Holy Land Experience Religious Theme Park

Holy Land Experience is a religious theme park in Orland, Florida. From their website: "The Holy Land Experience brings together the sights and sounds of the world of the Bible in a unique and interactive way unlike anywhere else. It is a living, biblical museum that takes you 7000 miles away and 2000 years back in time to the land of the Bible. Its combination of sights, sounds, and tastes will stimulate your senses and blend together to create a spectacular new experience. But above all, beyond the fun and excitement, we hope that you will see God and His Word exalted and that you will be encouraged in your search for enduring truth and the ultimate meaning of life."

 

Map of the theme park

Trailer on youtube

http://www.holylandexperience.com

Bible comics

So there are a lot of Christian comics out there. First there is the Picture Bible by Iva Hoth and Andre LeBlanc. It seems to be a classic in its genre but it does look more like an illustrated Bible bordering on the comic book than a real comic book. There are probably more advanced geeks with a whole repertoire of comic book theory that are better suited to judge this than me. Say what you want, but Moses sure is looking mighty pissed on the cover of this one!

Next we have the Action Bible. Amazon tells me that "in February, 2006, [Sergio Cariello, the illustrator of this work] was contacted by David C. Cook to gauge his interest in a new project; completely re-illustrating Cook's classic Picture Bible." There seems to be some continuity there. It looks a lot more modern than the Picture Bible does and a lot more like a proper comic book too actually.

Another one is the Picture Stories from the Bible series, published by All-American Publications in the 1940s. The publishing company seems to have a big reputation in the secular world of comic books, so I'm thinking that it's not necessarily written with a religious agenda. They look fantastic!

One also very recently published (2006-2008) is the Testament series by Douglas Rushkoff & Liam Sharp. Wikipedia tells me that "the story takes place simultaneously in the near future and the biblical past to illustrate the most prominent theme: that history repeats itself." This means that it does stray from the strict biblical narrative, but I'd consider it a Bible comic still. It seems to make minced meat out of all the other comics mentioned above anyway.

Then there also seem to be some manga/anime comics. The MANGA Messiah and the Manga Bible.

I can't resist mentioning also the comic Saint Young Men. From Wiki: "The series is about Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha living together in a Tokyo apartment while taking a vacation on Earth." I decided not to depict the front but an illustration from it because it says more than the front seems to.

Finally then I'd like to mention the recent work of comic book artist Robert Crumb, Genesis, illustrating the entire book of Genesis (including all the family trees!) which is a really huge project.

Winterband

Religious board games

Footprints in the Sand

This is a poem form the late nineteenth century it seems. There seems to be dispute about who the author of the text is. Here is the text, a version (there appear to be several) accredited to Mary Stevenson who supposedly wrote it in 1836:

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

The text is great but obviously it looks even better when you see it with a beach backdrop on a life-size poster, like this one:

Probably the best version is here, where it is turned into a website with shore sounds, text in neon colored comic sans serif font, a beach backdrop and a footprint for a mouse pointer!

Spiritual art: Gaelyn Larrick

Next to the vast multitude of contemporary artists that choose Christianity as their main or exclusive theme, there are also many artists who focus on other religious themes that seem interesting for this blog. One such artist is Gaelyn Larrick who creates spiritual art. I would like to highlight some of her work today.

 "Elemental Alchemy"

  "Be the Change - Be the change you wish to see in the world"

 "Celebrate!"

"Light of Love"

 

"We Belong to Each Other"

http://www.artservingspirit.com 

A day of rest

I decided not to post on Sundays. Has God in His eternal wisdom not decided that Sunday should be a day of rest? Perhaps not but I decided not to blog on Sundays anyway.

Jimmy Swaggart records

My Day With Jesus children's book

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter

Usually I deal with religion making use of popular culture and not with popular culture making use of religion, but sometimes things are just too good.

"In the new millennium vampires no longer fear the sun. Now they're going to learn it's time to fear... THE SON OF GOD!"

Movier trailer:

Fulla the Muslim Doll

Some or perhaps all of the Fulla dolls also recite the Islamic opening prayer when you push a button on the back.

Parents Reading the Bible to Their Children

Christian Art: Thomas Blackshear and Thomas Kinkade

This will be the first of many in a series of Christian art. Rather than just blog the art, I thought I'd highlight the artists themselves since they all have a distinct way of portraying religious events. I start with two, Thomas Blackshear and Thomas Kinkade, because they were mentioned on Wikipedia as being the two pioneers of this type of art. And as we all know, if it's on Wikipedia it's true! ;)

Thomas Blackshear

"Forgiveness"

http://www.blackshearonline.com


Thomas Kinkade

"Prince of Peace"

"Sunrise"

http://www.thomaskinkade.com

Jesus is a friend of mine

Chibi Jesus

From urbandictionary.com: "[Chibi] is an adjective that means small and/or miniature in a good or cute way. Normally used to describe (young) people or animals, and is endearing. This word, along with kawaii and several other Japanese words, have been taken by America's "Wapanese" who have gone overboard in accentuating their English speech with Japanese words. "Chibi" was probably first introduced to the West through anime, and probably from the name of Sailor Chibimoon, in Sailor Moon."

Landscapes and scripture