Defense of The Faith
“This Is Not Jesus”: When a Pastor Destroys an Icon of Christ
A Baptist pastor’s public destruction of an icon raises a deeper question: Can Christians reject sacred images without misunderstanding the Incarnation?
On October 31, Baptist social media accounts (“bannedpastor” on X and “baptistbias” on Instagram) shared a video of Jonathan Shelley, a pastor at Stedfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill, TX. In the video, Shelley presents a “used icon” of Christ, which he declares “is definitely not Jesus.” He explains his reasoning by quoting several verses from the Bible, after which he declares the icon to be an idol. He then has church youths smash the icon with axes before throwing the pieces into a burn bin.
The video was obviously upsetting, and elicited hundreds of comments from Orthodox Christians (including myself). But it is important not only to speak out against such actions, but to be able to explain just how significantly people like Shelley misunderstand Scripture, icons, and the traditions and history of the Christian Church.
