Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Cropping the Picture

The original, complete picture (see Figure 1) was slowly eliminated until only the cropped photo remained (see Figure 3). This process did not happen all at once, but in slow increments, over many centuries. Jesus remained a player in the photo, but he became the “supplier of my needs,” the hands holding the basketball . He became the OBJECT and was no longer the SUBJECT . Michael Horton said, “To increasing millions of Americans, God … exists for the pleasure of humankind. He resides in the heavenly realm solely for our utility and benefit.” 9

The other basketball player, representing the devil and his kingdom, was also cropped from the picture. To various degrees, Satan’s “kingdom of this world” became largely irrelevant.

What is left after the cropping process is a Self that is prominent (the basketball), a God who exists to care for the Self (the hands holding the ball), and no larger context to see where any of this Story is going . There is no adversary. There is no point. It is static. As he holds the ball, it is unclear if the basketball player is in action or standing still. This “cropping” process was conducted by the well-intentioned efforts of sincere Christians who wanted to make Christ known and advance his purposes in the world. But their work had unforeseen implications. First, over many centuries, the SUBJECT changed from Christ as Victorious Lord to Christ as Savior of the Church. Then, gradually, the SUBJECT changed from Christ the “Savior of the Church” to Christ “my personal savior.” Jesus was essentially demoted from Victorious

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