Earth Day Special - Extinction In Reverse!

Earth Day, the day we use to bring awareness to stewardship of the earth, was just two days ago. What did you all do for Earth Day? That's not the only thing that happened this past week...THE SECOND OFFICIAL TRAILER (not TV spot) WAS RELEASED ON MONDAY!!! More about that below. But first...

Days till:
It is: 16 days till Mother's Day
It is: 49 days till Jurassic World's theatrical release
It is: 56 days till Inside Out's theatrical release

In the Spotlight:
Unless A) you've been living under a rock, B)  extremely uninterested in dinosaurs or C) have been eaten by raptors, you'll know that Jurassic World, the third sequel to Jurassic Park, is coming out on June 12! The awesome new trailer just released last Monday, and let me tell you, it's better than all the other trailers and TV spots we've seen so far combined with loads of new footage. Don't waste anymore time. Check it out now:

One word: AWESOME!!! I was so awestruck by how cool this trailer is. It's got just about everything you could want concerning the new film. But as if that wasn't enough, another clip from the film aired yesterday! The clip below features Indominus rex as she breaks out of her enclosure. It mostly features clips we've seen from the trailer, but at least we can now see them the way they'll be in the film:

This clip is also one of the few in which we here Simon Masrani's unqiue Indian voice.

As if these clips still weren't enough, last Friday, Saturday and Sunday brought us official all-new Jurassic World posters! Check 'em out below:

Claire and Indominus rex have a staredown! 

There's always a bigger fish...er, Mosasaurus, in the sea!

Owen and the Raptor Squad race through the jungle!

Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan
Several of the many animals we share the planet with are rapidly becoming endangered. As their numbers decrease, it becomes more and more evident that they need our protection. Sometimes, no matter what we do, animal species go extinct, forever lost from the earth. Often times, most people only hear about examples of animals that are still endangered or have become extinct. However, there are also instances where the opposite is the case and we successfully save an animal from extinction – today, many of these successes result in the animal becoming overly bountiful today!

Animals all over our planet are in dire need for conservation!

In honor of Earth Day (which is on the 22nd), we are going to look at some of the many instances where a previously endangered species was saved from extinction. This has been mostly thanks to the work of conservationists – people and organizations that work together to protect and preserve nature. While some conservationists attempt to breed such endangered animals in captivity, later to be released in the wild, others improve the habitat of these creatures (making more areas for the animals to live or making the habitat they have more habitable) and some are conservative game hunters, who manage populations of wild animals to ensure more common species don't cause rarer ones to die out.

Below is a list of just a few of these endangered animal success stories, how they became endangered, and what people did to help them out.

American Alligator

The American alligator was once commonly hunted for their beautiful hides.

The American alligator is the most common member of the crocodilian family in North America. It's a carnivorous reptiles about 10-15 feet in length and 1,000 pounds in weight. They primarily can be found in many of the southeastern United States' lakes, rivers, swamps and marshes. They are particularly common in Florida (where I spent most of my childhood) and Louisiana. Alligators are the apex predators of their ecosystem, so they are needed to keep their prey from becoming too numerous. This made it bad when alligator numbers began to decrease.

Alligators began going extinct thanks to people clearing out their habitat to make room for human developments and because they were hunted for their hides. People had been using their tough skin to make leather since the 19th century. Conservationists realized that alligators needed help, so it was put into protection under the law in 1962. The government made it illegal across the United States to hunt and kill alligators. Conservationists quickly got to work; thanks to much captive breeding and releasing members of the species into the wild, the American alligator made a thriving comeback. Today, there are more than 5 million of these cold-blooded predators swimming through the southeastern waterways, and are even starting to expand their range northward into North Carolina.

The range of the American alligator is now spreading, thanks to conservation methods.

Bald Eagle

Bald eagle's were threatened with extinction from the pesticide DDT

It might come to a surprise to some that the bald eagle was once on the Endangered Species List! This majestic bird is the national emblem of America itself. It has a wingspan of up to eight feet and can weigh 6.5-14 pounds. Bald eagles have a hook-like beak and sharp talons that are used to catch their prey and tear it apart once caught. Despite their name, the bald eagle isn't actually bald; rather its head is covered in white feathers. They are also known to mate for life.

