This image in no fashion or form of the imagination represents Jesus Christ, and rather than serving to honor him, it does, in fact, highly dishonor him in both appearance and religiosity.
Allow your worldly religious heart to take you on its emotional journey if you like, but regardless of what you ‘believe’ or were taught, this is NOT a picture of Jesus Christ.
That said, think of how you would react if someone carried a made-up and offensive image that resembled someone COMPLETELY unlike you, and went about telling others that it was you.
Why does it matter? Several reasons why!
Well, for one thing, Jesus Christ was born a Jew and most likely did not look like an Anglo-Saxon European hippie. For another, nobody has the slightest inkling of what Jesus looked like.
Finally, Jesus Christ definitely did NOT have long hair:
“14 Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him…” 1 Corinthians 11:14
Is it possible or logical that one of the foremost apostles, one given the privilege of seeing a vision of Christ, and whose contemporaries walked with Christ, would say such a thing IF Jesus Christ had long hair?
The image is nothing more than the delusional creation of something that Sallman—“a lifelong member of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America (now the Evangelical Covenant Church)”—concocted after seeing so many other past representations imagined through the ages.
Sallman simply “went with the flow” of acceptable—though false and misleading—images of what Jesus Christ may have been. The fact is that during the first century CE, Jewish men kept their hair shorn and neat, somewhat in the Roman fashion. Disheveled and medium (unshorn) hair was normally a symbol of mourning.
“Artists and sculptors drew inspiration from the artistic traditions of the ancient world, where long hair and beards were commonly associated with wisdom, divinity, and authority. Greek and Roman gods and philosophers were often depicted with flowing locks and beards,” Bible Analysis
More Importantly: It’s Idolatry!
Clinging to a cross, a bible, a “picture of Jesus,” or other talisman as a security blanket is nothing more than a sign of a complete lack of faith.
Much like having an “emotional support animal” on one’s lap, having something to rub, like a rabbit’s foot, to feel secure, rather than the faith expected in the resurrection hope given to humanity by God through Jesus Christ.
“7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:6-7
Then, the most important reason that one should never kneel before edifices and images:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. 8You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,“ Deuteronomy 5:8-9
Of course, the churches—RELIGION—will never say that it is wrong to do so, because they teach the lies of the father, the god of this world, the adversary, Satan.
Yes, the very ones that tell you to are, in fact, the very wolves that one should beware of:
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” Matthew 7:15
They—with their pomposities, white collars, and the trappings and regalia of pagandom—put on airs of righteousness… because they are the most deceived, and most deceptive of all.
Matthew 7 goes on to say about them:
“16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
Matthew 7:16
These false prophets marched behind humanity throughout history as fomenters of wars, hatred, torture, torment, and bloodshed.
The antichrist, from the establishment of Catholicism onward, their offspring sects, reformists, and Protestants, have claimed to honor Jesus Christ, but by their very actions, dishonor him in every way.
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