Protestants & and Catholics who were former Protestants only

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fred_conty said:
Reply about the picture of Jesus I had in mind to:

Cyberseeker
KendraDZ1902
SecretaryMonday
House Harkonnen
Randy Carson
Jon S

Here is the picture
churchsupplywarehouse.com/catalog_product.asp_Q_categoryId_E_112_A_subcategoryId_E_731_A_categoryItemId_E_17232_A_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus_E_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus#

By the way I want to thank you for your replies. I picked this one because I thought it would be about what type of man he would look like. I need your (name removed by moderator)ut because I would like to give these to people to inspire their thoughts and hearts toward Jesus. I thought this would be a picture to do this. Everyone needs some incouragement from time to time and a little reminder to think of him. But if more people would reject this picture than to accept and use it, then I might think of something else to help them. I’m not particularly aiming this at Protestants only, but catholics as well. But I feel I already know what reaction catholics would have to this.

So again thanks for your answers.
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For me, it has nothing to do with what it looks like. It has nothing to do with not liking images of Christ. It is that almost everyday I have something on my door from one of the many churches in the area and it all goes in the trash. If I kept everything that was attached to my door, I would need a storage building. I do not like things attached to my door. 🤷
 
fred_conty said:
Reply about the picture of Jesus I had in mind to:

Cyberseeker
KendraDZ1902
SecretaryMonday
House Harkonnen
Randy Carson
Jon S

Here is the picture
churchsupplywarehouse.com/catalog_product.asp_Q_categoryId_E_112_A_subcategoryId_E_731_A_categoryItemId_E_17232_A_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus_E_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus#

By the way I want to thank you for your replies. I picked this one because I thought it would be about what type of man he would look like. I need your (name removed by moderator)ut because I would like to give these to people to inspire their thoughts and hearts toward Jesus. I thought this would be a picture to do this. Everyone needs some incouragement from time to time and a little reminder to think of him. But if more people would reject this picture than to accept and use it, then I might think of something else to help them. I’m not particularly aiming this at Protestants only, but catholics as well. But I feel I already know what reaction catholics would have to this.

So again thanks for your answers.
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Hi fred conty! I like the picture; I wouldn’t display it, but I would keep it as a bookmark for spiritual reading. But I would be peeved if someone left it (or any material, especially if it’s for or against religion) at my door; the annoyance involved would make me consider tossing it. And then I would feel really guilty for tossing/thinking of tossing an image of Jesus, so I’d probably send it to a thrift store. :o (That’s me talking as a Catholic and as a former Protestant.)

It might be nice to find one in the parish bulletins or in the church vestibule or Adoration Chapel, or perhaps you could rent a table at a county fair or community garage sale with a selection of free pictures/literature?
 
fred_conty said:
Reply about the picture of Jesus I had in mind to:

Cyberseeker
KendraDZ1902
SecretaryMonday
House Harkonnen
Randy Carson
Jon S

Here is the picture
churchsupplywarehouse.com/catalog_product.asp_Q_categoryId_E_112_A_subcategoryId_E_731_A_categoryItemId_E_17232_A_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus_E_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus#

By the way I want to thank you for your replies. I picked this one because I thought it would be about what type of man he would look like. I need your (name removed by moderator)ut because I would like to give these to people to inspire their thoughts and hearts toward Jesus. I thought this would be a picture to do this. Everyone needs some incouragement from time to time and a little reminder to think of him. But if more people would reject this picture than to accept and use it, then I might think of something else to help them. I’m not particularly aiming this at Protestants only, but catholics as well. But I feel I already know what reaction catholics would have to this.

So again thanks for your answers.
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That is the sketch from the Shroud - my favorite. Jesus looks masculine and not metro or cartoonish like many drawings seem to suggest.

I would probably toss it, however, since I get holy cards, medals and all kinds of stuff like that in the mail routinely from nuns and missionaries seeking donations. If the card stock were nice, it might become a bookmark since I’m always halfway through an armful of books at any one time.

It’s just a piece of paper with an artists rendering on it…nothing sacred about it if it has not been blessed by a priest.
 
I’d probably throw it away. I have a few icons that have been given to me…and one painting hanging in my dining room called “Presence in the Midst” that shows a group of Friends worshipping at Jordan’s Meetinghouse with a “translucent” figure in white ministering to them that is recognized as Jesus…but that’s about it.

I don’t have the icons displayed…they are beautiful but I do not use them as he center of any devotion. I have the “Presence in the Midst” in my dining room in lieu of “The Last Supper” my mom had hanging in her dining room…seems to me to be a more appropriate religious statement than the “Last Supper” does.
 