In addition to the killing of bald eagle's to keep them from eating fish stocks, for sport and habitat loss, the bald eagle, along with other birds, also greatly suffered from a chemical pesticide called DDT. The DDT pesticide was put into use after the end of World War II to protect crops from insects that ruined them. However, DDT would often get washed into the waterways where it was absorbed by fish and aquatic plants. Birds like bald eagles that ate the fish also became poisoned with the chemical. DDT wasn't deadly to the birds themselves however (most of the time); instead, DDT caused the mother birds to lay eggs with thin egg shells that would either break when the mother sat on them for incubation or fail to hatch. With fewer eagles being born, their numbers plummeted to dangerously low levels.

Conservationists began to get concerned by 1963. At that time, only 487 or so nesting pairs of bald eagles had managed to survive. In order to help save the species from extinction, the bald eagle was considered endangered in most states. They also heavily restricted the use of DDT in 1972. As with the alligator, breeding eagles in captivity, releasing them into the wild and preserving their habitat and nesting areas, the eagle was saved from extinction by 2007. The bald eagle can now remain the national bird of the United States of America for years to come.

Bald eagles have a bright future ahead of them!

American Bison

American bison are relics from the Ice Age.

When someone says “wild west”, the image that often comes to mind is a great herd of buffalo stampeding across the great plains, perhaps being pursued by wolves or native Americans. However, these large, hairy mammals are actually not “buffalo”, because this term is actually referring to creatures such as the water buffalo of Asia and the Cape buffalo of Africa. The correct name for the American “buffalo” is American bison, or Bison bison (arguably one of the easiest-to-pronounce scientific names ever). Since the Ice Age, great herds of tens of millions of bison roamed the Great Plains of North America from Alaska to Mexico; they were hunted by saber-toothed cats, grazing with woolly mammoths and were crucial to Native American lifestyles.

But this all changed in the 19th century upon the arrival of early pioneering settlers from Europe. Unlike the native Americans, who were very conservative about the number of bison they hunted, early settlers killed bison in vast numbers for food, sport and even just to lower the Native American population. As many as 50 million bison were wiped out by Europeans, lowering their numbers into the low hundreds. Europeans also, as usual, cleared out bison habitat to make room for their own settlements.

Bison once roamed in herds numbering into their millions across the American plains.

However, when conservationists realized bison were in decline, drastic measures were conducted to ensure their survival. In 1889, less than 1,100 bison remained. The American Bison Society was formed at the Bronx Zoo in 1905 to help increase bison numbers. They began releasing them into large reserves. Today, there are around 20,000 bison in the wild, and about 500,000 members of the species total. It may take a while to fully restore their numbers, but at least things are finally looking up for this great American species.

Bontebok

At one time, only 22 bonteboks were left in existence.

Antelopes roam far and wide across the African savanna. There are several different species, from the corkscrewed-horned kudu and nyala, to the tiny dik dik and the migratory wildebeest and the largest, the eland. Most species of antelope are quite common, but this is not the case for the bontebok. The bontebok can easily be recognized by its dark-colored coat and the white markings on its face and rump.

Bonteboks were commonly hunted throughout the early 1800's. In fact, they were so commonly hunted that only 22 members of the species survived. This is why the last-surviving bonteboks were kept in a large fenced area in order to prevent them from being shot at. It is thanks to efforts such as these that the bontebok has increased greatly in number – there are now over 3,000 individuals in several conservation areas in Africa. Talk about a comeback!

Gray Wolf

Wolves were hunted extensively because they were considered a threat to livestock.

Alongside the bison, the gray wolf is often viewed as one of American's national heritages. Scientists believe that this species, or a similar canine, was the ancestor of the domestic dog. They live throughout the northern hemisphere, even into Asia and Europe (up until recent times, they were even residents to northern Africa). Wolves are social creatures, living in packs averaging about seven or eight individuals. Wolves don't really howl at the moon, instead they howl in order to communicate with other wolves, often sending messages of “get lost!” to rival packs. Before their decline, it is believed that over 2 million of these canines roamed the North American continent.

