The Absolute Power of Christianity!

This 9-year old had some pretty phenomenal experiences with God. Now she wants to literally show us what that means...

www.youtube.com...

[Edited to include proper link]




[edit on 17-3-2007 by saint4God]

saint, can you try that again. i just get a white page when i see it.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
saint, can you try that again. i just get a white page when i see it.

Thanks for the heads up . I've had no fortune lately linking video for some reason.

Good news is Youtube has the CNN archieve: www.youtube.com...

Artist's homepage: www.artakiane.com...#

[edit on 17-3-2007 by saint4God]

Hey saint!

Wow she is very gifted and inspired by God.

I was hoping to read more of what happened with her transformation or first experience with God at the age of 4.

From her web site.

At 4, had a life-changing spiritual
transformation, bringing the family to God.

If she had atheist parents and no one to influence her toward God,she is more proof that it isn`t necessary to have it,to find Him.

Besides that she is awesomely blessed and gifted

Wow...

These kinds of drawings.... don't just come from practice. They're so emotional and vivid and complex and professional.

This one is entitled "Father Forgive Them"


The hands and the face are so detailed and anatomically correct. Every curvature, every shadow, every wrinkle, and every hair are taken into account.
Its so emotional too, as if you could stare into the depths of this painting for hours.



This one is also amazing. To the untrained eyes, it just seems like a bunch of trees. But there are so many complexities and different vanishing points and shadowing effects that you have to consider.



Furthermore, the painting naturally leads the eyes of the viewer along the path of patterns of shadows and colors that you normally wouldn't notice. Cool isn't it? This painting also reminded me of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". It also uses shadows and figures to lead the eye of the viewer, but this time it is more geometric.

This time, the focal point is the person in the center, Jesus Christ. To me, its strange that Leonardo Da Vinci and this girl share many of the same techniques. Thank you for this find, Saint4God.

Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
Wow...

These kinds of drawings.... don't just come from practice. They're so emotional and vivid and complex and professional.

This one is entitled "Father Forgive Them"

The hands and the face are so detailed and anatomically correct. Every curvature, every shadow, every wrinkle, and every hair are taken into account.
Its so emotional too, as if you could stare into the depths of this painting for hours.

I`m in awe as well.

Its hard to comprehend anyone could capture this in such detail,let alone someone so young.

Even the reddish light coming through Christs hands seems so perfect,its like she see`s and paints like she was actually there.

The depth of her blessings talent and gift are breathe taking to me.Let alone her family turned to God through their daughters blessing when she was 4.It might not sound it,but I`m lost for words and moved by this.

[edit on 17-3-2007 by gps777]

...if she indeed painted them herself they certainly are good!

It seems though that Akiane's god given gift is up for sale, up to and including
$3,000 a pop none the less.

Jesus.....a white European?? Some of these divinely inspired paintings remind me of artwork from Jehovahs Witness magazines.

Being the unabashed skeptic that I am, I'm wondering if this is not parent inspired rather than divine.
Not saying the girl doesn't have any talent, quite obviously she does.

so she has incredible technical ability, lot's of people do. bottachelli (spelling?) demonstrated similar amazing technical skill in painting the birth of aphrodite. the death of laocoon was such an amazing sculpture that it brought michelangelo to tears.

both are paintings of pagan figures.

the only reason that so many renaissance paintings and sculptures are christian is the whole "patronage" thing. people painted and sculpted what they were paid to. who had the money? christians, mainly the catholic church and the florentines

that girl's paintings aren't the product of some divine encounter, they're just the product of a genius artist (who i hope doesn't get too caught up on one subject matter)

and hatter, i had the same thought. white jesus? wouldn't the product of a divine encounter yield something more.. plausible?

[edit on 3/18/07 by madnessinmysoul]

Originally posted by madhatter
Being the unabashed skeptic that I am, I'm wondering if this is not parent inspired rather than divine.
Not saying the girl doesn't have any talent, quite obviously she does.

The CNN report says that her mother was an atheist and neither christianity nor God were ever brought up in the household. And, to madnessinmysoul, the painter is 12 years old! She's never had professional training and such like those painters of the Renaissance.

Notice the painting entitled "Father Forgive Them." If you were a 9 year old girl (thats how old she was when she painted it) would you notice those complex properties of light and reflection? She uses subtle hues of crimson on the hands where the light hits, because if you shine a strong light at your flesh, it will appear pink because of the blood in them.

