Jesus' physical appearance plays a major role in christianit

[Avoice]

The image people have if Jesus plays a big part in their beliefs in him.

They believe he is handsome. That he wears a white robe and sandals. Has long slightly wavy hair. His hair is becoming more blonde these days. And blue eyes are popular now. His eyes used to be brown in paintings and hair was darker. No matter. What matters is that he is nice to look at.

There are thousands of statues of Jesus. Paintings- too many to number. But he is always pleasant to the eyes All depicting a handsome man.

How many statues would there be if he was hideous and disgusting looking? If he was repulsive to the eyes. How many Christians would have a picture of him hanging in their house? And how many would point to that picture and say he is my Lord and savior!!
How many racist white Christians would reject an image of Jesus if he looked like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden? In truth Jesus would have looked more like them than the one DaVinci painted of him in the famous 'Last Supper'

Before everyone starts replying with how real Christians aren't racists -stop. If they identify as Christians they are Christian.

Christianity is a religion whose relationship with God requires that he be someone they can relate to. Someone who thinks like them. Someone THEY approve of. They want a religion that lets them decide what is right or wrong. That lets them eat what they want. A religion that won't make them feel guilty. A religion that provides an excuse for their failings. They sin because they are born sinners doncha' know. No. We are sinners when we sin!

Christians want God to think and act like them. They want God to be the image of them. They want to look at him. They have created him in their image. 2000 years ago a group of people have the people what they wanted. They dragged God down to earth and gave him a name and made him just like us. Jesus is just the kind of god we would make if we could make one. We get everything we want, live forever and he suffers for our sins.

Want to see people get outraged? Enact a law that forbids images of Jesus. Statues or anything that is to represent him. They are idol worshippers. Take their images and statues and see. Unfortunately that won't happen. Buuuut....next time you see a Christian looking at an image of Jesus mention what a nice picture of Moses they are looking at.
It's Jesus!
No, it's Moses.

Christianity is not based on faith. Faith is believing in things you can't see. Like God
Faith is not needing to put a face on God.

Christians worship the God that exists in their minds. He has light brown hair and blue eyes. Wears a white robe and leather sandals. And holds his arms outstretched. That's god to them. When he returns (rolling my eyes) he better look exactly like that or they won't see him. In the meantime they have their images and statues to look at. So comforting. Oh and the Virgin Mary. They created her plasant to the eyes too. Oh and the manger scene...look there is God....creater of the world...laying in a pile of hay. Born even lower than us. In a barn! A perfect God. One who doesn't think he's better than us[/i][/quote]

[RightReason]

[Replying to Avoice]

The image people have if Jesus plays a big part in their beliefs in him.

They believe he is handsome.

Not at all – the opposite. He is described in Sacred Scripture as quite ordinary and every picture I’ve ever seen of Him looks that way too.

What matters is that he is nice to look at.

Nope. The Bible itself told us He was nothing to look at. What mattered is He came to earth as one of us, but was the son of God.

There are thousands of statues of Jesus. Paintings- too many to number. But he is always pleasant to the eyes All depicting a handsome man.

I disagree.

How many statues would there be if he was hideous and disgusting looking? If he was repulsive to the eyes. How many Christians would have a picture of him hanging in their house? And how many would point to that picture and say he is my Lord and savior!!
How many racist white Christians would reject an image of Jesus if he looked like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden? In truth Jesus would have looked more like them than the one DaVinci painted of him in the famous 'Last Supper'

Hmmm . . . . I’ll bet you’re going to tell us.

Before everyone starts replying with how real Christians aren't racists -stop. If they identify as Christians they are Christian.

Well, that would be silly. Even Jesus told us many will call His name and tell Him they were among His followers but He will tell them He does not know them. Not everyone who yells Jesus, Jesus will enter into the kingdom.

Christianity is a religion whose relationship with God requires that he be someone they can relate to.

In the sense He came as man then yes and probably why He did so. And to be historically accurate He did come as a white guy.

Someone who thinks like them.

