Akiane Kramarik

I don't see enough of Christ in myself either, Omni, so you're not wrong there. But I know I've got the doctrine right. Maybe if I stay away from EvC more, which I'm trying to do, I'll improve in the other departments too. Meanwhile, many people are being made victims of a false gospel these days, through various means including extraordinary experiences, "signs and wonders," and those they influence are no less victims and need to listen up.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

It's more an absence than anything direct. An absence of essential Christian truth about salvation, an absence of putting Christ at the center of experience, an absence of the idea of needing salvation from sin -- in short an absence of the cross on which he died for our sins. Her Jesus is no more than a man at least as presented on that site. If she sees him as God it is odd that isn't central to her vision. Anyone can talk about God. Even the demons believe in God as scripture says. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Well, she is a child and her parents were atheists so maybe she is testifying of God and Jesus the best she knows how. I mean give the girl some time. To say she is New Age in the manner you mean it suggests something else than what the site shows. Plus, they are trying to sell art. Maybe the more generic stuff is what they feel comfortable putting out up-front, and more comes for those that want it.

She claims to have been taken to heaven, Rand, and I am VERY leery of such claims, having heard lots of false doctrine supposedly "given" to the person in such experiences.{Edit: By the way, I'm not saying anything against the girl in saying this. She's a victim as are all the others who have had such experiences. The experiences are no doubt real and they believe them. She's a child and was a VERY young child when she had this experience. I am not doubting that she had a genuine supernatural experience that she believed to be an authentic experience of heaven. I am sure she is not lying or inventing any of this.}But also, to respond to your theory, playing down the truth of the cross in order to sell art is very questionable in itself. The cross is an offense, that we know from scripture, but playing it down is not the Christian response to that fact. And if she really was in heaven, there is no way Christ the sacrificed and risen Lamb of God would not have been impressed on her as the center of Christian faith.Her doctrine IS generic -- this doctrine that was given to her in "heaven" -- very watered down in its essence, in order to avoid offense to unregenerated people, but I doubt this is a mere front. We are seeing a lot of this pseudoChristianity these days, more and more it seems, all part of the general building up of a false gospel of Christ that is nice and inoffensive and can't save anybody.{Edit: Also, it isn't a matter of giving HER time. She isn't selling herself. Adults are selling her. Adults could set her straight. I would suspect that there are many who contact the site to object to the version of Christianity presented there, but are ignored.}I'm very sure of my judgment here, but of course, wait and see. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : grammar correction

I must have missed the vision of heaven...I'll take a look...Edit to add having done that, what's the big deal? The site says very little about the experience.Edited by randman, : No reason given.

I couldn't agree more with all of your points. To be fair to the little girl, she has enormous talent. And I believe everyone is gifted by God, whether we know it or not, whether they credit God or not, but we all have different abilities. However, I did not sense any kind of Christian ethos in that. I too sensed a New Age, sentimental attachment. But I don't know her so I could be wrong. But that is what I sensed as well.

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“If chance be the father of all flesh then disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear of, state of emergencies, sniper kills ten, youths go looting, bomb blasts school, it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker” -Steve Turner

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That was helpful.
Your previous post didn't suffice as an insult?

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Somebody has to stick up for that poor girl in the face of Faith's frowning, slightly fearful-sounding disapproval.

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Christians should pray for the girl and her family to be truly saved.

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Just as Christians should pray for you to be truly saved, Faith.

If everybody was inspired in exactly the same way, it would be a dull world. No. I don't see any connection whatsoever.-------------The kid can paint. If she's demon-inspired, the world needs more demons.Edited by Ringo, : Promoted "it" to "she".

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1. If God has inspired this little child to do what she does, why hasn't He inspired other children to do likewise?

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The christian god concept has always struck me as a little nutty - could be just another of his headfucks.

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2. If you are skeptical of Bible teachings because of errors or contradictions that appear to occur throughout the work, does this child's story change your mind in any way?

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Not in the slightest.

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3. Does this child's belief affect, either positively or negatively, one's attitude toward evolution?

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nope.

