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by Starmaster on August 3rd, 2008

Starmaster

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Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus with black hair? I have only seen one or two, but dozens or hundreds of portraits with brown or even blond hair! Isn't that kind of ignorant or even racist, to imply that holiness is connected to being "white"?

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  • by bagicide stayed 10 months too long on November 16th, 2008

    bagicide stayed 10 months too long

    I think most people think of Christ as being like themselves. As they are created in God's image, they want to create Christ in their own image.

    Also, many of the famous portraits of Christ by European artists were created when Europe was very homogenous and the artist may never have seen someone of another race. Only the crusaders and explorers may ever have been outside of Europe. You can't exactly judge people of other eras by modern standards. For Americans, we see people of other races all the time. Even in Europe, with the collapse of the colonial system, there are beginning to be many people of other races. But did Michaelangelo ever see someone of another race? I don't know. He was in the Meditterrenean, so he may have. But it was a long walk to Jerusalem and after the fall of the Roman Empire, it would have been a difficult and dangerous walk.

    The reality is, Jesus was a Jew and a descendant of Abraham, who came from modern-day Iraq and probably looked similar to anyone from that region.

    Comments

    • Points!
      The Bible reports that Jesus was of Jewish descent and while he was on earth he preached to 'the house of Israel'.
      Apparently, he 'blended in' with the crowds, since the Pharisees needed Judas to identify him for them. (He did so with a kiss, as you know.)
      This also indicates, that there was no 'halo' around his head as some artwork depicts.

      PonderAppreciatively

      by PonderAppreciatively on November 18th, 2008

    • Yes, but put yourself in the artist's shoes. Holiness is very hard to depict with a brush and paints or a hammer and chisel. You need a symbol to represent the deeds and character traits that you can't put into a picture.

      bagicide stayed 10 months too long

      by bagicide stayed 10 months too long on November 18th, 2008

    • I only mention that he did not have a halo because there is some confusion about this.
      A surprising number of people, don't realize that there was no light hovering above Jesus head.
      The fact that Judas had to identify him for the Pharisees, indicates that his appearance was not unusual.

      PonderAppreciatively

      by PonderAppreciatively on November 19th, 2008

    • i never seen a blond Jesus and i also have to say that anybody that is racist need to go back to church he was not white you idiots neither was anybody else in the bible morrons

      cuddlier4u

      by cuddlier4u on June 4th, 2011

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