The white Jesus

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oyster67

Senior Member
May 24, 2014
11,887
8,696
113
#42
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, Who is Himself God and has made Him known. Jesus also said, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him." Do you see something wrong with imagining what Jesus may have looked like - or looks like now? We are not to worship such images, to be sure :) Trying to get rid of all the images of Jesus circulating in the world would likely be a useless endeavor, though.
What frightens me is when an actor has the audacity to portray the Father or the Son on TV or in a movie.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,247
25,715
113
#43
What frightens me is when an actor has the audacity to portray the Father or the Son on TV or in a movie.
Keeping God/Jesus in the consciousness of the public through respectful portrayals cannot be a completely bad thing :) imho ;)
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,173
113
#44
really? am not scared of actors who protray Jesus.
didnt Morgan Freeman portray God in a movie?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,173
113
#45
actually two movies.,.evan almighty and Bruce Almighty

I dont think he let it go to his head though. I dont know, why dont you ask him.
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
19,173
2,536
113
#46
Well technically he wasn't white, The Jews lived in an area where being outside was pretty much all the time, As you can imagine even the jews were probably very tan many jobs even collecting taxes requires being outside. Also many churches depict him being completely ripped as if he was a body builder, he was a carpenter so yes he had rough hands and well build musceles as being a carpenter is no easy labor but he also wasn't this perfect chizzled body builder either.
As far as skin color goes in my opinion who cares? but as for a historical truth the Jews were very careful in keeping their blood lines, back then blood lines were very empathized so yes they probably were white but I doubt skin color has anything to do with salvation to God
 

Pulie

Active member
May 26, 2020
216
94
28
#48
I hope I can catch your heartbeat - I can tell you have been set free and love your Jesus - but it is difficult to know how to reach others of your race.

It is unfortunate and very, very sad that a lot of what this Bishop says is true: white Europeans and Americans have exploited, killed, and enslaved the blacks of Africa. I nor anyone else should deny or minimize that in any way.

But I think the key is to make a difference between white culture and Christianity: they are two very different things. Sadly over the years (and even up to today) sometimes some of American and European Christendom has followed and amplified the ways and bigotry of white, privileged culture.

But it is not so with true Christianity. There are whites who have sacrificed and given their lives to get the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to Africa. The church in Africa now is alive and real: probably more so than the church in America!

If this bishop waits till "the crimes of the white man" are rectified, this will not happen. The gospel and the crimes of the white culture are two separate things. The crimes of the white culture are the result of sin coming into the world. The gospel of Jesus was given to rectify the sin problem.

The church in American must be real, must love, must share the message of the cross with all around them. And so must each individual who is part of God's kingdom. Only a life of love lived for God's glory is going to reach the heart of a man like this "bishop".

Marching and protesting and burning and looting to try to rectify the sin problem will only make it worse. The answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I do not think the major issue is Jesus being portrayed as a white man: the issue is if the church is not loving and being real for God's kingdom. Let this bishop find a Christian who really loves and loves from the heart and the color that Jesus is portrayed as will become irrelevant.
You understand my heartbeat. Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to understand.

Thank you for your words and compassion. That really means a lot to me.

The image of Jesus is also irrelevant for me. I just have compassion for bitter people.

Your response is inspired by the Holy Spirit. I just felt the presence of God 🙌🏾.
Love is all they need.

Africans have done so many evil things and are still doing them even today. The leaders are greedy and corrupt etc.
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
#49
What frightens me is when an actor has the audacity to portray the Father or the Son on TV or in a movie.
Me too, a couple of the classic movies never showed Jesus except from the back which I thought was pretty classy .. I have no pictures of Jesus or any crosses in my house .. I do think crosses look good on a neckless
 

Pulie

Active member
May 26, 2020
216
94
28
#50
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, Who is Himself God and has made Him known. Jesus also said, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him." Do you see something wrong with imagining what Jesus may have looked like - or looks like now? We are not to worship such images, to be sure :) Trying to get rid of all the images of Jesus circulating in the world would likely be an unsuccessful endeavor, though.
Honestly I don't care about the image of Jesus, I just care about those that are blinded by Jesus being portrayed as a white man.

