Jesus is not blonde haired and blue eyed

[Ovedya]

I am posting this because it is hard to believe that in a multicultural "civilized" world, we are still unable to rid ourselves of racial discrimination. The image of Christ is a good start. Yes it is true that the Christ could have been purple and he would still have been the son of god, but the truth is our unwillingness to present a more realistic image of Jesus can be attributed to constant racial socialization which prevents us from viewing the light and the way as anything but "pure" aka white anglo saxon. Jesus was an israelite which means he could have been a number of shades or complexions none of which are similar to the kurt cobain image we see presented everyday. I am African-American and this erroneous image bothers me. The truth is an offense but not a sin. Let us strive for a more accurate image of christ or represent him as what he truly was a glorious light.

I am personally of the opinion that any representation of Jesus can lead to idolatry. This is my preference only, and I do not criticize or condemn any believer that keeps images of this kind, however. I also don't think that "black Jesus" verses "white Jesus" is anything to quibble senselessly about. Remember what the Lord said to Thomas refarding faith: "Blessed are they who have not seen and believe."

I couldn't agree with you more Ovedya and never really thought of it that way, as idolitry. I wear a cross around my neck, do you consider that idolitry? Just curious.

<3

It's really a matter of degrees. If a believer wears a cross around their neck and believes that it somehow protects them from harm, or that it gives them more power in prayer, then I would say there's a definite problem there. The power of the cross is in our spirit. It is an accomplishment which the Lord made on our behalf, because we could not do it ourselves. All that Christ attained and obtained in His incarnation, His human living, His death, and his resurrection, is available to us in the Spirit. So as believers we have the ability to exercise our portion of faith to apply all that the Lord has obtained and attained to our lives - to whatever our particular situation is. Faith doesn't depend upon, or gain more power from inanimate objects or representations. It is simply a matter of exercising our human spirit (1 Tim. 4:7-8)

On the other hand, if a believer wears a cross to remind them of the Lord's sacrifice, no big deal. I'm not anyone's judge. The Lord knows their hearts. I sometimes wonder, though, if the Lord had died by some other means, like a spear for example, would Christians be wearing little golden spears around their necks?

[cjrose]

I am posting this because it is hard to believe that in a multicultural "civilized" world, we are still unable to rid ourselves of racial discrimination. The image of Christ is a good start. Yes it is true that the Christ could have been purple and he would still have been the son of god, but the truth is our unwillingness to present a more realistic image of Jesus can be attributed to constant racial socialization which prevents us from viewing the light and the way as anything but "pure" aka white anglo saxon. Jesus was an israelite which means he could have been a number of shades or complexions none of which are similar to the kurt cobain image we see presented everyday. I am African-American and this erroneous image bothers me. The truth is an offense but not a sin. Let us strive for a more accurate image of christ or represent him as what he truly was a glorious light.

I have been thinking about this post or rather it has been on my mind since it was posted. There are a lot of great responses and I truly hope they have helped you overcome the image or visualization dilema you seem to be dwelling on. To me His spirit is a great light. As a human He was a Jew so he must have looked like an ordinary person although we all know that He is far from ordinary. I think they depict the bright eyes as some kind of symbol of light exuding from him. Eyes are the windows to the soul and the pictures you see are just others interpretations of what He may have looked like. I also feel some racial tension here. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ whatever race we are and should love one another regardless. I sincerely hope that all these responses have helped you to see Jesus as you would like to imagine Him. One day we will all find out what He really does look like. And I can't wait.

[Giaour]

Been thinking on this all day.

It dawned on me that the dipictions of Jesus came from artists.

All of them were from an artists point of view, what the artist saw in his mind and heart what they thought He would look like.

The artists were probably white, hence they saw Jesus as white.

Had the artists been black, they would have painted Him black, or how they saw Him.

They are pieces of art made as art and not an actual photograph of Jesus.

Picasso might have made Jesus with 5 ears.

Just a thought.

[Christian]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Has anybody seen the OP, blackjesus?

Possibly another A.C. trying to get us fighting amongst ourselves?

[followerofjesus]

My heart is a harvest sown from a black lump of cole. My sinful nature is black. Jesus could be green w/ pink polka dots. Is that a good or bad? Why is that?

Has the price of tea in China changed?

[LadyRaven]

I am posting this because it is hard to believe that in a multicultural "civilized" world, we are still unable to rid ourselves of racial discrimination. The image of Christ is a good start. Yes it is true that the Christ could have been purple and he would still have been the son of god, but the truth is our unwillingness to present a more realistic image of Jesus can be attributed to constant racial socialization which prevents us from viewing the light and the way as anything but "pure" aka white anglo saxon. Jesus was an israelite which means he could have been a number of shades or complexions none of which are similar to the kurt cobain image we see presented everyday. I am African-American and this erroneous image bothers me. The truth is an offense but not a sin. Let us strive for a more accurate image of christ or represent him as what he truly was a glorious light.

I am personally of the opinion that any representation of Jesus can lead to idolatry. This is my preference only, and I do not criticize or condemn any believer that keeps images of this kind, however. I also don't think that "black Jesus" verses "white Jesus" is anything to quibble senselessly about. Remember what the Lord said to Thomas refarding faith: "Blessed are they who have not seen and believe."

I couldn't agree with you more Ovedya and never really thought of it that way, as idolitry. I wear a cross around my neck, do you consider that idolitry? Just curious.

<3

I wouldn't unless you expected things of your cross that you wouldn't expect of your locket or your heart pendant or your string of beads. I mean yo might have sentimental value placed on it due to it being a gift, etc, but...other than this it has no special significant power. Ie, it won't keep evil ppl away from you or anything like this, it's just a peice of jewelry.

Jesus was a Jew, and as such COULD have had a variety of features from very dark to very light (look at what you have in the holy land now, both Jew and Arab, you don't have a singular skin tone present), and since we don't have any DNA from his family line, it's not like we'll be able to tell ever.

We will never know what Jesus looks like until we meet him face to face. Insisting that Jesus look any particular way in representations at all is IMNSHO idolatry. I don't care if your white thinking Jesus should be light, black saying he should be black, or white saying he should be black, asian saying he should be.... it's all irrelevent because to insist that he take ANY form is to place a "likeness" on him, which is something we are forbidden to do.

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

The only color that should matter when it comes to our SAVIOR should be red.....the color of salvation(the blood that was shed for us).

[Salida]

I am posting this because it is hard to believe that in a multicultural "civilized" world, we are still unable to rid ourselves of racial discrimination. The image of Christ is a good start. Yes it is true that the Christ could have been purple and he would still have been the son of god, but the truth is our unwillingness to present a more realistic image of Jesus can be attributed to constant racial socialization which prevents us from viewing the light and the way as anything but "pure" aka white anglo saxon. Jesus was an israelite which means he could have been a number of shades or complexions none of which are similar to the kurt cobain image we see presented everyday. I am African-American and this erroneous image bothers me. The truth is an offense but not a sin. Let us strive for a more accurate image of christ or represent him as what he truly was a glorious light.

Jesus was most likely not black or white. He was the color of that time period and day. Yes, there is unfortunately prejudism. We live in a world filled with hate, prejudism, jealously etc. because this world is filled with sin and is fallen. I don't take any of the images I see of Jesus seriously no matter what color they are because they arn't reality. It doesn't bother me because what He has done for us - like died for our sins and resurrected is what is important.

What Jesus really looks like in reality is far beyond what we can image in the flesh- since he is the Son of God and is God.