Jesus Had A Face.

Growing up Catholic and going through Catholic school I was basically surrounded by religious images. Paintings of Mary and Jesus and the Apostles. Renderings of the Holy Spirit. Icons of saints. Pictures of the pope (mostly JP2). Crucifixes in every classroom. So when I first heard that other denominations of Christianity were told that painting and drawing Jesus was frowned upon, I was a little confused.

I was taught (and maybe I just got lucky with this) that making art in the name of God was a good thing. That it is perhaps another form of prayer or praise. Using the gifts he has given you to bring about new creations and beauty. To think that we wouldn't be allowed to do this seems a little silly to me. Why wouldn't God want us to represent him artistically?

I realize that some of the reasoning from not wanting to create images of Jesus make a lot of sense. It'll become about the physical instead of the spiritual. It might break the second commandment. We might get his image wrong and offend him. But to me art is one of the best things about the world. And not just fine arts. All art. Movies, architecture, music, plays, dance, doodles even. So why wouldn't we give God our best? It's not focusing on the beautification of God its about giving God the best we can, even if our best isn't all that great.