Your answer had an element of truth but your way of explaining it became a stumbling block for me. I understood you after having read @Chester post.
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
#51
Ha, we had a Mormon at work ''good guy and worker'' handing out blonde haired blue eyed Jesus pictures .. I just chuckled and said ''really, this is what Jesus looks like'' then handed it back to him ..
 

Pulie

Active member
May 26, 2020
216
94
28
#52
Y
I hope I can catch your heartbeat - I can tell you have been set free and love your Jesus - but it is difficult to know how to reach others of your race.

It is unfortunate and very, very sad that a lot of what this Bishop says is true: white Europeans and Americans have exploited, killed, and enslaved the blacks of Africa. I nor anyone else should deny or minimize that in any way.

But I think the key is to make a difference between white culture and Christianity: they are two very different things. Sadly over the years (and even up to today) sometimes some of American and European Christendom has followed and amplified the ways and bigotry of white, privileged culture.

But it is not so with true Christianity. There are whites who have sacrificed and given their lives to get the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to Africa. The church in Africa now is alive and real: probably more so than the church in America!

If this bishop waits till "the crimes of the white man" are rectified, this will not happen. The gospel and the crimes of the white culture are two separate things. The crimes of the white culture are the result of sin coming into the world. The gospel of Jesus was given to rectify the sin problem.

The church in American must be real, must love, must share the message of the cross with all around them. And so must each individual who is part of God's kingdom. Only a life of love lived for God's glory is going to reach the heart of a man like this "bishop".

Marching and protesting and burning and looting to try to rectify the sin problem will only make it worse. The answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I do not think the major issue is Jesus being portrayed as a white man: the issue is if the church is not loving and being real for God's kingdom. Let this bishop find a Christian who really loves and loves from the heart and the color that Jesus is portrayed as will become irrelevant.
Yes there are white people who sacrificed a lot for the gospel and also did great things, touching the lives of many people. I don't believe in "all white people are racist", or "all black people are thugs"
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
#53
One more thing, I had witnessed and talked to a militant young black man at work and he usually made fun of me he didn't believe anything .. One day he mentioned blue eyed Jesus and asked me what color was Jesus and I told him I don't know but I think he was probably dark completion and dark eyes like the rest of the folks where He lived .. Years later I was at Lowes loading dock and he come up to me and said ''do you remember me'' I said no then he reminded me of the times I talked about Jesus to him and told me , actually I suddenly remembered him and blurted out ''you got saved'' .. I grabbed him up and was shouting, crying and jumping, spinning him around and he started crying .. The other people out there thought I was crazy and his wife sitting in his car was crying .. That was a great day ..
 

Pulie

Active member
May 26, 2020
216
94
28
#54
Ha, we had a Mormon at work ''good guy and worker'' handing out blonde haired blue eyed Jesus pictures .. I just chuckled and said ''really, this is what Jesus looks like'' then handed it back to him ..
That's interesting. You know the truth and still rejected the pictures, how much more of an unbeliever or a bitter person.

I would also do the same if I were in your shoes.

Am glad it was not a Christian who did that.
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
19,173
2,536
113
#55
That's interesting. You know the truth and still rejected the pictures, how much more of an unbeliever or a bitter person.

I would also do the same if I were in your shoes.

Am glad it was not a Christian who did that.
Also Blonde hari with blue eyes is one of the well known traits of Germans , this of course does not mean everyone who has this is German but Jews in general tend to have darker hair with eye colors that tend to be darker as well
 

SoulWeaver

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2014
4,889
2,534
113
#56
Honestly I don't care about the image of Jesus, I just care about those that are blinded by Jesus being portrayed as a white man.

Your answer had an element of truth but your way of explaining it became a stumbling block for me. I understood you after having read @Chester post.
I don't think it will affect salvation. It is ignorance, for sure, but it's one easily corrected by actually reading the Bible.