As with many apex predators, Europeans saw the need to get rid of wolves for several reasons. Wolves were known to kill livestock and were thought to be vile, vicious, devious and evil animals, so people shot and poisoned countless numbers of them. They also killed them to use their pelts as clothing. Another threat to the wolf was (and often times still is) habitat loss. Most wolves were killed merely because of the misconception that they were evil and dangerous creatures. Whereas in reality, wolves actually tend to avoid people if possible. Due to all the killing and habitat loss, the gray wolf's numbers were reduced so much that there were only a few hundred still left in the wild.

After becoming listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1974, wolves made an incredible return!  Now, thousands of wolves can be found in the wild...but at one point, the success seemed almost too good. Wolves still needed the law's protection, but the government considered removing the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List in 2013 due to their apparent comeback. Thankfully, this was prevented and in the February of 2014, it was decided the consideration of removing the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List was too soon and based on insufficient data. Therefore, the gray wolf still receives protection to this day.

Humpback Whales

The humpback whale is known for leaping into the air; this is called breaching and its purpose is not fully understood.

Whales are the largest animals ever to have existed on the planet, the biggest species being the blue whale. While not as large, the humpback whale is still and interesting species. These marine mammals are known for their underwater songs that they use to communicate with other humpbacks. These sounds can be quite complex and consist of cries, howls and moans, among other sounds. Scientists still don't completely understand these beautiful songs. A full-grown humpback whale can be 48-62 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons.

Even the largest animals are subject to becoming extinct. For thousands of years, whales have been hunted for their meat, old and blubber. This practice is referred to as “whaling”. Even today, thousands of whales are killed each year. Whaling has been responsible for the decline in whale populations worldwide, including those of the humpbacks. By the middle 1960's, the humpback populations had decreased to only 1,200 in the North Pacific! Fortunately, the Endangered Species Act came to the rescue once again.

Because laws are now prohibiting whaling in many areas around the world, humpback numbers are slowly on the increase. There are 22,000 or so humpbacks alive today that descended from the aforementioned population of only 1,200. But illegal whaling practices are still occurring around the world. If we are to ensure the humpback whale's survival, the whaling industry must be nipped at the bud.

Southern Sea Otter

Who would want to kill such an adorable creature? Unfortunately, many people did.

It's hard to imagine how a critter as cute and cuddly as the sea otter could be endangered, but nonetheless, some people apparently couldn't care less! You see, sea otters have two layers of fur – the outer layer to keep them dry and another layer underneath that to keep them warm in the often chilly waters they swim in. This fur was nearly their downfall. During the 1700's and 1800's, people thought the thick fur of sea otters was attractive and they were hunted extensively by fur traders.

Before the 1700's, there were an estimated between several hundred thousand to over a million. Afterward, there were only about 1,000 to 2,000 of these creatures left. These semi-aquatic mammals are very important to the kelp forests they live in. Sea otters love to eat sea urchins (among other invertebrates). Sea urchins in turn, dine on seaweed. The otters eat the urchins, therefore enabling seaweed to grow, and the seaweed provides a home for otters and loads of other aquatic species. Without the otters, seaweed would be much rarer and harder for animals that depend on it to find.

Fortunately, sea otters gained protection under the International Fur Seal Treaty of 1911, and the Marine Mammal Protection and Endangered Species Act in the 1970's. While their numbers are still far below their initial population, the fact that there are around 100,000 to 150,000 sea otters alive today just goes to show you how greatly their numbers have increased thanks to conservation methods.

White-tailed Deer

The white-tailed deer's population dropped to almost 300,000 in the United States.

As hard as it is to believe, the white-tailed deer was once an endangered species! This species can be found across most of North America and Central America, and northern South America. The underside of their white tail (which gives them their namesake) is used to signal other deer nearby, particularly if there's a predator in the area. As with most deer, males – also called bucks – have a set of antlers that they use for fighting other bucks in the autumn.

In the early 20th century, white-tailed deer were, as is often the case with many once-and-now-endangered animals, suffering from unregulated hunting. In the year 1930, the number of white-tailed deer dropped to almost 300,000 in the United States. Hunters and conservationists began to get worried by the loss of deer, so went to action. They were able to get laws passed that made it illegal to commercially exploit these deer and hunting was extremely regulated.

