Does it matter what Jesus looked like?

Cmass · Post by **Cmass** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:40 am

I did a bit of research this evening concerning what Jesus might have looked like if he had existed as a historical figure and it got me to thinking a bit about the depiction of Jesus and the whole scene back then. There is some recent work that has been done in this area that concludes a rather homely savior:
* A bit over 5' tall, 110lbs, very dark sun dried skin, short & dark wiry hair. All in all, a small, scrappy, gnarly dude. I don't want to debate the science that went into reconstructing Jesus. It was extensive and has not been the basis of great challenge by most Christians.
But ultimately, it should not matter should it? It should only be a matter of curiosity but not really make any difference in our faith.....right? Why then do we - especially in the West - make Jesus in our own image?

The Jesus TV channels do this to the extreme. Last Xmas I watched the story of Joseph & Mary on the local Jesus channel and was happily appalled that Mary looked to be about 5' 10", long, slender shaven legs, long blond hair, clean, pearly white teeth, a perfect figure, high cheek bones and beautiful sparkling blue eyes. She was absolutely hot and no amount of sack-cloth garments could hide it. Same with Joseph (Of Malibu?).
But why? Why not make them more realistic? I have yet to see ONE Chrisitian-made film where the main characters have rotten teeth, scraggly hair, flies buzzing around their unclean backsides. And they all speak proper Elizabeathen English - even though rarely quoting the bible (only words from the bible; what a horrible screenplay that would be!) with American accents and communicate with typical modern gestures and expressions.
Why?

Lotan · Post by **Lotan** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:31 am

Cmass wrote:Why?

Obviously Jesus was good looking because He's good and everybody knows that good looking people are better, not like that ugly Judas...
Jesus has been made over more times than Michael Jackson. Here's a nice example of a photogenic saviour...

This site has some fun variations on Jesus too, including "Cruciflex" (buff Jesus), "Polterchrist" (slasher Jesus), and "Hello Jesus"...

Also, at least part of the reason is that Jesus is a romantic figure for women (and if you listen to the lyrics of contemporary Christian music, a few men too).

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:31 pm

We do have a tendency to make God in our image. Now if you make Jesus God then it stands to reason we would make him in our image.
Africans have a Black Jesus which maybe closer to what he looked like.
Lotan brought up something interesting. It was on South Park where Carman was writing Christian songs for their new Christian rock band and they would take all the love songs and just put in Jesus or God instead of Alice or what ever the love interest was.
I was watching a TV evangelist the other day that was singing a song he wrote. It went on and on how he wanted to live with the "holy spirit" and it did sound like an erotic love song. Almost homo-erotica. He was talking once about how he spent a week in his garage praying( doing coke?) when the spirit told him something he had to share. It was about giving money of course and how if you give God will give back more.
It is kind of a pyramid scheme with God at the bottom.

Easyrider · Post by **Easyrider** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:02 pm

Can someone here come up with the Messianic Bible passage (as alluded to by some Rabbis) that describes the Messiah's eyes and teeth? Hint: It's in the Old Testament.

Cmass · Post by **Cmass** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:02 pm

For a very funny example of bizarre, erotic God-love, rent "Praise the Lord and Pass the Amo" - an old Tim Curry movie about an accidental, onstage, live robbery of a TV evangelist show. It is hilarious and includes a scene of the preacher's wife's not-so-subtle calls for Jesus to fully "love" her.

Still, I want a CHRISTIAN to answer my question about why Jesus is ALWAYS portrayed as a handsome stud - a sexually attractive male. And why was Mary, on the Jesus channel portrayed by an incredibly hot blond? To be realistic, these actors should be very homely complete with rotten teeth, leathery skin, infections, scars, lice & buzzing flies.

Easyrider · Post by **Easyrider** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:22 pm

Cmass wrote:
Still, I want a CHRISTIAN to answer my question about why Jesus is ALWAYS portrayed as a handsome stud - a sexually attractive male. And why was Mary, on the Jesus channel portrayed by an incredibly hot blond? To be realistic, these actors should be very homely complete with rotten teeth, leathery skin, infections, scars, lice & buzzing flies.

So they should be portrayed to look more like your own ancient ancestors too (the ones with rotten teeth, leathery skin, infections, scars, lice & buzzing flies)?

Cmass · Post by **Cmass** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:24 pm

No, easyrider, I cannot find the passage related to eyes and teeth.
However, my question still has not been answered. Why the sexy Jesus?

Cmass · Post by **Cmass** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:42 pm

"...So they should be portrayed to look more like your own ancient ancestors too (the ones with rotten teeth, leathery skin, infections, scars, lice & buzzing flies)?"

Once again, why the sexy, white Jesus?

Goat · Post by **Goat** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:51 pm

Easyrider wrote:Can someone here come up with the Messianic Bible passage (as alluded to by some Rabbis) that describes the Messiah's eyes and teeth? Hint: It's in the Old Testament.

And HINT.. it doesn't describe Jesus.

micatala · Post by **micatala** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:58 pm

CMass wrote:Still, I want a CHRISTIAN to answer my question about why Jesus is ALWAYS portrayed as a handsome stud - a sexually attractive male. And why was Mary, on the Jesus channel portrayed by an incredibly hot blond? To be realistic, these actors should be very homely complete with rotten teeth, leathery skin, infections, scars, lice & buzzing flies.

I guess I would start by asking why any TV show or movie portrays any folks from that era the way they do? Did the gladiators in Gladiator have flies, infections, leathery skin, etc. (I don't know as I didn't see the movie)? What about the Alexander the Great movie? Even old movies like Spartacus (Kirk Douglas is probably not the prototypical Roman slave) have the same problem. Consider also the old Ten Commandments movie with Charlton Heston. Moses at 6 four 4 and blonde is a bit of a stretch, no? ANd all those Hebrew slaves didn't look nearly as miserable as they probably should have.

It seems to me that if you can answer these questions, then you probably have the answer to your original question as well.

In addition, I bet if you look a bit, you can find examples of casting that are at least a bit truer to reality. Mel Gibson's passion, for example, may not be free from criticism, but at least people are middle-eastern looking.