Even savants cannot match the caliber of her painting skills. Recently I saw a program on the Science Channel about artistic savants. They draw, paint, and sketch whenever they are awake and they feel extremely agitated when they are unable to. They showed a gallery of an artistic savant who was at the age of 16, and even his artwork was nowhere near as detailed and complex as this girl's. Akiane, from what I've seen, does not look like a savant. She shows no signs of autism ans she looks like a happy 12 year old girl. How she can paint so amazingly without being a savant is beyond me.

You can't just blow this one off, Madnessinmysoul.

Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
You can't just blow this one off, Madnessinmysoul.

i'm not blowing off her talent, i'm blowing off the inspiration.

it couldn't be divine if it is a white jesus, quite simply because such divine inspiration would supposedly yield more... accuracy in portrayal

michelangelo was already greater than his master when he STARTED painting (though he wanted to be known for sculpture)

and does this girl go to public school? because that's a possible way christianity could have seeped into her life. many fundamentalist sects are already teaching kids to convert their friends from age 5.

has she ever seen commercials that may have featured jesus?
i can keep going

and to say that a child can't notice the way light works is to deny them sight. i noticed how light and shadow worked when i was 8, i didn't look into it because i wasn't an artist of any sort, i looked into it because i loved science. that doesn't mean that god divinely inspired me to learn about it.

just looked at more of her art, it is really good, amazing when you consider her age. but it isn't a michelangelo, it isn't a raphael. sure, she has the technical skill of a brilliant painter, but if she were divinely inspired she'd exceed those two by now.

[edit on 3/18/07 by madnessinmysoul]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. Personally, I believe that these paintings were created from something more than just practice. Practice only gets you so far, and to me it would be impossible to make paintings of this caliber at such a young age (read my above comment about savants). And besides, this girl has already stated many times that her inspiration and talent have come from above. Take it for what it's for, Madnessinmysoul, I just cannot see how you came to your different conclusion on this one.

I think madness' questions can already be addressed at the website. Most specifically here www.artakiane.com...

Originally posted by madhatter
...if she indeed painted them herself they certainly are good!

It seems though that Akiane's god given gift is up for sale, up to and including
$3,000 a pop none the less.

Jesus.....a white European?? Some of these divinely inspired paintings remind me of artwork from Jehovahs Witness magazines.

Being the unabashed skeptic that I am, I'm wondering if this is not parent inspired rather than divine.
Not saying the girl doesn't have any talent, quite obviously she does.

I like madhatter's post here for a number of reasons. Many questions/points are brought up here that went through my mind as well. Certainly if I were to drop three grand on a painting, I'd want to see them paint for authenticity.

I also wonder if it's right to sell something that God has given us a special talent in. Well, Jesus was a carpenter. Did he sell anything? What guidelines did Christ give us about buying and selling things? Does she have no right to support her family with her skill?

I do not like it when people will sell a book to help others get closer to God. That should be free. The gospel is about the free gift of eternal life, and I'd gladly share that Word without cost. It seems she's sharing that news as well without cost. The physical product of a painting does have a charge however. Again, not sure how I feel about that. I know at $3,000 , I could not be a buyer. In the information age though, I can see it for free.

I did look carefully to see just how "white" Jesus is in that painting. The hair is neither straight nor blond. His eyes are not blue. His nose is long. I do have the impression that its artistically "cleaned up" for a man who traveled vast distances in the mediterranian and was on a hilltop at the moment of depiction. Next, I do not see a claim where she says she saw Christ and this is what he looked like then. Although I agree the style is similar to a Jehovah's Witness brochure, the Jehovah's Witness have plenty of "additional doctrine" in their understandings that seem not to be anywhere in the Bible. All these details though, seem superfluous as Christ is not physically described in the four gospels. We know what he'll look like on the return however:

"As I looked,
"thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze. " - Daniel 7:9

"and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters." - Revelation 1:13-15

madhatter makes another good point here about parental assistance. Art supplies are not cheap. Anyone who has ever painted knows canvas' can run $5 - $10, each paint pigment tube about $10 (depending on size), palette $5, brushes $20, etc. All in all, most artists selling a work at $50 are "breaking even". Point being at her age, I severely doubt she had a job and purchased supplies to pursue a dream. More than likely, the materials came from one or both of the parents. Anyone who questions child prodigies not being given assistence should either read a biography on Mozart or if you're entertainment-minded like me preferring movies sometimes, watch Amadeus. The movie rules and is far more interesting than most biographies. Anyway, this does not sound like self-guided interests to me, "Favorite activities and hobbies: art, poetry, chess, piano, reading and helping people" but I could be wrong.