The white-tailed deer is a prime example of how a species bounced back from its endangered status – as of 2005, there were as many as 30 million of these deer in the United States alone and their numbers are still growing! However, there are now so many deer that there are too many for some ecosystems due to humans having killed off their the majority of their predators.

This is why the work of a conservationist is never done. These people who have dedicated their lives to protecting animals and their habitats must always stay on their toes to find out why animals are becoming endangered and how to save them. In the future, I hope to see many more stories of how conservationists and conservative game hunters worked together to pull animals back from the brink of extinction.

Several animals, like the giant panda, still need our help!

References:
www.animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/american-alligator
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/08/endangered-species-act-successful_n_4740535
www.animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/bald-eagle
www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/hoofed-mammals/bison/the-american-bison-society
www.wcs.org/news-and-features-main/bright-future-for-bison
www.gondwanagr.co.za/endangered-bontebok
www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/gray_wolves
www.defenders.org/gray-wolf/threats
www.ecowatch.com/2013/12/07/success-stories-endangered-species-act
www.animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/humpback-whale
us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/whaling
www.animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/sea-otter
www.defenders.org/sea-otter/threats
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/white-tailed-deer
www.suwanneeriverranch.com/WTinfoM
www.animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/white-tailed-deer

Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.

Rerun Article: The Mighty Tiger

Sorry for being MIA last week. My church's drama, Victory at the Cross was last Friday and boy was it a lot of work! It was a great turn out, though. So anyways, I am now back and since Easter is over, I have an interesting rerun article and some exciting news about Jurassic World.

Days till:
It is: 3 days till Patriot Day
It is: 5 days till Earth Day
It is: 23 days till Mother's Day
It is: 56 days till Jurassic World's theatrical release!
It is: 63 days till Inside Out's release!

In the Spotlight:
Not much to share this week in terms of Jurassic World, but there was a new image from the film released not too long ago. Here it is:

The gyrosphere ride at Jurassic World among Apatosaurus (left), Triceratops (right) and a herd of Stegosaurus in the background.

This image is different from most screenshots released of the film. Most feature only the human characters, but this photo gives us a glimpse at the park's dinosaurs, like Triceratops. With the exception of the short clip in the second trailer, we have never seen the movie's Triceratops before (unless you want to count the pictures on the website). It is nice to see how the dinosaurs in this part of the park are coexisting and feeding together...a banquet for Indominus rex when she breaks out!

Also, this came out a little while ago, but it slipped past me completely. A new trailer for Pixar's upcoming Inside Out was aired! You can check it out below:

Based on the trailer, it looks like this is going to be an interesting movie. I can't wait to see how they make a movie staring...emotions. Sounds kind of like a strange concept at first, but I expect Pixar is going to turn it into a great movie. It definitely is very unique.

Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan

Not many people know this, but there were actually nine subspecies of tigers that have lived on the continent of Asia:

Bengal Tiger

Indochinese Tiger

Siberian Tiger

Malayan Tiger

Sumatran Tiger

South Chinese Tiger

Javan Tiger

Caspian Tiger

The only free Bali Tiger picture I could track down

 Today, there are only six species; the Caspian (which went extinct in the 1970's), the Bali (which went extinct in 1937) and Javan Tigers (which also went extinct in the 1970's) are all gone, which is why the pictures I found are in black and white. We’ll talk about why in just a minute. Now technically, tigers actually are related to lions, as only a single pair of cats came off Noah’s Ark after the Flood. And this cat kind had the DNA in it for ALL the later species of cats. And from this cat kind, a species called the tiger emerged from a process of natural selection. Natural selection is NOT evolution, by the way. However, today I wish to stay on the tiger topic, so for more on natural selection, check out one of my previous posts entitled “Return of the Great Mammoths”.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, I remember. Tigers all descended from the cat kind and from there they spread out over Asia and diversified into the different sub-species of tigers. A subspecies is different from a species. “Subspecies” is a term that is used to describe the differences within a species of animal, in this case, the tiger.