I posted on poll throw away not because I have a theological issue with having an image of Jesus, but a “picture” of Jesus holds no weight in my mind. It would basically be the same as someone giving me something on the street, like a tract. When I am given something like this I feel like the person is saying to me “please throw this away for me”.

If it had a cool verse on the back or words that directly applied to my life I might put it in my wallet for a while. I do not believe that it is sinful to carry an image of christ, but like most anything I think that the deceiver can twist this so that it becomes sinful. This can start a whole other topic but I believe that demons can deceive us(little Christs).

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I would have thrown it away, especially if it was doe-eyed, saccharine, sentimental, etc. Actually, I would still probably throw it out, since the artwork on these kinds if things is typically bad. I also resented (resent) what my friend used to term “Jesus junk”, that is plastic, glow in the dark, dashboard Jesus, fish car ornaments, the like. I dislike that these items are sold for a profit and play on people’s emotions, and also that they are kitschy, badly done, bad art. I don’t object to religious art, but if you are going to produce it, you should bring your level, honest, best talent to such an endeavor, and if you can’t, or won’t do that then leave it alone.

As a Protestant I displayed no religious pictures in my room at home. Now as a Catholic, I have very few religious images. We do have a crucifix over the bed, carved by my wife’s grandfather by hand. It is crude, but honest, and in its own way beautiful. Religious art must be art first of all.
 
fred_conty said:
Many bibles come with pictures in them. … And I am more interested in the real Protestant reaction since so many of their bibles have picture scenes of Jesus in them.
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What?

My family has been Protestant all the way back and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Bible (other than children/youth bibles) with pictures in it. The occasional illustration or map in study bibles, maybe, but not the kind of pictures you’re describing.

Although, now that you mention it, I recall seeing one of those gigantic “family bibles” floating around on my dad’s side and I think that might have had pictures like that, but to my knowledge, that thing never got touched except to update the birth/death registers and to stuff funeral cards in it. It could have the Bahagavad Gita printed in it for all we know.

As for the original question, unless there was something particularly special about that picture, I’d probably chuck it. I have all the pictures of Jesus I need.
 
fred_conty said:
Here is the picture
churchsupplywarehouse.com/catalog_product.asp_Q_categoryId_E_112_A_subcategoryId_E_731_A_categoryItemId_E_17232_A_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus_E_The_Holy_Face_of_Jesus#
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I voted “throw it away” before reading the thread. If this is the picture, I might keep it now and I might have kept it as a protestant. I wouldn’t have had anything against it.

The reason I would typically say “throw it away”, both as a protestant and a Catholic, is because most pictures of Jesus don’t inspire me and all I can think when I see them is that Jesus didn’t look like that.
 
Did other Protestants ever come across the icon of Jesus of the Divine Mercy?

I think I may have seen that image, but obviously, as a non-Catholic, I didn’t know what that was.

If the image is a true depiction of Jesus, then he really did have long, light brown hair.
 
Thank you for all your answers. I think I have an idea now about the reaction.

My guess from the answers is that about half would pitch it for one reason or another.
But on the other hand, there were only one or two dead set against it.

But I was mildly surprised that so many did not reject it off hand just because it was a picture, tho it was of Jesus and not a saint.

My wife’s opinion was that most would just toss it today. But if it were 40-50 years ago people might keep it, but people are different today. But after all that she said she liked it.

As a side note, I looked at a number of pictures, but the eyes in this picture are so piercing.
I also liked the Sallman picture that Mystic Aviator brought up.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and answers.
 
EIF5A said:
Did other Protestants ever come across the icon of Jesus of the Divine Mercy?

I think I may have seen that image, but obviously, as a non-Catholic, I didn’t know what that was.

If the image is a true depiction of Jesus, then he really did have long, light brown hair.
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Are you talking about the really lame almost cartoonish picture of the Divine Mercy? Truly Americanized, in my opinion. even though a Polish artist painted it.

It is nothing like Saint Faustina’s vision.

divinemercy.org/image

http://www.divinemercy.org/image

I can’t get image to show.
 
fred_conty said:
Thank you for all your answers. I think I have an idea now about the reaction.

My guess from the answers is that about half would pitch it for one reason or another.
But on the other hand, there were only one or two dead set against it.

But I was mildly surprised that so many did not reject it off hand just because it was a picture, tho it was of Jesus and not a saint.

My wife’s opinion was that most would just toss it today. But if it were 40-50 years ago people might keep it, but people are different today. But after all that she said she liked it.

As a side note, I looked at a number of pictures, but the eyes in this picture are so piercing.
I also liked the Sallman picture that Mystic Aviator brought up.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and answers.
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Hi, fred conty,

I grew up Evangelical Protestant and converted to Catholicism in 2004.

I voted that I would throw away a picture of Jesus that appeared on my doorstep. I would not want to bring it into my house unless I knew the origin of the picture. It might be from an church/organization that isn’t Christian at all, and in fact, is anti-Christ or anti-Catholic.

BUT…if YOU made the effort to be friends with me, even in a casual way; e.g., saying hi as we both walk out of our houses to pick up our mail, or greeting me at church whenever you saw me…and THEN one day, you approached me and gave me the picture and told me that you would like me to have it as an encouragement and to help me think about Jesus–my heart would melt and I would absolutely LOVE that, and I would keep the picture forever and cherish it! 🙂

I actually have pictures and other little keepsakes that people have given me over the years, and I pray for them whenever I see the picture or keepsake that they gave me.

So that’s my suggestion–go ahead and hand out the pictures, but do it IN PERSON, not anonymously, to people who you have taken the time to get to know a little. That would be an awesome, kind, and extremely inspiring action on your part.

Thanks! 👍

Interesting story about keepsakes–last week I was on a trip with my younger daughter (she’s 27), and she showed me a little elephant made out of a dollar bill. She told me that once she was on a plane, and two soldiers were sitting next to her, and one asked the other if he could borrow a dollar bill to make an origami elephant (instructions were in the flight magazine). The soldier didn’t have a dollar, but my daughter spoke up and said that she would give him the dollar if he would let her keep the elephant. She’s always loved elephants since getting attached to Dumbo back when she was a baby. So the soldier made the elephant and gave it to her, and she has kept it ever since and brings it with her whenever she travels as a good luck elephant. She hopes that the soldier is safe and well where ever he is today. :bighanky:
 
fred_conty said:
Many bibles come with pictures in them. For instance the picture of Jesus sitting by the wayside with a group of children. Or Jesus on Easter Sunday morning appearing to Mary Magdelene. Although cameras didn’t exist then, we have no way of knowing from the Bible what Jesus looked like. Yet it seems that when someone is shown a picture of Jesus in a holy card, he is recognized. Which leads me to this question: how do people really react to the picture of Jesus? And I am more interested in the real Protestant reaction since so many of their bibles have picture scenes of Jesus in them.

So if you are Protestant, I know what the Protestant inclination to such pictures are, but really how do you personally feel about such pictures of Jesus, which includes portrate pictures of him?

I would like to also include catholics who have been former protestants and hear their reactions when they were protestant. So please vote if so.

As a test, you wake up one morning and go out to get the newpaper and there you find on your front stoop a picture of Jesus, 4 1/2 inches by 6 inches in an envelope.

What would you really do with that picture of Jesus?

Catholics, if you have ever been Protestant, please answer like you would if you were still Protestant.
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I was raised protestant and we had lots of pictures of Jesus. I don’t think this is an issue for most protestants.
 
Cat said:
Interesting story about keepsakes–last week I was on a trip with my younger daughter (she’s 27), and she showed me a little elephant made out of a dollar bill. She told me that once she was on a plane, and two soldiers were sitting next to her, and one asked the other if he could borrow a dollar bill to make an origami elephant (instructions were in the flight magazine). The soldier didn’t have a dollar, but my daughter spoke up and said that she would give him the dollar if he would let her keep the elephant. She’s always loved elephants since getting attached to Dumbo back when she was a baby. So the soldier made the elephant and gave it to her, and she has kept it ever since and brings it with her whenever she travels as a good luck elephant. She hopes that the soldier is safe and well where ever he is today. :bighanky:
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What a wonderful story!
 
I voted other because it really depends on the picture.

The thing is that I really don’t care. If it’s a nice picture, then I’d probably keep it around. However, if it showed up on my door and I didn’t like the picture, then I’d toss it along with the business/political flyers that show up from time to time.

I don’t have a problem with pictures of Jesus, but after a certain point, I believe you can have too many.

In the end, I don’t want to be like my grandma who hoarded crosses and pictures of Jesus because that was one of her OCD “collections”. Yes, it’s great that she loved Jesus, but I’ve seen how it goes when you get obsessive and hoard a lot of religious material. She had Salvation Army magazines dating way back to before I was born. You can have too much of a good thing. :eek:
 
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