Jim Carrey: Jesus Is Accepting; Every Race Can Be Seen in Him (Video)
Actor Jim Carrey caught the attention of those in the faith community in June when he told former inmates about the grace of Jesus. And now in a new art documentary, "I Needed Color," the actor showcases a painting he did of Christ, claiming every race can be seen in the face of Jesus.
In the new short documentary which is going viral, Carrey reveals that painting and visual arts are a way to help him connect to his "inner life."
"You can tell what I love by the color of the paintings," the popular comedian says in his documentary posted to Vimeo. "You can tell my inner life by the darkness in some of them and you can tell what I want from the brightness in some of them."
Midway into the clip, Carrey is seen painting a vibrant picture of Jesus and although seemly conflicted by his feeling toward the Christian savior he says the "energy" surrounding Christ is "electric."
"I don't know if Jesus is real, I don't know if He lived, I don't know what He means, but the paintings of Jesus are really my desire to convey Christ's consciousness," he admits. "I wanted you to have the feeling when you look in His eyes that He was accepting of who you are. I wanted Him to be able to stare at you and heal you from the pain."
"You can find every race in the face of Jesus. I think that's how every race imagines Jesus; they imagine Him as their own," he adds.
The short film directed by David Bushell is Carrey's way of sharing with the world how expressing himself creatively through art has helped him heal from the traumatic past few years he's had.
Jim Carrey: I Needed Color from JC on Vimeo.
In the past, Carrey has expressed his distrust in organized religions. He was raised Catholic, then ventured into Presbyterianism. He has spoken about looking for spiritual answers as a child while being inspired by Buddha, yet his documentary and another recent video shows that he, in fact, is clinging to Jesus after times of suffering.
Back in June, the Hollywood actor preached the hope of Jesus to former inmates when he attended a Homeboy Industries event in downtown Los Angeles, California. While there, Carrey addressed former gang members, men and women who were previously incarcerated, who through the program are now striving to redirect their lives and become contributing members of society.
In his emotional speech, Carrey said: "I want to speak to the fact that I believe that this room is filled with God, and that you are heroes to me and I admire you ... I really wanna speak to the fact that I've had some challenges myself and ultimately I believe that suffering leads to salvation."
The "Ace Ventura" star said all people need to choose between two "gates." He described one of the gates as resentment, which leads to vengeance, self-harm, and harm to others. The other gate is forgiveness, which "leads to grace."
"Your being here indicates that you've made that decision already. You've made the decision to walk through the gate of forgiveness, of grace, just as Christ did on the Cross. He suffered terribly and He was broken by it to the point of doubt and feeling of absolute abandonment, that's all that He felt," Carrey explained.
The 55-year-old said that in spite of being in such horrible circumstances, Jesus made the decision to look on the people responsible for his suffering with "compassion and forgiveness."
"That's what opens the gates of Heaven for all of us," he said.