Tigers habitats very greatly. They live everywhere from the lush tropical forested, almost swampy habitats, to the freezing cold Polar Regions called the Taiga. They also hunt a wide range of prey, including wild pigs, monkeys, orangutans, deer, baby elephants, you name it!  They use those black stripes to camouflage into the dense jungle. Did you know that tigers are the only cats to have orange skin? Yep, the fur is not the only orange thing on this cat. Tigers also can be white. This is caused by a genetic mutation. However, no matter how hard you look, you will never ever see an adult white tiger in the wild. Why? Well, because they are too easy to spot in the dark jungles. A predator can easily spot a baby tiger and eat it. And even if the baby white tiger managed to survive predators, it wouldn't be able to catch enough food because prey would see it from a mile away. Now if these white tigers lived near, let’s say the North Pole and they had a thick coat of fur, they would be quite common in the wild. But apparently, God didn’t want these cats in the North Pole. So if you’re looking for a white tiger, try the nearest zoo.

You have probably heard about a famous extinct cat called the Saber-Toothed Tiger. It probably got this name, not only because it has saber-teeth, but also because of its resemblance to a tiger. But guess what, the name “Saber-Toothed Tiger” is really a misnomer, since these cats are only distantly related to tigers. This is why scientists prefer to call them “Saber-Toothed Cats”. By the way, since we are talking about extinct cats, this is probably a good time to bring up the topic of why some subspecies of tiger have gone extinct. The answer is that they were overhunted. Who could dare over hunt the beautiful tiger? Well, their beauty is also their downfall. Many hunters over the years have hunted these cats for their coats. Fortunately, some ingenious people noticed that tiger populations were in decline, so they had the tiger put on the Endangered Species List so it was illegal to hunt the tiger. Now they’re safe . . . right? Not quite. See, there are still people who will illegally go out and kill tigers. These evil hunters are called poachers. Even today, tiger skin and bones will fetch a pretty price in some countries. You may be wondering why on earth so many folks would want tiger bones (and most of these people don’t wish to display the tiger bones in a museum or something). In many cultures, people believe that tiger bones have medical capabilities and are crushed up to use as medicine! Really, I’m not joking around! And believe it or not, these so-called “medicines” don’t really work, so they have no practical use to the buyer (but apparently, the buyers don’t know that). The South Chinese Tiger is really on the brink, it is almost extinct in the wild. The majority of these tigers is in captivity. And even the ones in captivity only came from about six individuals, so the gene pool is very small. It is already too late to save the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers, but what can we do to save the other six species of tigers?

Well, people have set up national reserves to protect the living space for these predators! Also, people have been breeding tigers in captivity so that their numbers can eventually go up. In the past few years, tiger numbers world-wide are starting to become stable. There is also a way that you can help! How? Well, tell your friends and family not to buy tiger products and to also tell other people about the tiger’s plight. You can even send money to special organizations who help tigers (I’m not saying use money that would otherwise go in the offering plate at church. Give 10% to God, the creator of the tiger and then use some for the tigers themselves). By doing all these things, we can save one of God’s creations, the tiger, from extinction!

Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.

Rerun Article: Do You Really Know Jesus?

Sorry for being MIA last week. My church's drama, Victory at the Cross was last Friday and boy was it a lot of work! It was a great turn out, though. So anyways, I am now back and since Easter is over, I have an interesting rerun article and some exciting news about Jurassic World.

Days till:
It is: 10 days till Patriot Day
It is: 12 days till Earth Day
It is: 30 days till Mother's Day
It is: 63 days till Jurassic World's theatrical release!

In the Spotlight:
Of course, the week I was MIA a bunch of interesting Jurassic World-related stuff appeared on the internet, so I will be doing a recap of what happened concerning this film this and last week. Firstly, out of the blue, Universal released a TV spot for Jurassic World last week! It's short, but there's new footage of Indominus rex and several other interesting things:

From this TV spot, we learn many things. One such thing is that Indominus rex is capable of killing for sport and she's strong enough to bring down over five Apatosaurus! If she can bring down a 30-40 ton behemoth...just imagine what she could do to a six-ton T. rex or a 200-pound human! We also get a brief look at the Aviary in this TV spot.

And as if this wasn't enough, our first exclusive clip from Jurassic World was released on the 8th during the MTV movie awards! There aren't any dinosaurs in it, but this short video does reveal somethings about Owen Grady's relationship with Claire Dearing.