REEEEEEgardless of all these things. It is an awesome thing that she attributes her skills, faith and devotion to God. We see this on football games as well. Ever wonder why those players thank God for getting them where they are? They've got a story to tell that we don't hear most of the time.

Finally, the real absolute power of Christianity (meaning God) comes out in the account of her leading her mother to Christ via her testimony and work...to share the gift of eternal life with someone in your family. "At 4, had a life-changing spiritual transformation, bringing the family to God." THAT my friends, is more powerful than any atomic energy and more beautiful than any work of art that could ever be painted.


[edit on 18-3-2007 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God
Finally, the real absolute power of Christianity (meaning God) comes out in the account of her leading her mother to Christ via her testimony and work...to share the gift of eternal life with someone in your family. "At 4, had a life-changing spiritual transformation, bringing the family to God." THAT my friends, is more powerful than any atomic energy and more beautiful than any work of art that could ever be painted.

My thoughts exactly,which is why I wanted to start with this quote first.

I like madhatter's post here for a number of reasons. Many questions/points are brought up here that went through my mind as well. Certainly if I were to drop three grand on a painting, I'd want to see them paint for authenticity.

This never entered my mind at all,call me gulable if one likes,I just believe this is possible,if it turns out its fake,no real skin of my nose,I still believe its possible.

I also wonder if it's right to sell something that God has given us a special talent in.

Considering Pastors I`ve known who overly think it a God given right they are where they are and living off Christians who have to go out into the world and work and hold down a job for a living,which can be very hard as a Christian.

I`d say, seeing that an undisclosed portion of that money taken for these paintings is given to charity,I dont have a problem with it at all.Many people as you have stated have gifts or tallents they give thanks to God for.

I do not like it when people will sell a book to help others get closer to God. That should be free.

Yep sad enough even bibles cost money because they cost money to publish them.

I know at $3,000 , I could not be a buyer. In the information age though, I can see it for free.

hehe at the cost of a computer and internet conection fee`s,but yes I feel the same.

I've put the skinny of the article www.foxnews.com... here for additional consideration on the topic.

Now on the surface it’s easy to think, “Oh, some Bible toting religious fanatics are trying to convert the world.”

Hehe, sound familiar?

Never really directly considered these, but have seen it in action as extras:

The third way of bringing faith to work is to make sense of a seemingly senseless environment. Miller says, “Let’s face it, the business world is hard and a lot of times people are hurting and their faith can help heal them and give them sort of spiritual nurture and spiritual succor and encouragement.”

In more plain language, faith can help you deal with an impossible boss, a difficult co-worker, or stress like an incredibly unfair experience. It helps you order your priorities and understand better the big picture of what life is about.

But what I thought was even more astounding as a message to other believers is some of the sage advice:

“Businesspeople today want to find moral meaning and purpose in their work. Regardless of job level or salary.” The Bible has a verse talking exactly about that: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 2:8

He says there are four different ways people can bring their faith to work. One is through their ethics. Many religious teachings talk a great deal about the way we deal with people in the market place. Unfortunately, laws and sanctions provide only the minimum for ethical standards. Even then, people can slide into the gray areas of what’s right or wrong. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical or moral. For that, a higher standard is required.

So true, so true.

...take time out just to pray and reflect on how their job provides an opportunity for a deeper Faith.

The first corporation I worked for seemed to have zero opportunity for this outside of my own thoughts, and when you said the word "God" you were liable to end up in Personnel trying to explain why you are insensitive to the diversity of others in the work place. The second corporation however, repects everyone's beliefs and does not ban usage of the word. Also, there's a Bible study for those wishing to attend during lunch on Thursday. It is fabulous.

"One person may read the Bible, but a hundred people will read the Christian."

Christians, do you have a mirror? If not, better get one .

[edit on 22-3-2007 by saint4God]

i've been away so long..

time to get back in to the swing of things at good old abovetopsecret.. it's nice to see discussions still going on..

no one can doubt that this girl is anything short of a genius.. she's a very talented artist, and even more so because these paintings aren't the work of an adult, it's the work of a child..

i think the term genius can be thrown around, and it loses meaning..

however, i think most people would share the same opinion on 'mozart' being a genius.. he composed his first piece of music when he was 5.. while most people were learning 'the cat sat on the mat' reading book, mozart was composing..

there are plenty of other genius' and child prodigies.. do we attribute mozart's genius to god? no. just because a 12 year child can paint with great accuracy, it doesn't mean we should attribute her gift down to god's doing..

the thing is.. is her popularity down to her amazing artistic talent.. or that she found god at aged four and converted her family.. or is it that she paints godly things..

would she have such recognition if she were painting just landscapes or maybe taking the surrealism route..

you paint the face of the white feminine european looking jesus and you make 2 billion christians happy.. you're little miss or mr popular already..

