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White Jesus


mulls

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Why does every picture, painting, or image of Jesus I have ever seen portray Him as the whitest white boy I have ever seen?

Especially those pictures with Jesus' heart exposed, on fire, wrapped with a crown of thorns.

And please don't tell me that the white skin is a sign of Jesus' purity.

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You know, I don't understand that, but here's how it was explained to me. When they first starting painting pictures of Jesus, it was by Nordic people who were - you guessed it - blond hair, blue eyed, white Jesus'. So they didn't know how to paint anything else. I'm not saying it's right though. One of my favorite pictures of Jesus is how historians say he would have looked, especially coming from the area he did. Brown hair, olive or darker skin, brown eyes.

Edited by Lil Red
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IcePrincessKRS

I think Lil Red is right, most artists paint Jesus to look like He came from their country/race. You'll see some paintings where Jesus looks looks Indian, others where He is black. It varies, but I don't think we should let the color they painted Jesus' skin take away from the beauty of the art, and the person who it represents. smile.gif

And the image you referred to with the heart with thorns and flames is the Sacred Heart. smile.gif

Edited by Lil Red
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Nah. You need to see more art. I've seen lot's of ethnic Jesus'. During the Rennisance, most of the Artists painted figures as "white" and that is what is still popular and highly regarded as good art. Good art does not mean great theology. Maybe because Florida has a large hispanic community I've seen lot's of darker skinned Jesus. I also tend to picture Jesus as seen in the Shroud of Turin, and to me he looks non-white ethnic.

Though in my opinion, most current Protestant art is very much white, but I think it's endemic to the cultural nature of many Protestants here in the South.

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Yeah, I noticd that too.....it's not that people are racist and say "O.K. I thate all people who are not white so I'm painting jesus white"

It's rather and ethnic-custom thing....

I've seen plenty of Mexican, black, Chinese Jesus'!!! Believe me!

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TempleofVesarius

has anyone seen those t-shirts that skaters wear that say like "Jesus is my homeboy" or stuff like that???

i think they are kinda cool

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EcceNovaFacioOmni

December 2002, Popular Science had an article called "Face of Jesus". Forensic scientists think they have created the most accurate picture of Jesus ever. Its not really a picture of Jesus, however, but just a computer generated image of what they believe a man in his area of Judea looked like. Check it out:

http://popularmechanics.com/science/resear...sus/print.phtml

Personally, I don't think it matters what Jesus looked like. The image is not the man but this article is very interesting.

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IcePrincessKRS

Thats kinda cool... I don't like it as much, though, because I think it makes Jesus look older, and He was young... but like you said, it ISN'T Jesus, but just more accurately what He probably looked like rather than most of the paintings we see of Him.

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i believe in the Shroud of Turin... i think that's the way Jesus looked

and if He didn't appear to Paul with long hair it was because He knew Paul thought that was a disgrace and He was coming to convert the greatest persecuter of Him-- didn't wanna have any unnecessary reasons available for Paul to reject HIm-- so He cut His Hair in the Heavenly barber shop or somethin B)

anyway, i don't think it really matters. all that matters about an image is that it reminds you of Him. And if the image shows one who looks like you, then u can relate more, and if it shows a more historically accurate one, then you can imagine how He looked to His friends, and if it shows a Chinese one, you can remember that God loves all His creation, regardless of race and such.

hey, my avater makes it easy. Just the XP symbol. or the Fish symbol.

IX-0-YE

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CatholicAndFanatical

this is what I think Jesus looked like. this is taken from the shroud of Turin

shroud.gif

if this doesn work refresh, geocities.com doesnt like direct links to images and stuf..

bAH! It didnt work ok, so go here

Shroud Pic

ok, nm, this isnt working..but thats what I thought Jesus would look like..it was a neat pic you should see it..uh, yea..cya

CatholicAndFanatical

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"Though in my opinion, most current Protestant art is very much white, but I think it's endemic to the cultural nature of many Protestants here in the South. "

yea, same thing here in the northeast with the Catholic art.

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TempleofVesarius

"Though in my opinion, most current Protestant art is very much white, but I think it's endemic to the cultural nature of many Protestants here in the South. "

yea, same thing here in the northeast with the Catholic art.

not true...

go to the shrine of the north america martyrs in Auriesville NY if you dont believe me.

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A lot of art is old. Well, the best art is old. Theyw eren't so shall we say enlightened as we are today. Even today, however because of the historical depiction of christ as a white guy, if you were to depict him exactly as he appeared 200 years ago now one would understand that it was christ. So, the artist has to decide wherther it is more important to depict him acurately or for people to recognize the person in the painting is christ.

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ryanmeyersmusic

Thats kinda cool... I don't like it as much, though, because I think it makes Jesus look older, and He was young... but like you said, it ISN'T Jesus, but just more accurately what He probably looked like rather than most of the paintings we see of Him.

30's not real young with the living conditions of the time...

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