Friday, January 23, 2009

Online Gospel Art Picture Kit Statistics - LDSMediaTalk.com

I usually try to keep my posts about the Book of Mormon, because that is, after all, the title of this blog.  However, given my recent encounters with individuals who believe that Mormons worship Joseph Smith or that we treat the Book of Mormon with more weight than we do the New Testament, I had to share something telling from LDSMediaTalk.com.

The Gospel Art Picture Kit is a collection of paintings and photographs used by Primary (children's Sunday school) teachers to illustrate concepts of the lessons they teach.  It contains themed illustrations and photos from all the Standard Works (Old/New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price), plus some Church history and ancient Middle-Eastern items.

You can tell a lot about what a church truly believes by what it teaches its children.  With the many, many images available in the Gospel Art Picture Kit, and with the assumption by many that we "aren't really Christians" or that we teach more about Joseph Smith and the restoration than we do about Christ, one would think that the most popular of the online versions of these pictures would be about Joseph Smith and the restoration.


Most Popular Items in the Gospel Art Picture Kit in 2008
Picture Name Page Views
208 John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus 23,670
240 Jesus the Christ 22,638
239 The Resurrected Jesus Christ 18,753
201 The Nativity 16,543
227 Jesus Praying in Gethsemane 16,323
403 The First Vision 15,916
216 Christ and the Children 13,502
238 The Second Coming 12,973
608 Christ and Children from around the World 12,192
212 Sermon on the Mount 11,144

Even "The First Vision", which is arguably a restoration theme, is Christ-centered because, of course, it was God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith.

So, with the idea gone that Mormons don't teach their children about Christ, it appears that, ultimately, the only theological difference "mainstream" Christians (as they're called today) should have with Mormons is whether we worship the "right" Jesus.  And that is proof of the necessity for a restoration if ever I saw one.