Posted on 12/22/2023 1:19:32 PM PST by nickcarraway
IT’s nearly here! The birthday of the selfless one himself. The man, the myth, the legend, saviour of all humanity, Jesus Christ.
However, it is actually widely debated that, if he did exist in flesh and blood, his birthday was actually on December 25. One theory suggests that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a bright light in the sky, a rare event that occurred in June of 2 B.C. Another possibility is that it could have been a similar conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which was in October of 7 B.C. So nobody really knows.
Anyway, whenever that famous night was when there was ‘no room at the inn’, the birth is agreed to have taken place in Bethlehem, which was just south of Jerusalem, in the Middle East. If this is something that is not debated by scholars, then isn’t it a little strange that most modern depictions of Jesus Christ in the western world show him to have fair skin and light hair? Whilst not impossible, if we take a look at people native to the Middle East, typically they have dark hair, and olive to dark brown skin. So why would we assume that Jesus looks any different to the average person of that area? The Bible does not mention anything about the appearance of Jesus, apart from stating that he did not stand out in any particular way. Even more reason to assume that he was not a pale, white man roaming around!
In their book, ‘Legacies of likeness’, Scholar Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey argue that in ‘the centuries after European colonisation of the Americas, the image of a white Christ associated him with the logic of empire and could be used to justify the oppression of Native and African Americans’. Another theory of this possibly inaccurate image is that it is mostly white people who have painted these depictions.
Whatever he looked like, he is a symbol of selflessness, forgiveness, and an inspiration to how man can embody his goodness and true human nature. However, representation matters, and viewers of his image should ponder and understand the complicated history of these portraits of Christ that they consume.
Jesus having red hair is not a stretch. King David was said to be ruddy (red haired). Red heads existed in Israel before the Crusaders showed up.
Don’t know about his skin color, but his hair was “white, like snow.” (Rev. 1:14)
Nope. Jew. Jews do not include themselves as whites, just Jews.
Does not mean their skin shade does not run the entire spectrum.
Irrelevant to sane people
That was an end times deacription. Doubtful He looked much different than His peers.
You are correct. The author is an anti-Christian.
“Cubans define themselves as Cubans.”
To a great degree they have amalgamated into a people of their own. Mainly Spanish with some black, but also Anglo and French.
The Song of Solomon describes the husband as white. A Dead Sea Scroll document describes Sarah as extremely white.
Jewish historians describe Jews as being blonde, red headed, green eyes, etc.
The Jews of the Old Testament don’t necessarily look like the Jews of today.
Jesus is depicted as white, and in keeping with the cancel culture, he has to have a do over. And, certainly, plenty of whites are “whupped” into accepting that. Can’t be racist or white privileged, don’t you know.
I wouldn't recommend consuming pictures. Also, the author is an idiot.
watching the news,everybody in Israel is white,,,
True.
Judas also reputed to have red hair.
You are correct. In the end, does it really matter what color his skin was? It’s not the skin tone....it’s the message.
Yup, Jesus looks like whatever you want him to look like. He is all things to all people.
We have no idea what Jesus looked like. Odds are that he was average for his time and place. There are no physical representations of the Lord until the 4th Century. Early Christians and many Protestants until the 19th Century frowned upon portraits or other representations of Christ, believing such to be in violation of the Second Commandment.
He likely looked like all the other ME Jews of the time. Perhaps God threw the region a curved one. This issue is discussed every year as if the fact that he wasn’t European white is a major discovery/revelation. Gotta live it. :-)
olive skin= white; Jewish= white; what kind of racist can even think like these guys?
According to the United States government definition of white, He is white: “descended from the original populations of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.” I hope that settles it.
Of course, you never know. My work puts me in contact with a lot of Middle Easterners. Some have olive or darker complexions, and others are as light as I am, and I am of 100% northwestern European descent. Take away the traditional Muslim attire, and they are indistinguishable from Europeans. I have noticed the same variety among Jews.
Jesus is as likely to be white as He is to be darker, going by what we know about the complexions of Middle Easterners today.
Does it really make any difference? “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That’s all I need to know.
Until dad visited his unknown relatives in northern Norway. Laplanders! Still raising and herding reindeer.
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