Jesus Cropped from the Picture

The First Cropping Tool: Individualism

conversation). Christ, while seated on the throne of the individual, can be inferred as the OBJECT , because the cross is smaller than the circle.

People viewing this presentation could erroneously view themselves as the SUBJECT , and see Christ as the OBJECT . “Me and my personal relationship with Christ” becomes the message. Christ and his Kingdom is made secondary to “my individual decision-making about Christ’s role in my life.” The invitation to join his Kingdom can easily be lost on a person who is already looking at life through a self-oriented lens.

Despite the warning of Campus Crusade that sin is what causes people to put Self on the throne, the observer can infer that Self is the Sovereign, the one in a position to employ Jesus or not.

This notion has been reinforced through thousands of books, sermons, Bible studies, and radio broadcasts. A constant diet of me at the center, with Christ there to help me has slowly cropped the photo until people see themselves as the SUBJECT (the basketball), and Christ as the OBJECT (the hands holding the basketball). Michael Horton said: “The focus still seems to be on us and our activity rather than on God and his work in Jesus Christ. Across the board from conservative to liberal, Roman Catholic to Anabaptist, New Age to Southern Baptist, the ‘search for the sacred’ in America is largely oriented to what happens inside of us, in our personal experience rather than in what God has done for us in history.” 11

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