Marsha's Musings: Image of Jesus in the Provo Tabernacle Fire

Provo Tabernacle: Tribute to a landmark


I've been thinking about this all morning.  It is a tragic event anytime a group of people lose something precious to their past.  And so my heart goes out to my LDS friends in the loss of this historic building that was so important to them.  I would want the same sympathy shown to me if I lost something of value to my past.


The Deseret News article said, "There were tears but also feelings of hope, reinforced by a photo of a portrait that burned, except the area around the image of Christ."

Fox13 had an article on their website that said, 

"A painting of Jesus Christ burned in the fire, save for the image of the son of God, which was left unscathed."  

 They called it a Christmas Miracle.  


 The article also said,

"Fox 13 cameras captured the painting inside the burning tabernacle on Friday night. The image, Harry Anderson's "Second Coming" is scorched, except for Christ's image, which is untouched and surrounded by charred blackness. Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz also took a photograph of it while touring the rubble on Saturday morning.

"Not only did it not burn the image of Christ, but the silhouette, the outline, I've got to tell you it really touched me in a way. It really did," Chaffetz told Fox 13. "Here's this painting and part of it survived. I was absolutely amazed."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the Provo Tabernacle, now has possession of the print. An LDS Church spokesman declined to say what they plan to do with it.

"It's a Christmas miracle," said Aisling Wilson, who walked by the Tabernacle on Monday morning.

"I think it's His way of saying that, 'I'm in the little things and in the big things and this is OK,' " added her husband, Bryan."

While I can understand how people will grasp at anything they can, to hold on to hope, in the middle of tragedy, I see a danger here.  The danger I see is in elevating an object to the level of being sacred and holy.  The Bible says in Deuteronomy  5:8, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:"  This command was given in the context of commands that God's people should have no other gods before Him.  


It is my personal opinion, that the use of images and likenesses of Jesus hanging on the wall or in the meeting place of a church is not a good idea.  First of all, no one knows what Jesus looked liked.  It is highly doubtful that he was a pale skinned, long-haired individual.  By having these kinds of images in our minds, when we come to Him in prayer, are we not in our hearts bowing down before a graven image?    This is one reason why I did not go see the movie, The Passion of Christ. 


 I did not want  to put a man-made image into my mind that I would think about when I prayed or worshiped my Lord.  When I heard people talk about that movie, they all focused on the terrible things done to Jesus when he was crucified.  But that is not the worst thing that happened to Jesus Christ.  The worst thing that happened to Him was that His Father forsook him.  God is holy and just and because He is holy and just, He must punish sinners who sin and we all sin.  But God is also loving and so He planned for His only perfect Son Jesus Christ  to pay the price of His wrath against sinners in their place.  When Jesus took our sin on Himself, that is when God forsook Him and that is the worst thing that happened to Him on that day.  


I realized I have drifted from my original topic.  Once again, I want my LDS friends to know that I sympathize with them in their loss.  For them it is a tragic loss of some of their history.  At the same time, I am sad when I see some of them elevating an image of Jesus in such a way.  I'm sure there are other items in the structure that also survived strangely enough. It happens in a lot of tragic situations.  I fear that this photo may become a fetish.  This is something the one true God rejects. 

Deuteronomy 5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,