Art for Jesus - in Japan: Pre-Birth Pictures

Monday, April 25, 2005

Pre-Birth Pictures

Index of Galleries - Next Gallery

I call these my "pre-birth" pictures because I made them before I knew that I was born of the Spirit (born again), while I was still an art student struggling with depression, philosophical questions, and the torture of unbelief. I had stashed away photos of these pictures because I was not proud of them -- well, the skill was good, but the spirit in which I'd made them was not, I felt. They also represented to me a time of depression, wandering, loneliness, philosophical arrogance and doubt, etc.

But two nights ago God brought them back to my memory and began to fill them with new meaning. So I've put up these seven pictures that He's redeemed for me, and pray that you are blessed by them and the meaning He's given me in them.

Having said that, I want you to be aware that they show some of my doubts and the ways that I had felt about myself back then so many years ago. In a sense, I'm getting "naked" here by sharing them.

One of the pictures in particular may be shocking to you, because I portrayed Christ crucified as He was -- naked. I didn't make the picture in the right spirit, but God has brought meaning out of it for me now, and has also filled me with new love, tears and appreciation for what He went through for us. I apologize in advance if it causes you any trauma to see it. I think that if we could actually see Christ crucified as He was, it would traumatize me much more than I can imagine. But His suffering has brought us life...

Click on a link or picture to read more, how the picture was made,
and how He redeemed it for me and brought new meaning out of it.

Pre-Birth Self-Portrait #1