El Greco: 'Christ clearing the Temple.'It is surely a satanic device which portrays Jesus as an ineffectual wimp wearing an indulgent, cheesy grin as He pats passing dogs whilst uttering a sickly "Bless you" at the deserving and undeserving alike. From His enemies it is subtlety; from Christians - usually those of a liberal mindset - it is either a blank refusal to accept the Scriptures or them falling prey to the propaganda. Our Lord is demeaned by this portrayal.
Did He love children, the poor, the sick and those seeking after truth? - Of course, and He displayed non stop compassion. BUT compassion does not turn you into a leering fool who is prepared to overlook sin and stupidity.
How many times does Jesus round on the disciples when they fail to grasp a simple point or when they ignore what He told them? "Why are you so hardhearted?" often translates as "Don't be so thick!"
Consider also the righteous anger when He overturned the Temple tables. Can we really ignore the fact that the disciples were afraid of Him? Read the Gospels and this fact emerges consistently. Jesus was as strong and awesome as you would expect God-in human-form to be.
Let us seek the REAL Jesus, not a dumbed-down version.
