Jesus' Visual Aids

[Pastor_Bob]

I attended a conference last year in which the conference host and a couple of guest speakers came down pretty hard on preachers who use PowerPoint presentations with their messages. The exact statement was, "It is as if they don't think the Holy Spirit can be effective without a picture on the wall behind them." I believe all of these remarks were aimed at one preacher (not in attendance) in particular.

I know some preachers who use such presentations and have been used in mighty ways by God. I thought to myself, "Jesus Himself used visual aids when He taught the people."

Without arguing the pros or cons of slide or video presentations, I am interested in passages where Jesus Himself used visual aids to get a point across. I can think of the following off the top of my head:

• The fig tree
• The coin - render unto Caesar...
• The little child - except ye become as this little child...
• Possibly the account of Him writing in the sand

Undoubtedly there are many more. Can you think of any?

 

[Baptist Believer]

I attended a conference last year in which the conference host and a couple of guest speakers came down pretty hard on preachers who use PowerPoint presentations with their messages. The exact statement was, "It is as if they don't think the Holy Spirit can be effective without a picture on the wall behind them." I believe all of these remarks were aimed at one preacher (not in attendance) in particular.

Sounds like they have some real issues.

I am interested in passages where Jesus Himself used visual aids to get a point across. I can think of the following off the top of my head:

• The fig tree
• The coin - render unto Caesar...
• The little child - except ye become as this little child...
• Possibly the account of Him writing in the sand

Undoubtedly there are many more. Can you think of any?

The ones you have listed make your point, but I came up with the following off the top of my head:

• The birds of the air/sky
• The lilies/wildflowers of the field
• The bread and the wine at the Last Supper
• Most of the people who were healed that are recorded in the New Testament - Jesus often made some sort of point about Himself, His mission, or the errors of His critics.

 

[agedman]

Would you consider the raising of Lazarus and feeding 5000 a power(ful) point

Most educators understand that the typical modern attention span has lowered to now be less then eight minutes.

A wise preacher will re-engage the people by planning ahead for refocusing the attention

Also, that attention span becomes less then one minute after a half hour unless the refocusing becomes more numerous with shorter spans as the time progresses.

The “great” evangelists understood this and most were well noted for their prowling the stage and keeping people’s attention.

Often they would use a handkerchief, their Bible, chair, or even the platform to keep the attention of the listeners.

 

[kyredneck]

I thought to myself, "Jesus Himself used visual aids when He taught the people."

Would you consider the raising of Lazarus and feeding 5000 a power(ful) point

AGREE!

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. Jn 3

 

[rlvaughn]

I'm not a big fan of PowerPoint, etc. -- though I knew a preacher in older days who used the old overhead projector with great effect! On the other hand, I don't think the "no visual aids" argument stands up very well in light of Jesus's teaching. Perhaps part of the problem (objection) is that some preachers who use visual aids use them to impress the audience rather than to illustrate the teaching.

The water and the well when talking to the Samaritan woman, recorded in John 4.

Perhaps when Jesus said to look on the fields, they are white unto harvest, there was a nearby field that illustrated that (though not necessarily so). John 4:35

The "widow's mite" seems to have been an "at the time" illustration. Luke 21:1-4

Baptism and the Lord's Supper may be somewhat different than what you are talking about, I suppose (not part of a discourse), but they are nevertheless still visual aids. The washing of the saint's feet was a visual object lesson. John 13:1ff.

 

[Jerome]

This is nothing new:

The Victorian City

"Lantern shows were older than photography....Evangelists and temperance lecturers used lantern slides as intensively as anyone.... One of the most interesting sets of privately-commissioned slides was made for, and on occasions with the assistance of, Charles Spurgeon, the son of the celebrated evangelist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and himself the minister of a Baptist chapel in South Street, Greenwich. Between 1884 and 1887 Spurgeon secured a striking series of pictures...to illustrate his evangelical lectures."

Spurgeon himself once had a taxidermy gorilla on the Tabernacle's platform for an illustration.

