Optical Illusion Of Jesus
Stare at the four black dots in the center of the image for 30 - 60 seconds.
Then quickly close your eyes and look at something bright
(like a lamp or a window with sunlight coming through it).
You should see a white circle with an image inside it.
This is an optical illusion easily found on the Internet. My immediate reaction- I do not want to stare at this disgusting picture. "Jesus", at least this particular artistic rendering, appears to have ingested some substance one too many times, and I am not referring to manna from Heaven. There are piercings in his chin. Obviously he has a severly deviated septum. And, is he staring at a cobra? That is not a good thing to do.
(Now I blink my eyes, and find myself greeted by the negative of this image imposed upon the back of my eyelids. It still appears stoned, and scary. There will be nightmares tonight.)
I've never seen Jesus. I know Christians are good at spiritualizing the issue, smugly responding with something like, "I see Jesus every time I look at one of His children". Yes. But, I have never gazed upon His actual, physical presence. Not in the same manner claimed by John on the Isle of Patmos, or Paul along the Damscus Road. And I know persons who, with all sincerity, claim to have been privy to a vision of Christ. A little boy told me he saw Jesus while praying in the closet. Not me.
Yet I believe with the deepest part of my being that Jesus is real. I've staked life and eternity upon this fact, and live accordingly.
Would I want to see a vision? On this side of the grave, the answer is no. It would be profoundly confusing. How would I know if what would appear before me would be legitimate? It could be the manufacture of factors other than God: substance abuse, psychological suggestion, even Satan. I think I prefer the Invisible God. "We walk by faith, not by sight", the Bible tells us in a couple of places. God in my heart is much more real than an apparition.
At this point I would bow my head to pray. But, upon closing my eyes, the silly apparition of a stoned Jesus flashes before me. I think I will now search the internet for an optical illusion of an ice cream cone, or a beautiful woman.
11.06.07 (5:41 pm) [
edit]
posted by:
Barnabus1 (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (2:58 pm)
Evidently you can see this floating image far better than I can...I think it looks cool!!!It's from an e-mail that went around this way about a year ago!
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (3:00 pm)
That's it. Next time he visits, I'm inviting you up. No piercings that I've noticed, but his hair isn't as long as I'd have guessed, though he says it was once. His skin is just this side of bronze, and his voice? -pretty cool. He's got kind of a Chrisopher Walken thing going on when he speaks English, but when he's making phone calls on my phone - which is annoyingly often - I'll bet I've heard him use 30 different languages, plus he can switch from one to another in a millisecond. He says it's all about speaking in a way that ernsures the listener understands what he's saying. "Whatever," I tell him, "could you please wait till after seven p.m. to amke the cell calls? I'm on a limited budget here." He just waves me away and tells me he'll take care of it, and sure enough, so far anyway, the calls he makes never seem to show up on my bill.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (4:46 pm)
Reply to: Barnabus1
Don't you tire of such e-mails? I've got friends, whom I truly enjoy in real life, who regularly send me all kinds of junk e-mails like this one, thinking I like such stuff. I delete them en-masse, and then hope they don't ask if I read them. Hate to lie, you know!
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (4:49 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
Is he 70 feet tall? My good friend O.R. says he is. Does he wear spectacles, as Joseph Smith seems to think? Sideburns? I've got lots of questions.
posted by:
FinalyFree (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (6:00 pm)
I think he probably has sideburns, atleast I hope so, he always has had them in my mental picture :)
posted by:
emerging (
reply)
post date:
11.06.07 (8:19 pm)
Reply to: FinalyFree
Are you sure it isn't Elvis you're thinking of? :)
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
11.07.07 (3:07 pm)
Do you believe the image left on the shroud of Turin to be that of Jesus?
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
11.07.07 (4:51 pm)
Reply to: bawdy
Can't be. I can make a shroud just like it with cheesecloth and some light-sensitive pixie dust.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
11.07.07 (5:17 pm)
Reply to: bawdy
Just my personal opinion, but no, I do not think the Shroud of Turin to be authentic. It is interesting conjecture. But, it certainly is not needed in order to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. He passed through the grave clothes, but surely by now they are long gone, because of the process of time and decay.
posted by:
FinalyFree (
reply)
post date:
11.07.07 (7:56 pm)
Reply to: emerging
Heh! Touche'
posted by:
raggedtiger (
reply)
post date:
11.08.07 (4:08 am)
i forever search the net for beautiful women....bugger the optical illusions...lol
posted by:
fractalmom (
reply)
post date:
11.08.07 (7:39 am)
i think i would run screaming if Jesus came to visit me.
and, I would also be thinking, while running...
"Beware of false Prophets."
how are we to know????
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
11.08.07 (12:33 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
Cool. You should make a bunch and market them for the holiday season!
posted by:
ggirl (
reply)
post date:
11.15.07 (5:57 am)
It's hard to stare at something that long. Then I was confused about what to do next. Sigh. It's going to be a long day.
