Franklin Graham, the son of late evangelist Billy Graham, scorched the Christian media magazine Christianity Today for claiming Jesus Christ was Asian.
On Dec. 27, Graham, 71, responded to the article from Christianity Today on X, formerly known as Twitter.
â is being criticized for their article about artists depicting Jesus as Asianâand I also have to ask why they would publish something so far off base. We donât have to wonder or speculate about thisâthe Bible gives us very specific details about Jesusâ earthly lineage and where He was born and grew up,â he wrote.
Additionally, Graham stated, âWe know that Jesus was Jewishâ and noted that not believing or accepting the Bible as âthe Word of Godâ puts everything âin question.â
âGuess whatâwe donât get to make God in our own image. He is Who He is! We must be on guard against anything or anyone who attempts to undermine the authority of the Word of God,â he concluded.
This came after Christianity Today promoted the article Christmas Eve on X.
âJesus was born in Asia. He was Asian. The artists in this photo essay bring him back to Asiaâbut not to ancient Israel,â the magazine wrote.
The magazine added, âThese nine artworks proclaim the expansiveness of Christâs kingdom.â
In the article, written by art curator Victoria Emily Jones on Dec. 18, titled âHow Asian Artists Picture Jesusâ Birth From 1240 to Todayâ she stated, âSome may object to depicting Jesus as anything other than a brown male born into a Jewish family in Bethlehem of Judea in the first century, believing that doing so undermines his historicity.â
However, she claimed that âChristian artists who tackle the subject of the Incarnation are often aiming not at historical realism but at theological meaning.â
âBy representing Jesus as Japanese, Indonesian, or Indian, âconvey a sense of Godâs immanence, his âwith-usâness,â for their own communitiesâand for everyone else, the universality of Christâs birth,â she shared.