Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?"

Posted By: crater

Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/05/07 09:50 AM

Do "many American Christians seem to want a Jesus who will defend their country and hate their national enemies as much as they do.?"

The Good News Tour's trademark picture (God kneeling half-naked at the feet of the world leaders.) Some of some of the faces on the poster are (left to right) German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Tony Blair, England; Kofi A. Annan, UN; George Bush; Osama bin Laden; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; and Jiang Zemin, former president of China.

The picture is used on posters advertising their conference. Under this picture they had captions like "Follow the Leader," "God IS Great," and most accurately, "Jesus - Still Too Radical?"

Quote:

Heavenly Sanctuary had contracts with several malls in the Seattle area to hang these posters advertising their conference, but no sooner had the posters gone up than angry calls began flooding the malls. Many people -- but, it seems, mostly Christians -- were offended at the image of Jesus washing Osama Bin Laden’s feet. There was such an outcry that each of the malls decided to go back on their contract and take the posters down. The Christian College that Heavenly Sanctuary was renting space from to host the Conference also canceled their contract. Brad had to scramble to find a secular venue (which, ironically, had no problems with the poster). For more on this read Greg Boyd's Blog, for Nov. 3, 2007

Posted By: Tom

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/05/07 06:12 PM

I spoke to one of the organizers of the conference, and he felt like it worked out for the good. There was a lot of commotion about it, as you pointed out. It was even on the T. V. news. So it caused a lot of people to think about something they wouldn't ordinarily think of.

Posted By: crater

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/06/07 01:16 AM

Often the best advertising can be free!

"All things work together for good". . .

It is an interesting painting, and definitely gives one something to think about.

Posted By: Tom

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/06/07 06:07 PM

In the picture, Jesus isn't actually washing Osama's feet; He's washing Kofi's. Osama is just present. Suppose Jesus were actually washing Osama's feet? That would really be too much to take.

I wonder where one would draw the line to make those who took offense with the picture happy. For example, would taking Osama away be enough? Should any Moslem leader be disallowed? Should Kofi be removed? (after all, he was critical of us).

I thought what Boyd wrote was very well stated. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world. It's easy to get confused about that.

Posted By: Mountain Man

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/06/07 09:33 PM

Would it make a difference if Satan was seated among them? Implying that Jesus would wash his feet, too.

Posted By: gordonb1

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/10/07 06:46 AM

Was it noted that the poster image was created by Lars Justinen?

Posted By: crater

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/11/07 02:10 AM

Originally Posted By: gordonb1

Was it noted that the poster image was created by Lars Justinen?

And having noted, signifies?

Elaborate, Please.

Posted By: gordonb1

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/26/07 08:12 PM

Hello crater,

This signifies an affiliation with Adventism. There was no mention of this in the original posting, a fact I overlooked before delving deeper. Lars Justinen illustrates many SDA quarterly covers.

Are you connected with the Justinen Group?

Posted By: crater

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/26/07 10:56 PM

Originally Posted By: gordonb1

Thanks for clarifying gordon.

I'm not connected with any of the mentioned groups. $\:\)$

According to what I have deduced from reading, The Good News Tour's website, is they are SDA, and from reading Boyd's Blog that he is not. Is that your take also?

As far as the the Justinen Group, I hadn't considered the artist affiliation, as I understood that it was commissioned by The Good News Tour. But it is interesting to know of the SDA connection there as well.

Posted By: gordonb1

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/26/07 11:15 PM

Originally Posted By: crater

Is that your take also?

Yes, crater. That's how it appears to me. Boyd is confused.

Strange that many see Osama as the subject of footwashing, when he clearly is not.

Posted By: crater

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/27/07 12:16 AM

Originally Posted By: gordonb1

Originally Posted By: crater

Is that your take also?

Yes, crater. That's how it appears to me. Boyd is confused.

Strange that many see Osama as the subject of footwashing, when he clearly is not.

You are referring to Boyd's statement?

Quote:

Many people -- but, it seems, mostly Christians -- were offended at the image of Jesus washing Osama Bin Laden’s feet.

The painting has Osama Bin Laden sitting right "smack-dab" in the middle of six chosen world leaders. Even though he isn't the one who's feet are being washed, peoples perception, seem to be that it is his feet that are being portrayed as being washed.

Wonder why it was painted and or commissioned to be painted this way?

Wonder why they didn't just have Jesus portrayed as washing Osama Bin Laden's feet?

Do people only see what they want to see? hear? How many times do we, like Boyd, appears to have done, in this particular scenario, only give a perceived truth?

Posted By: vastergotland

Re: Who owns God? "Jesus - Still Too Radical?" - 11/27/07 02:31 AM

Originally Posted By: Tom Ewall

In the picture, Jesus isn't actually washing Osama's feet; He's washing Kofi's. Osama is just present. Suppose Jesus were actually washing Osama's feet? That would really be too much to take.

I wonder where one would draw the line to make those who took offense with the picture happy. For example, would taking Osama away be enough? Should any Moslem leader be disallowed? Should Kofi be removed? (after all, he was critical of us).

I thought what Boyd wrote was very well stated. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world. It's easy to get confused about that.

Why?