 

[Jerome]

I'm not a big fan of PowerPoint, etc.

Oh, those off the wall songs, too. Give me a hymnal for sure.

 

[agedman]

Oh, those off the wall songs, too. Give me a hymnal for sure.

If they are seven words repeated 11 times, abosultly correct.

If it is “And, Can It Be That I Should Gain” or “Holy, Holy, Holy” then display those for all that would not crack the hymnal to at least see.

 

[Deacon]

Sermon notes, my own person PowerPoint presentation.

As a visual learner I am greatly helped by a visual presentation.
An outline, a quote, a list, a illustration, all these really help a sermon to zing.

The Spirit gave us all a variety of gifts.
These men who complained about the use of PowerPoint sound like a divisive bunch, intimidating another brother, professing that they know the way the Spirit works and others don’t,

Jesus and his disciples presented the gospel message with the demonstration of signs, miracles and wonders.

Rob

 

[Aaron]

Lol. Object lessons and miracles are not 'visual aids.' I think Helen Keller might have had a thing or two to say about the priority placed on over overhead projectors and music in Christian worship these days.

 

[Deacon]

"Israel 4 BC had no mass communication..."

They were primarily an oral society but Jesus worked with what he had.

Visual aid of a rite - Jesus baptism by John the Baptist used to illustrate his submission to the Father (Matthew 3)

Visual aid by location – Jesus went to the wilderness to be tempted, following the path of the Israelites who were tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1)

Visual aid by location - Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount about the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:1)

Visual aid by wonder– Jesus healed the paralytic “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6)

Visual aid by example - Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners to illustrate that “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. … For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12)

In Matthew 9:23 he has an orchestra play before he preaches his sermon and tops it off by performing a miracle.

Jesus whole life, what he said, what he did, where he went, was a visual aid to illustrate his message.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written. John 21:25
​

Rob

 

[rlvaughn]

Lol. Object lessons and miracles are not 'visual aids.'

Though the things under discussion are "visual" and "aid" in learning a lesson, it does appear that they do not fit the dictionary definitions of "visual aids." For example (and all I found say something similar), "visual aids are defined as charts, pictures or images that help to make a point or enhance a presentation."

 

[Jerome]

In Matthew 9:23 he has an orchestra play before he preaches his sermon

No, what Matt 9:23-24 says is that when Jesus "saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, 'Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.'"

Many of us who've been to funerals featuring bagpipes can relate to Him commanding them to "Go away."

 

[agedman]

No, what Matt 9:23-24 says is that when Jesus "saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, 'Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.'"

Many of us who've been to funerals featuring bagpipes can relate to Him commanding them to "Go away."

Could it be that they were typifying the pipe organ music heard in most funeral parlors?

Back when there was no electricity, often the organist has one or more to pump the bellows. One can imagine how sweaty and dirty it must have all been. Poor girl couldn't get a breath so they had to be sent away.

My ADD mind bouncing around painting pictures.

 

[InTheLight]

Without arguing the pros or cons of slide or video presentations, I am interested in passages where Jesus Himself used visual aids to get a point across. I can think of the following off the top of my head:

• The fig tree
• The coin - render unto Caesar...
• The little child - except ye become as this little child...
• Possibly the account of Him writing in the sand

Undoubtedly there are many more. Can you think of any?

Can't beat the coin in the fishes mouth as a visual aid, Matt. 17:27

 

[agedman]

When confronting those who would stone the one caught in adultery,
would writing in the dust of the walkway be a visual aid?

The Lord didn’t say anything while He wrote.

Don’t you just find it so very bad that one quotes the presentation as if people can’t read?

 

[Darrell C]

I think Helen Keller might have had a thing or two to say about the priority placed on over overhead projectors and music in Christian worship these days.

I'm not a big fan of that either.


God bless.

 

[Darrell C]

Oh, those off the wall songs, too. Give me a hymnal for sure.

And can we please sing all of the verses?


God bless.