But observe that every race does this. Native Americans paint frescoes of Jesus like He was a Native American. In Asian churches He looks like an Asian. And black people like to paint Jesus black. White people painted Him white. What is my point. That everyone imagines a face of a person they haven't seen with a skin color they are used to the most. I'm saying it's not racially motivated and it is not malignant. If I am black and someone tells me a story about some person and I don't know how they look, I will be imagining a black person throughout the story, because that's how the faces of my immediate family look like and what I'm used to. Same if you ask people to imagine a fruit most will imagine apple, if you ask them to imagine a tool a big majority will say they imagined hammer. Same goes for an artist painting a fresco.


(church in Osaka, Japan, with a very Japanese looking Mary)





(Ethiopian Orthodox church frescoes)


(from a church in Beijing)



(Indian nativity fresco)


(traditional Orthodox frescoes, this one is in Russia, but also in my country and all Eastern Orthodox countries, represent Biblical characters with diverse tones of olive, some even very dark, which is correct as representation of Semitic skin color. And this is the iconographic canon in Orthodox church, colors vary slightly, it goes from golden/olive/ruddy (most commonly) to brown, I've never seen a pasty Jesus in an Orthodox church in my life.

Problem is that - and I might get hate for this, but pretty much this is American believers doing this - they only know a bit of Catholic tradition not even whole Catholic tradition and then act like they know all about most branches of Christianity or what "white men" do, and they go off the rails based on poor information and bias.)


(14th century Ethiopian church)


(The Apache Christ on the Mescalero Apache reservation)


(South Korean church mosaic)



(some more Ethiopian Christian art)

And I can go on and on, but I think I proved my point... I suggest American believers to get educated, no offense meant, Catholicism isn't the whole Christianity and is barely half of the early church, and not just in this area, American believers are still stuck in Reformation movement in ways, this goes for many areas of discussion and on many topics people just kneejerk to everything... Sorry if this came across as aimed at you, I did not follow all your posts to know your full stance on this matter, it's rather intended to a lot of people, I am a bit tired of watching people raving in utter ignorance about both basic human psychology and Christian iconography...
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
19,173
2,536
113
#57
Also I have met Jesus face to face several times each time he had brown hair he had blue eues one time but that was only because he knew how radiant blue eyes speaks to me I actually never paid attention to eye colors.
But when I met him he was a normal looking man
 

laughingheart

Senior Member
Sep 21, 2016
1,709
1,668
113
#58
I would start by listening. When we are too quick to speak we sometimes miss the real issue. Having Jesus represented as white/European was a power play to grant supremacy to the Europeans during conquests. I get the problem. I think instead of arguing we need to reframe things in terms of who he was and to agree that the artists of the time painted and sculpted Jesus to look like themselves. It pandered to their audience. If we are grounded in the truth of Christ and have an honest relationship with him, then we are in a position to share our beliefs if asked. Otherwise listening and empathizing goes a long way.
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
19,173
2,536
113
#59
I would start by listening. When we are too quick to speak we sometimes miss the real issue. Having Jesus represented as white/European was a power play to grant supremacy to the Europeans during conquests. I get the problem. I think instead of arguing we need to reframe things in terms of who he was and to agree that the artists of the time painted and sculpted Jesus to look like themselves. It pandered to their audience. If we are grounded in the truth of Christ and have an honest relationship with him, then we are in a position to share our beliefs if asked. Otherwise listening and empathizing goes a long way.
I agree completely, I think this world is to conernec with appearance in general, I find it ridiculous how looks has such power in this world it makes me grateful I was born not good looking in this world. As far as skin color appearances and anything else about Jesus like I said before who cares? if he was aisan then so be it, if he was mecican who cares if he was black or white who cares as long as people love him for him I don't mind if people see him that way it isn't my place to judge
 
K

Kim82

Guest
#60
It's something that can be changed and we can always take it back if it doesn't bring any change.

We experiment on many things and try to see if they will solve a problem. What's stopping us from experimenting on these one ?
Your ideas are just as wrong as the bishop who you are criticising. Do we really need another controversial race thread at this time?