Originally posted by shaunybaby
i've been away so long..

Welcome back!

Originally posted by shaunybaby
there are plenty of other genius' and child prodigies.. do we attribute mozart's genius to god? no. just because a 12 year child can paint with great accuracy, it doesn't mean we should attribute her gift down to god's doing..

No, what's important here is that SHE attributes her gift to God's doing. It may seem like a nuiance, but on close look it isn't.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
the thing is.. is her popularity down to her amazing artistic talent.. or that she found god at aged four and converted her family.. or is it that she paints godly things..

This is actually a very good question. She's popular in my mind for both. I'm a big fan of baroque art. So, secular or not, a realisitic detailed style turns my head. BUT, if it tells a story of God/Christ then it's what I'd call a "double".

Originally posted by shaunybaby
would she have such recognition if she were painting just landscapes or maybe taking the surrealism route..

I'd say probably not as much success for landscape. Surrealism less so. You have to kinda have a name for yourself or a "hook" to get into abstract/surrealism/modern art crowd. If you don't believe me, I have an abstract for sale for $2,000 that I've painted. That's cheap compared to a Rothko or a Pollock.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
you paint the face of the white feminine european looking jesus and you make 2 billion christians happy.. you're little miss or mr popular already..

Feminine? Mkay, not sure how you got there, but I guess the beauty in art is that most of the time everyone sees things a little differently. Anywho, this has been the history of art - to paint for a commissioner. The difference these days is most of the time, an artist paints in anticipation of a commissioner hoping someone will buy it. I think that's a better system than ye olden days. Unfortunately, it forces the artist to also be in charge of their own social networking, marketing, advertising and so forth. It's not a one-dimentional job anymore, but very multi-faceted.

Now, if you take the painting "Piss Christ" (found on the net if you haven't seen it before), then yes naturally you're not going to have 2 billion Christians swooning over it. Surely though it'd sell to an atheist for mucho buckos, which it certainly can due to its soaring popularity.

Even though many Christians like her work, no doubt they will not be buying it. There will only be one buyer. For the rest of us though, in the age of information, the look is free. Some Christians may be offended by the work. Protestant tradition was the rejection of holy figures in art. Not saying all protestants feel this way, but if you look at the Amish, Mennonite and other communities, they wouldn't have this picture hanging in their church or living room. Is it right then to depict Christ on canvas? I think so for this reason alone - we're talking about it.

[edit on 24-3-2007 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God
No, what's important here is that SHE attributes her gift to God's doing. It may seem like a nuiance, but on close look it isn't.

So what's new? Aren't there thousands, maybe millions of people who attribute things in their life down to God's doing? Whether they be Christian, Hindu, Muslim etc. It's not really confined to Christianity.

God isn't guiding her hand when she paints. She's a very talented artist, and should take more credit for her work, rather than attributing it to being blessed by God.

This is actually a very good question. She's popular in my mind for both. I'm a big fan of baroque art. So, secular or not, a realisitic detailed style turns my head. BUT, if it tells a story of God/Christ then it's what I'd call a "double".

I'm the same, I like my Picasso's and Dali's.

Took a closer look, didn't see these ones before:

www.artakiane.com...
www.artakiane.com...

Got the surreal feel to them. And she does have a few landscapes. I'd only taken notice of her portraits before.

Is it right then to depict Christ on canvas?

Interesting question. The thing is, what does Christ look like. Becuase the popular western opinion is that he was white, which is actualy quite ridiculous. He wasn't white at all. He probably didn't have long flowing chesnut brown hair that looks like it belongs in a l'oreal commercial.

The only problem with depicting Christ, is that the majority depict him as something that he wasn't.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
So what's new? Aren't there thousands, maybe millions of people who attribute things in their life down to God's doing? Whether they be Christian,

Yes (and that's a point about being Christian).

Originally posted by shaunybaby
Hindu,

No, they have many different gods as I understand it.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
Muslim

God possibly, Christ no.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
etc.

Hehe, there goes the sweeping generalizations again. Sorry, but "etcetera" is going to have to force me to say "no" because it includes everything from druids to nihilists.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
It's not really confined to Christianity.