But, apart from a brief mention of a temple event when He was 12, we have no information about Jesus from quite soon after His birth up until He was about 30, that's a lot of lost years. He could have been doing anything, including learning the black arts in Egypt.Brian.

Very strong artistic talents and hyperreligousnious go togather for some reason. That and epilepsy

What the "Lost years of Jesus" idea is all about, whether Akiane is cognizant of it or not, is the claim that he learned his doctrine outside the traditions of the Old Testament. The very idea comes from that claim, so somehow or other she is expressing that, even if without her own knowledge of it. {edit: Brian states this idea in his Message 26.She isn't portraying a particular theory about that, but the painting gives the usual generic idea of God as a sort of dispenser of "love and truth" without any particular content to it -- actually he's not even portrayed as the giver of love and truth, but "reaching out for" it. Very New Agey sentimental fuzzy idea of love and truth. "Galactic hand?" -- this is not a Hebrew concept. It also implies a God tied to the cosmos rather than the God who made the cosmos. This is not the love and truth that sent Jesus to die for us.}The Christian gospel is that Jesus is God Himself, God as portrayed in the Old Testament, who became incarnate as a human being, in order to be the propitiation of our sins in both his perfect sinless life and in his sacrificial death on the cross, to reverse the condemnation of the Fall in Eden.A great deal of what passes for Christianity leaves out those essentials, while focusing on a generic God of love, on nature, on Jesus as a man, on some of his teachings and sayings, and so on. But none of that is Christianity. Christianity is the gospel good news that God Himself came and lived as a man and died for our sins. There is NOTHING of that in Akiane's paintings or poetry. I certainly hope that as she grows up she will come to learn it.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

So you say. For many though the Lost Years simply is an acknowledgement that we do not know what happened in Jesus early life. We get a few glimpses, possibly of His Bar Mitzvah, but little until He is a mature young man.It also seems evident to me that His doctrine does come from outside the tradition of the Old Testament. Whether through retained knowledge, impartation, intuition or critical thinking He developed a theology that stands in stark contrast to traditional Old Testament traditions. It is true that some Christians do hold the position that you describe. It is not though the universal Christian perspective. There are other Christian points of view.While Jesus may well be GOD at this time, many Christians see Him as fully and uniquely human during His stay here on earth. It was that, not His death, that was the sacrifice, God becoming Man, with all the limitations that implies. Many Christians do not see the Fall as something that was condemning.The great importance of Jesus message is that He was human, just like you, just like me, and taught us that it is possible for just plain humans to try to do what is right and not do what is wrong.It is no big deal for a God to be sinless, to work miracles, to lead a perfect life, that's well within the capabilities of a God. That's what they do. But to be human, just human and still do what Jesus did is a lesson worthy of respect.Christianity is the Gospel that GOD became man to remind us that we are all forgiven and to show by example that it is possible to live a goodly life, even if we are only trying to imitate the achievements of a great athlete, one who's accomplishments we have no hope of equaling.I think her pictures are awesome, and that the talent shown is amazing. Her theology is interesting even if colored by her age.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Nobody ever considered those years "lost" until it became a New Age notion to place him outside his Jewish context for the unreported period of his life. Just put "The Lost Years of Jesus" into Google and you will get all the New Agey references to the idea. Ol' Elizabeth Clare Prophet is in there along with all the other occult practitioners. It's not a Christian way of talking. Yes, Jesus is perfectly human. He is the God-Man as traditional Christianity says, both perfect God and perfect Man. That commonplace message didn't require God to become man. Many of the sages of the world have said that much. Even ordinary people say that much. Parents tell children that much, going all the way back. Oh, far from it. All the "gods" (fallen angels) are far from sinless. But the one true Creator God of course is sinless. However, Jesus was sinless as man, not as God, the first man of the New Creation, taking the place of the first man of the Old Creation, Adam, who could have remained sinless but didn't. He's the only one who could have remained sinless. Nobody else. Perfect nonsense. Trivializes God becoming man. God became man because only He could live a sinless life and die sinless as the perfect spotless unblemished sacrifice, the Lamb of God, only He could be the propitiation for the sins of humanity inherited since Adam. Not judging the work as art, but just as the expression of raw talent at a very early age, it is definitely extraordinary.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.