A Course Blog for Elon's REL 204: Christian Traditions.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Hey everyone, all of this talk of what Jesus really looks like reminds me of a movie I saw a couple years ago. In Heaven Is For Real, which is based off a true story, a boy named Colton Burpo claims he went to Heaven after his health conditions drastically went downhill. The doctors said he wouldn't live but his health improved and he survived. While in Heaven he claims he saw Jesus and for years he tried to find any images that looked like the one he saw. He eventually came across a young American painter named Akiane Kramarik. At the age of four she started having visions of Jesus and ended up painting what she saw Jesus looked like. Colton found the painting, named Prince of Peace: The Resurrection, and said that that is the man he saw in Heaven. I just thought this was interesting and definitely relates to what we are discussing! Here is the picture of the painting:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I also see this as relating to our earlier discussion of ways of experiencing the divine. Interesting to think about the contexts of both of the named individuals and how that would influence how they experience and interact with their religious tradition.
ReplyDeleteI also see this as relating to our earlier discussion of ways of experiencing the divine. Interesting to think about the contexts of both of the named individuals and how that would influence how they experience and interact with their religious tradition.
ReplyDeleteWhen I looked up the young girl, Akiane Kramarik, in real life she was actually raised with both of her parents being atheist. It was after her visions and paintings that her family became Christian. Interestingly, in the real life of the boy who almost died, he claims to not want to go back down to Earth, but Jesus told him that He was answering the boy's dad's prayer. Although no one can truly prove these events happened, I think it is interesting that our culture does appreciate these stories enough to make them into movies and books.
ReplyDeleteErin, I think you're point at the end is very important. What do these types of things say about modern Christianity? Do they suggest that people are hoping for some "proof"?
ReplyDeleteLynn, this is an important topic for sure. I think in modern times the real meaning of faith has gone away. Nowadays, it seems that people think faith needs proof. The Merriam-Webster definition of faith is "strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof." I think this definition has been completely gone away. I feel like in older times of Christianity, there was no science involved, but now there are people constantly trying to disprove God with proof of science. In turn, Christians feel as though they need proof against any science. What are people's thoughts on this?
ReplyDelete