Why are Christians ashamed of Jesus?

[Avoice]

It is sad that Christians are ashamed of Jesus.

For centuries they have been drawing him like a European. With blue eyes and sandy blond (light brown) hair.

He was from the Middle East. They know what men from the Middle East look like. Black hair and brown eyes. And darker skin.

If they must have an image why don't they draw him in truth? They don't.
Christians find their false image of Jesus comforting. Looking at it with such admiration. What if he looked like Sadaam Hussein? And wore jeans and a tshirt?

How will Christians recognize Jesus? By wearing a white robe with arms outstretched? Looking like the guy in the Last Supper painting?

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to 1213 in post #10]

At that point they obviously knew him as the carpenter's son. That doesn't really tell about his look, only that it was known.

"Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. (Matthew 13:55-57)

They obviously aren't seeing anything special in him. They think he's just being uppity.

But, it is an interesting question, what did Jews look like then. Jesus was a Jew, not a today's Arab.

Since Jews and Arabs are virtually indistinguishable today, it's reasonable to assume that they were virtually indistinguishable back then.

Also, Jews were scattered among other nations and taken away from their homeland. So, if we imagine what Jews looked like, it is not the same as middle eastern people after them. It is something that we can find in among other nations.

In that time they wouldn't have been scattered very far across the planet and the insular nature of their religion would have kept them from intermarrying to a great degree, so their features wouldn't have changed that much. Besides-----this passage in Matthew 13 is an exchange between Jews, not between Jews and Arabs, so again everyone involved would have looked essentially the same.

[bjs1]

....It at least partly relies on the idea that Jesus wasn’t really human....

I believe he is a man, as the Bible tells. However, he was not born the same way as normal men. Therefore it is possible he didn't look exactly the same as his parents.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Tim. 2:5

I am not in agreement with you on this one. It suggests that there was something inhuman about Jesus. The fact that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God is a foundational belief in Christianity, attested to by many passages in the Bible. Obviously, he didn't look exactly the same as his parents - no child does. But he would have had genetic similarities that all children have to their biological parents. If that were not true, then we could not rightly say that Jesus was a man.

[1213]

...and the insular nature of their religion would have kept them from intermarrying to a great degree, so their features wouldn't have changed that much....

Doesn't that mean that the modern Jews look very similar to the ancient Jews? And in that case, would it not be probable that Jesus would look like a modern Jew, white skin and dark hair?

[1213]

...It suggests that there was something inhuman about Jesus. The fact that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God is a foundational belief in Christianity, attested to by many passages in the Bible. Obviously, he didn't look exactly the same as his parents - no child does. But he would have had genetic similarities that all children have to their biological parents. If that were not true, then we could not rightly say that Jesus was a man.

If you say Jesus was 100 % God, doesn't that mean there was something inhuman about Jesus? Or do you mean that all people are also 100 % Gods?

It may be wrong idea, but generally people think the outlook comes from DNA. Jesus didn't get DNA from his "biological father" and by what is said in the Bible, it is possible he didn't got DNA even from his mother. So, in Biblical point of view it is possible he didn't have similarities to his biological parents.

And sorry, I think it is against the Bible to say Jesus is 100 % God, because according to the Bible there is only one true god and the god is greater than Jesus.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to 1213 in post #13]

Doesn't that mean that the modern Jews look very similar to the ancient Jews? And in that case, would it not be probable that Jesus would look like a modern Jew, white skin and dark hair?

Why would Jesus look like a modern Jew and not like a Jew of 2,000 years ago? The exile starting in the year 70, which spread the Jews over more of the world than the exile to Babylon, happened after Jesus's time.

[bjs1]

...It suggests that there was something inhuman about Jesus. The fact that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God is a foundational belief in Christianity, attested to by many passages in the Bible. Obviously, he didn't look exactly the same as his parents - no child does. But he would have had genetic similarities that all children have to their biological parents. If that were not true, then we could not rightly say that Jesus was a man.

If you say Jesus was 100 % God, doesn't that mean there was something inhuman about Jesus? Or do you mean that all people are also 100 % Gods?

It may be wrong idea, but generally people think the outlook comes from DNA. Jesus didn't get DNA from his "biological father" and by what is said in the Bible, it is possible he didn't got DNA even from his mother. So, in Biblical point of view it is possible he didn't have similarities to his biological parents.

And sorry, I think it is against the Bible to say Jesus is 100 % God, because according to the Bible there is only one true god and the god is greater than Jesus.

Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus is both God and man. You have described Jesus as neither God nor man (lacking human DNA). I admit that I am at a loss. Could you explain exactly who you believe Jesus was?

[1213]

[Replying to 1213 in post #13]

Doesn't that mean that the modern Jews look very similar to the ancient Jews? And in that case, would it not be probable that Jesus would look like a modern Jew, white skin and dark hair?

Why would Jesus look like a modern Jew and not like a Jew of 2,000 years ago? The exile starting in the year 70, which spread the Jews over more of the world than the exile to Babylon, happened after Jesus's time.

They likely look the same, because you said: "the insular nature of their religion would have kept them from intermarrying to a great degree, so their features wouldn't have changed that much".

[1213]

Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus is both God and man. You have described Jesus as neither God nor man (lacking human DNA). I admit that I am at a loss. Could you explain exactly who you believe Jesus was?

I believe Jesus is a man, as that is what the Bible tells here:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Tim. 2:5

I believe he is also son of God, because he was born by the influence of Holy spirit:

"The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:31-33

And more than that, he is son of God, because he does the works of his Father.

...I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
John 10:34-38

But, he didn't get his DNA from Joseph and it is possible he didn't get his DNA from Mary. It may be that his DNA came from some other way.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to 1213 in post #17]

They likely look the same, because you said: "the insular nature of their religion would have kept them from intermarrying to a great degree, so their features wouldn't have changed that much".

Right----in the time of Jesus. So he would have looked like a first-century Jew, not like a twenty-first century Jew.

[AquinasForGod]

[Replying to Avoice in post #1]

That isn't always the case. Some middle Eastern people are born with blue eyes. Lebanese have light skin. Many Arabs have light skin. I have seen Arabs that don't look much different than Greeks. It is very likely he had dark Curley Hair though.