The attribution of works to a greater power is not in solidarity...but my challenge to anyone is to not only keep score, but look carefully & closely at the message being portrayed.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
God isn't guiding her hand when she paints.

Agreed, I don't see where anyone makes this claim.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
She's a very talented artist, and should take more credit for her work, rather than attributing it to being blessed by God.

Why?

Originally posted by shaunybaby
I'm the same, I like my Picasso's and Dali's.

I like Dali, but heard he signed some works he didn't do...

Originally posted by shaunybaby
Got the surreal feel to them. And she does have a few landscapes. I'd only taken notice of her portraits before.

Pretty cool, yeah.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
Interesting question. The thing is, what does Christ look like. Becuase the popular western opinion is that he was white,

He doesn't have straight blonde hair, blue eyes and his nose isn't typical of northern European, no? The artistic convention throughout the ages is to depict Christ as one of the culture in which the painting was to hang. For example, my favorite painting is Supper at Emmaus' House by Caravaggio:

www.artinvest2000.com...

Clearly Jesus is actually Italian, right?

Maybe you'd prefer a dark-skinned Jesus?

www.lillyofthevalleyva.com...(c)BarzoniARTCOM10055775.jpg

All I have to say about that picture is, "It's beautiful". Just like Supper at Emmaus' house. But wait! He had to be Korean, because it clearly shows here...

www.soth.net...

C'mon Shauny, we both know better than to run this loop again . I wish we had the time and dedicated thread for Art History, but is a little off-topic.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
which is actualy quite ridiculous. He wasn't white at all.

What do you have against whites? Where in the Bible does it say what he looked like?

Originally posted by shaunybaby
He probably didn't have long flowing chesnut brown hair that looks like it belongs in a l'oreal commercial.

Probably? Now we're rolling dice...

Originally posted by shaunybaby
The only problem with depicting Christ, is that the majority depict him as something that he wasn't.

How do you know?

[edit on 30-3-2007 by saint4God]

[edit on 30-3-2007 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by shaunybaby
which is actualy quite ridiculous. He wasn't white at all.

What do you have against whites? Where in the Bible does it say what he looked like?

well, considering everyone in the area was either dark-skinned semetic, dark-skinned north african, dark-skinned central african (black), or a member of the roman army it's quite obvious that he wasn't.

mary would have been a dark skinned person, unless you're going to go on and say god overwrote her genetic code to produce a white jesus, you're going to have to logically assume jesus was a dark skinned person.

then combine this with all the time he supposedly spent walking around in that area, he'd darken from that no matter how light he was born.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
He probably didn't have long flowing chesnut brown hair that looks like it belongs in a l'oreal commercial.

Probably? Now we're rolling dice...


well, unless his daddy was really a guy with flowing chesnut brown hair or god magically bestowed it upon him, we don't have to roll dice.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
The only problem with depicting Christ, is that the majority depict him as something that he wasn't.

How do you know?


because at least half of his genetic code would have been predisposed to the area, making him significantly dark in skin tone.



that's what the average man in the area looked like at the time

now this would be closer to jesus

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, considering everyone in the area was either dark-skinned semetic, dark-skinned north african, dark-skinned central african (black), or a member of the roman army it's quite obvious that he wasn't.

mary would have been a dark skinned person, unless you're going to go on and say god overwrote her genetic code to produce a white jesus, you're going to have to logically assume jesus was a dark skinned person.

then combine this with all the time he supposedly spent walking around in that area, he'd darken from that no matter how light he was born.

I'm curious why this is such a big hang-up for you. Why does it matter how Jesus is depicted?

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, unless his daddy was really a guy with flowing chesnut brown hair or god magically bestowed it upon him, we don't have to roll dice.

His daddy was God. What color was God?

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
because at least half of his genetic code would have been predisposed to the area, making him significantly dark in skin tone.

Half would be from Mary (let's assume conventional genetics for a moment to ease the consideration) and according to genetics, there is a variable range from one extreme to the other of possible combinations. Does that mean albino is out? Hehe, now it's getting tricky huh? The only safe assumption is not to make assumptions.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul

that's what the average man in the area looked like at the time

Many people post the one that looks like it with a shocked look and say "this is what Jesus looked like" but two emotions I never saw associated with Christ is surprised and confused. I saw that pic too and agree it is representative of the area.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
now this would be closer to jesus

Again, you know this...how?

[edit on 30-3-2007 by saint4God]