Comments on: Akiane Kramarik–Inspired By God Or Just Plain Crazy?

By: ahna

ahna — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:39:00 +0000

In the book that is written about Akiane by her mother, called “Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry,” plus in some other online articles, you can read how Akiane’s goal is to help poor people around the world, especially by helping the “garbage children” (as the orphans are called, because that is where they find their food) and building a free hospital, both in her parents’ native Lithuania. These are just two of the projects she has initiated. In situations like these, it does take the money of the wealthy to help those with no means. Thus, the price tags on the art. Additionally, in her own family’s story, they have had many times of absolute poverty, and her father nearly died because of working so hard under very poor health conditions, struggling with severe asthma. They bounced back financially for a year or two, when her mother started a home-based marketing business, only to lose it all again. And their journey is told with absolutely no sense of “Pity us, because we have fallen on hard times.” Instead, her mother writes how when they had financial success, they were actually the least happy. They spent time watching TV instead of with each other, and kind of drifted apart emotionally. I would encourage further research on Akiane and her family, to get the facts straight.

Also, there are paintings from artists around the world that depict Jesus being of various ethnicities. Chinese artist He Qi (you can google him) creates many icons showing Jesus and his disciples as Chinese. And, I’ve seen paintings of Jesus done by a Kenyan artist (I’m sorry, the name escapes me) that show Jesus and his disciples as black African men. I’ve seen others of Jesus as a Native American, or as a Hispanic/Latino man. Neither Jews nor Muslims are allowed, according to their religions, to create visual images of G-d (and I write that “G-d” respectfully, as Jews do, since they do not even want to try to write the name of “G-d”). Christianity is different because they believe that since Jesus was God as a human for a time, yet still all-knowing and all-loving, he can actually relate to every ethnicity, and every human. He is, in a sense, neither a specific ethnicity, but also all of them. Paintings by He Qi, and also Akiane, are not meant to be absolutely representational of what Jesus definitely looked like as a human on earth, but rather windows into understanding that Jesus can relate to us, whatever we look like.

By: am

am — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:25:58 +0000

I think it’s easy to critize anything, no matter what a person believes. However, I think everyone would have to admit there is something special about this girl. I don’t think her poetry is neccessarily supposed to be understood. Think about it. In the Bible Jesus spoke in parables so that the real meaning would be hidden. Her poetry and paintings are the same way. It’s mysterious and the real meanings are hidden. This is so that the scoffer and cynical person dismiss it “weird”, but the people who really want to know about God and who He is would seek after the true meanings.

By: alcari

alcari — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:21:53 +0000

Boris, haven’t you figured out by now how usefull the social taboo on criticism on religion is to the churches and others using/exploiting religious beliefs?

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but there’s a pretty clear sign here that those benefitting most from religion are those that don’t want is discussed. Even the people who wrote the bible had this figured out. Don’t have a rational conversation with a non-christian and leave him be if he doesn’t want to convert, no, stone him to death for rejecting God.

We’ve moved away from stoning, at least, in most of the world, by it’s still not-done to criticise religion.

By: boris

boris — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:13:55 +0000

justin demonstrates a common attitude among christians: as long as it “praises” jesus it can’t be bad. that’s why she can charge such outrageous prices for her paintings (very un-christian right? who cares). a while ago a born again christian told me that she knew how bad christian pop music was, but that didn’t matter cause it was “praising the lord”. just make it christ-themed and no questions will be asked.

By: irishthunder

irishthunder — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:06:59 +0000

“One true God!!!”

Finally, someone acknowledging our one true creator, Wolverine, with his adamantium claws of justice.

By: justin

justin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:34:49 +0000

btw….it does not matter if you don’t believe in Jesus…He believes in you!!!

By: justin

justin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:29:07 +0000

Jesus rocks! this little girl is an awesome daughter of the One true God!!! thank you, Father for my off the hook, too cool little sister!!!

By: Thinking Reality

Thinking Reality — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:09:04 +0000

I too first heard about this several months ago when a fellow co-worker showed it to me (via the TINYURL link, which I believe no longer works?) …. the incredible talent of this young girl is undeniable (at least to me)… also the subject of her paintings appear to point to something divine. I was hooked; thought it was real, I still do. However, I was taken aback when I visited her website … the asking price for her paintings .. sure a workman (workgirl?) is worthy of their labor (hire) … but somehow, claiming her paintings are the result of spiritual inspiration, and then turning around and selling them (for a substantial price) seems to be out of step from something Jesus would do. I agree, with a comment left by another poster on here …. that would imply a very select few (rich?) would be able to enjoy this “revelation”. To me, its not much different, than a person claiming to receive a spiritual revelation from God, then asking $X of dollars in order for the rest of us to receive the “blessing” of that revelation … I dont recall anywhere in the Gospels or the entire Bible for that matter, where God’s Blessing(s) are to be purchased/acquired via monetary (steep?) means… fact is, Jesus strongly condemned such practices ….

One possibility to all this is that everything this young lady is saying is true (she is being genuine in how she received the inspiration for her paintings), but somehow her parents have gotten greedy and have quickly learned they could make a bundle off her paintings and hence have adulterated this girl’s original message/intent …

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:52:08 +0000

Boris and Christina have hit the nail squarely on the head here. This smells like a scam up one side and down the other. And, yes, I am cynical, but you don’t have to be a cynic to question $1,000,000 a painting. Is she gifted? I’ll go ahead and believe that the “stages” photographs aren’t faked; she actually does paint these things, so sure she’s gifted. But I bet somewhere along the line, Mommy or Daddy figured out that they could get a heck of a lot more dough per canvas by putting a religous spin on it. It goes something like this: “Hmmmm. Nice painting of a lion. You say she’s eight?” “Yeah; and GOD told her to paint it.” “Whoa! Lemme get my checkbook!”

By: boris

boris — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:35:39 +0000

just saw the webpage. does anyone really have any doubt this is just a for-profit scam? very shameless.