I was kind of hoping that Owen had a romantic relationship with Claire in this film. I noticed ages ago that if there was one thing the Jurassic Park franchise lacked was a lot of romance. (Yeah, I'm a bit of a romance fanatic) I mean, Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler were dating in the first film and Sarah Harding and Ian Malcolm were dating in the second film, but did we ever see them kiss on-screen? No. (Don't get me wrong, the first three Jurassic movies are 110% awesome, with or without much romance!) So maybe we'll see a little romance between Owen and Claire...and if there is, hopefully it goes better than their first date...seriously, Owen? Board shorts?!

This is not confirmed, but we might have our next Jurassic World trailer coming on 17th of April.

In additional news, speaking of dinosaurs, an amazing new discovery occurred earlier this week: the legendary Brontosaurus might be considered its own species once again! I plan on doing an article that will go into more detail in a little while. So stay tuned!

Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan

If you were to go out and ask people you run into on the street what Jesus Christ looks like, they would probably describe Him to look something like this:

Or this:

Or maybe this:

But the real question is: do we really know what He looked like? We have to remember that even though these paintings of “Jesus” are wonderful in terms of quality, they were painted by people who lived a long time after Jesus was on earth and therefore didn’t really see Him. In most pictures of Jesus, we see Him as a majestic looking man with long straight hair and a kind looking gesture on his face. There are a few problems with this idea – the most obvious being his lineage!

While Jesus is 100% God, He is also 100% man, so He has human ancestry . . . sort of, but not in the way we think of “family relations”. You will recall from the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke that Jesus was born of a virgin’s (or Mary’s) womb, so therefore He wouldn’t have human relations the way we think of relations (I hope I’m making sense, if not, please send me an email addressed to animaladventures@aol.com). Jesus’ human “lineage” was Hebrew, so He would probably have looked like a Hebrew. Hebrew people don’t normally have long straight hair!

The one and only way we can know anything about what Jesus looked like is to look in God’s Word – the Bible. But the Bible doesn’t say much about Jesus’ physical appearance. In fact, I encourage you to try find a verse in the New Testament that describes His appearance. So while the New Testament is (at least for the most part) silent about Jesus’ appearance, the Old Testament gives us sneak peeks, and believe me, they don’t look anything like most pictures drawn by artists – famous and non-famous alike!

The sections to look in to find out what Jesus was like and what he really looked like is Isaiah 42:1-4, 52:13 and 53:1-3. Here they are:

Isaiah 42:1-4: “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen One in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth. In His teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Isaiah 52:13: “See, My Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”

Isaiah 53:1-3: “Who has believed out message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.”

The book of Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth. Yet, even though it doesn’t say His exact name, we know for a fact that the Isaiah, the human author of this book was describing the Messiah. But how would Isaiah know anything about Jesus if He hadn’t seen it happen? The answer is simple: Isaiah (who was a prophet) was inspired by God while writing this! In Isaiah 53: 1-3, it mentioned how Jesus “ . . . had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.” Now, when we look at those pictures of Jesus that are often found on church walls, do they reflect what Isaiah says about Jesus’ appearance? Do the pictures show Jesus looking like a majestic man with long flowing hair? NO WAY, HOE-SAY! So where on earth did the artists who painted those Jesus pictures get their ideas from?

So if Jesus’ appearance didn’t draw people to Him, what did? Well, if you read your Bible often, you will recall dozens of verses that say what you look like on the outside doesn’t matter at all! Take a look at Proverbs 31:30 – “Charm is deceptive, and beauty if fleeting . . .”. The rest of the verse talks about how a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, but the first half of this verse applies to guys like Jesus too.

So should we really care what Jesus looked like on the outside? “Yes” and no.

“Yes” is sort of a pseudo-answer. Why? Well because we as Christians should not be focused on building our “image” of Jesus based on the pictures we see. In other words, we should be worshiping Christ as Himself, not as a picture that some guy who hadn’t seen Jesus made!

“No” because Jesus’ character is what matters. And we as Christians should use Him as our example to live our lives by. You can read about Christ-like behaviors, or “Fruit of the Spirit” as they’re often called, to form in Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patient), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” These actions that Christ displayed and we as Christians should display them too and “. . . let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven,” Matthew 5:16.

Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.