The Gospel Art Picture Kit is a collection of paintings and photographs used by Primary (children's Sunday school) teachers to illustrate concepts of the lessons they teach. It contains themed illustrations and photos from all the Standard Works (Old/New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price), plus some Church history and ancient Middle-Eastern items.
You can tell a lot about what a church truly believes by what it teaches its children. With the many, many images available in the Gospel Art Picture Kit, and with the assumption by many that we "aren't really Christians" or that we teach more about Joseph Smith and the restoration than we do about Christ, one would think that the most popular of the online versions of these pictures would be about Joseph Smith and the restoration.
Instead, we see these numbers.
| Most Popular Items in the Gospel Art Picture Kit in 2008 | |
| Picture Name | Page Views |
| 208 John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus | 23,670 |
| 240 Jesus the Christ | 22,638 |
| 239 The Resurrected Jesus Christ | 18,753 |
| 201 The Nativity | 16,543 |
| 227 Jesus Praying in Gethsemane | 16,323 |
| 403 The First Vision | 15,916 |
| 216 Christ and the Children | 13,502 |
| 238 The Second Coming | 12,973 |
| 608 Christ and Children from around the World | 12,192 |
| 212 Sermon on the Mount | 11,144 |
Even "The First Vision", which is arguably a restoration theme, is Christ-centered because, of course, it was God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith.
So, with the idea gone that Mormons don't teach their children about Christ, it appears that, ultimately, the only theological difference "mainstream" Christians (as they're called today) should have with Mormons is whether we worship the "right" Jesus. And that is proof of the necessity for a restoration if ever I saw one.
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