Lots of people didn’t like the way He thought at all and told Him so. In fact, His teaching were actually contrary to the culture of the time.

Someone THEY approve of. They want a religion that lets them decide what is right or wrong.

Well, since none of your previous assumptions were true, I think it fair to not allow this one either.


Christ’s teachings do not let Christians decide what is right/wrong. Christianity confirms that all men can know right/wrong regardless of belief in Jesus by simply observing and acknowledging the way the world works. In the world, man is subject to natural law, which allows us to know right from wrong.

So, for Christians something isn’t wrong just because the Church says its wrong, rather the Church as no choice to say something is wrong because it is wrong and she must uphold truth.

That lets them eat what they want.

I don’t get this comment.

As a Catholic, I am not allowed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent, even though I would love to.

A religion that won't make them feel guilty. A religion that provides an excuse for their failings. They sin because they are born sinners doncha' know. No. We are sinners when we sin!

You don’t seem to understand Christianity very well. We are taught sinning is an offense against God and severs our relationship with Him – not something recommended.

Christians want God to think and act like them.

Oh gosh I hope not. He wouldn’t be much of a god then.

They want God to be the image of them.

No, we are told we were created in His image. Are you sure you know as much about Christianity as you think you do?

Want to see people get outraged? Enact a law that forbids images of Jesus. Statues or anything that is to represent him.

That should outrage everyone -- if the state forbids freedom of speech/religion.

They are idol worshippers. Take their images and statues and see.

Because it isn’t about the images and statues, it would be about totalitarianism and an assault on our freedom.

Christianity is not based on faith. Faith is believing in things you can't see. Faith is not needing to put a face on God.

Right. Christianity is based on faith AND reason. It is reasonable for man to use human terms/ways to describe God. As human beings we have 5 senses and therefore respond by taste, sight, hearing, feeling, etc. This is why we respond to physical things like pictures/paintings/images – nothing wrong with that – it’s how we were made. It is natural and normal to desire to put a face on God, but as Christians we know it will not be until heaven when we will see the face of Christ.

Christians worship the God that exists in their minds.

Nope. We worship the God that has revealed Himself to us through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, history, and sometimes personal revelation.

He has light brown hair and blue eyes. Wears a white robe and leather sandals. And holds his arms outstretched. That's god to them.

Except when it isn’t. I also sometimes think of Him as the baby Jesus, as the Holy Spirit -- as a dove, or in the Wind or Fire. I also sometimes see Him with no particular face, rather just loving arms that envelop me. Or sometimes I don’t see Him at all but only feel Him. I picture the young Jesus when His parents were looking for Him when they thought He was lost, but found Him in the temple. I picture a naked and tortured Jesus when I recollect the passion and death of our Lord, etc.

[Tcg]

Not at all – the opposite. He is described in Sacred Scripture as quite ordinary and every picture I’ve ever seen of Him looks that way too.

Have you never seen this or any of the many other similar images?




Tcg

[Zzyzx]

.

The image people have if Jesus plays a big part in their beliefs in him.

The image of Jesus presented to westerners is typically Caucasian of European appearance; which seems unlikely for someone supposedly born in the Middle East.

Perhaps Mary was impregnated by a European; or impregnated by a European 'holy spirit'?

More likely, illustrators depicted Jesus as being similar in appearance to themselves and their intended audience.

[OnceConvinced]

Want to see people get outraged? Enact a law that forbids images of Jesus. Statues or anything that is to represent him.

There already is a law that forbids this. The 2nd commandment:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20:4)

This would surely include any pictures, particularly ones where Jesus is depicted as a white man, because the real Jesus would have been brown skinned.

Another example I see where racism is applied is stories of Adam and Eve. Have you ever noticed that Adam and Eve are always depicted as white? They would have been brown skinned too.

I now see it as dishonest to portray Jesus as white when he obviously wasn't white.

