child to sleep with, are adorable. I’m sure you’ve seen these. Once, I saw a Virgin Mary Barbie doll, and a Jesus Ken doll. Those, of course, were horribly disrespectful, especially in the fact that they sold Jesus/ Ken as crucified on a cross. These dolls weren’t real, they were just a parody, but they had them in boxes, looking like they would if they really had been manufactured. The Mary Barbie was all right, except for the fact that She was classified as a Barbie. Just doesn’t seem right.:nope: