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T
here a re about as many var–
ied opinions a nd confticting
id eas a bout Jes us Christ as
there a re people to ex press them.
Every publish ing season authors
gr ind ou t a whole new mili of th eo–
logica l ideas about Jesus Christ.
claiming he was any thing from an
occultic leader of sorne mystic sect
steeped in hallucinogenic experi–
ences to a frustrated Jewish revolu–
ti o nary.
Someone wrote a book suppos–
edly "proving" he was ma r ri ed .
Others have claimed that he was a
hypno tist and a mag icia n. One a u–
thor even went so fa r as to assert
tha t he was a mushroom.
Movie ma kers are now turning
·out Jesus films a t a record rate. The
latest in the series - called "The
Passover Plot" - is a t this writi ng
being fi lmed in the state of Israel.
Various of these film odysseys pic–
ture a " ha rried Christ," a political
a nd religious reformer. a loving
drop-out, a se lf-styled Messiah , a
hippie Christ, a revolutionary Christ
- anyth ing but the rea l Jesus.
The Traditional Jesus
Today the traditional Jes us is ex–
periencing
a serious identity crisis!
The latest spate of Jesus movies is
sim ply the mos t recent manifesta–
tion o f it.
Te levision has succeeded in fur–
the r confusing and complicating this
ident ity. By the time a kid reaches
\he age of six. Bugs Bunny a nd Pink
Pa nther are his rea l heroes.
Before the age of television. there
was Samson the strong man. Dav id
a nd Goliath. Jonah and the wha le.
Daniel in the lion's den. Joshua and
the battle of Jericho, and maybe
even Noah and the ftood .
Youngsters in Sunday School ex–
perienced no identity crisis what–
soever with such Old Testamen t
"machismo" characters and their
heroic deeds.
But what a bout the traditiona l
Jesus? How does he stack up aga inst
a ll these biblical heroes?
The "Sunday School" Jesus
Does the " Sunday School" J esus in–
spire thoughts of admiration , wor–
s hi p , an d re spect? D oes the
traditional Christ ma ke ch ildren a u–
tomatically think of strength, cour-
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976
age . masculinity, a nd manl iness?
Does the personality o f Jesus Christ
truly capture the imagination of our
youth? Do strapping young men
want to grow up to be "just Jike
Jesus"? Why don' t they?
Take a close look a t the traditiona l
Jesus. You' ll hard ly be surprised
tha t children rapidly outgrow the
tende r shepherd and find the ir he roes
elsewhere.
Christ's traditional image begins
with the Christmas story depicting a
little Lo rd Jesus in the mange r. He
is lauded wi th hymns of praise and
poems of !ove and tenderness.
·wHOWAS
THE
REALJESUS?
A quote from the book
Your God
fs Too Sma/1
is a ll too typical of
t h e
tradi ti o nal
teaching about Jesus:
"Gentle Jesus. meek
and mild , look up–
on a littl e child. Christian chi l–
dren a ll must be mild, obedient.
good as He." And so goes many
Sunday School primers.
But th e tradit io na l J es us was
neve r a llowed to grow up a nd de–
velop strength, mascu linity, and a
dynamic personality. Even in man–
hood he is depi cted as de lica te and
decided ly effeminate. He is sa ncti–
moniously po rtrayed kneeling in a
long ftowing purpl e robe, with
brown tumbling locks ft owing down
his back, a thin face. a n aqu iline
nose. a fri zzy. wispy little beard, a
pious look on his face. a nd pe rha ps
with his hands (with long, slender ,
tape ring fingers) neatly folded on a
rock.
This " Jesus" is pictured as a soft,
semi-sick, womanly. shaky. pale.
so rrowfu l. sad -eyed. and a lways
much put-upon young ma n with no
sense of humor.
Whethe r you run the gamut a ll
the way from the little Lord Jesus in
the manger to the Jesus smil ing
se rene ly from sta ined-g lass win–
dows. or fi na lly to a dead Christ on
a cross, this is the consisten! Sunday
School picture.
Do you understand why o u r
youth might have an identity crisis
with Jesus Christ when you conside r
the ma nner in which he is tradition–
ally portrayed? This " Jesus" would
even be
persona non grata
with the
average businessman. machinist.
truck driver. or military man. He is
the ultima te
in !ack
of"machismo"!
The traditional Jesus is suffer–
ing an identity crisis of grow–
ing proportions. Was Jesus of
Nazareth the Christ of the
Crusades? Was he the Jesus
of the Jewish persecutions or
the Spanish lnquisition? Was
he the Jesus of some first–
century artist's imagination?
Who was this most enigmatic
figure in al/ of history?
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
7