The pic Jagella posted is definitely more likely to be an accurate representation of Jesus than the ones we see in churches and Christian lit. When you think about it, even the rastafarian Jesus is probably closer to the real thing:

[OnceConvinced]

If the bible is to be believed Jesus was a perfect man, whose body was prepared directly by an Almighty God that does everything perfectly... why would a perfect human specimen of a man be physically repulsive or even aesthetically substandard ?

I know of no Bible passage that says Jesus was perfect although Hebrews 4:15 does describe him as "without sin." No doubt the beauty of his appearance like everybody else's appearance would have been in the eye of the beholder.

I am assuming that Jesus existed, of course.

Yeah, I don't think that just because he was the son of God means he has to be good looking. In fact if we look at it, who did Jesus attract?

Men and hookers.

If he was handsome, he's probably have more women after him than just Mary Magdaline.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 25 by OnceConvinced]

Perhaps we have different ideas of what the word "perfection" means, I am using the term biblically and employing critical thinking skills in my analysis of bible texts.


Regards,

JW


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[OnceConvinced]

[Replying to post 25 by OnceConvinced]

Perhaps we have different ideas of what the word "perfection" means, I am using the term biblically and employing critical thinkjng skills in my analysis of bible texts.


Regards,

JW

And here was me thinking I was applying critical thinking when I looked deeper at who it was who Jesus spent all his time with. Surely that would indicate something about his physical appearance? Just what type of people would want to be around him?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 27 by OnceConvinced]


WAS JESUS TOO UGLY TO HAVE MASSES OF ADMIRERS?

Jesus had plenty of admirers of botb sexes. While there is no reliable evidence Mary Magdelein or any of his female associates was sexually attracted to Jesus (and less that they had a sexual relationship)*, the bible does report crowds (both men and women) flocked to be around him; so much so that he couldn't circulate freeely in public at a certain point. He is reported as being a miracle worker, a charismatic teacher and an appealing and kind man so those are obviously contributing factors to why he was so popular, but who can rule out if people of either sex found him physically appealing? Humans are fickle and in view of our nature it's not beyond the realm of reason to assume there were at least some that could have?

JESUS AND WOMEN

Jesus did have a group of women that ministers to him and travelled with him for extended periods (sed Like 8:1,2). NOTE: There is no evidence they catered to him sexually or indeed aspired to.

While in that society at that time it was totally unacceptable for a woman to approach a man she did not know in public, (especially a respected Rabbi), and women were not generally accepted in discussion on religious matters, Jesus was a man ahead of his time in this respect. He associated, taught, conversed and interacted with women, he is reported to have counted some of his closest friends as women. Possibly because of this there are several accounts of women approaching Jesus unsolicited. It is therefor inaccurate biblically to say "Jesus rarely had women approaching him". Indeed his enemies tried to cast aspersions on his character exactly because of his association with women, but they couldn't outright accuse him of immorality since there was no evidence of this.

By Jesus own words, he remained single not because he was too ugly to find a wife, but because he believed he had a higher calling. Although rare, throughout the ages men (and women) dedicated to God have made similar life choices.

CONCLUSION: I am not trying to build a case for Jesus looks based on any of the above, I am merely responding to a theory supposing he was unattractive based on the company he kept. While beauty does tend to attract, the presence of admirators can be attributed to so many other factors, I think it would be difficult to build a case for or against Jesus's physical attractiveness based on his entourage.


JW

* Of course unattractive people do have sexual and platonic relationships

[OnceConvinced]

[Replying to post 27 by OnceConvinced]

Could you explain uour point a little further, I fail to see the link between ones physical appearance and ones company.

You don't? In my eperience throughout life the really good looking guys always have women after them. They are always around wanting to talk to them. But Jesus rarely had women approaching him. He remained single even though there was no reason why he shouldn't take a wife or have a girlfriend.

Even in churches, the womenfolk tend to flock around the good looking pastors and leaders. They are just as shallow as any other women. I found out that the hard way as a Chrisitan looking for a good Christian wife.

I just think there's good reason to believe that maybe Jesus wasn't exactly an adonis.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 29 by OnceConvinced]

See edit.

I think I understood your point and tried to address it above.

JW