Once again darn it, why the sexy Jesus?!

[Cmass]

I have yet to get a decent, well thought out answer for this:

Why the sexy Jesus in nearly ALL Christian literature, artwork and movies?
I spent quite a bit of time in a Christian book store the other day and could not find ONE Jesus who did not look European, tall, long-haired and quite handsome. If he were not dressed in the pure white gown and Birkenstocks I'm am sure the ladies would admit their sexual attraction for him.

A recent study (with Christian participation) - which took into account the known realities of that time - indicates he was very likely short by today's standards, very thin, short wiry hair, very dark with leather skin and poor teeth. In other words, nearly the exact opposite of all Westernized depictions of Jesus.

So, why the sexy Jesus?

[Cmass]

I laughed more than thought when I read it

Good! I have heard it said laughter scares the Devil away. Especially when accompanied by evil grins.

.I don't think there was any point making this thread if you have the answers all worked out (I'm not saying that all threads should be questions, but this one was a qu I believe).

My OP and invitation for debate is indeed a question:

Why the sexy Jesus in nearly ALL Christian literature, artwork and movies?

I have presented a feasible explanation. (which is likely correct, otherwise I would pose something different!) However, I expect to hear from others - Christian or not - who are willing to take me to task on this. I am hoping to learn something new; either about the psyche of a true believer or further analysis of this phenomenon.

whats with the 'ungodly scientist' I hope your not a middleageist where you think Christians dont believe in science or sumat stupid

Huh? I'm not quite sure what you are saying here, but my "ungodly" scientist remark was sarcastic. It is well known that many modern, powerful Christian sects have a serious problem with science because they feel it threatens their otherwise simple black and white world view. Christians - and religious folks in general - will come up with some of the most fantastic and utterly ridiculous counter-explanations for even the most well-established scientific theories in order to keep their dogma alive. In this case, some religious folks were not happy with the scientist's rendering of Jesus because it does not portray their hero as the strapping white young lad that their books, movies, statues and other artwork portray him as.

look beond these marketing scams and you will see the HERO Jesus was.

Hallelujah Brother!!
This is precisely what I hope all Christians will do! It would certainly solve a lot of problems very quickly. If people saw these marketing scams as marketing scams, it would put an end to a multi-billion dollar Jesus-product enterprise overnight. (Pat Robertson, Billy G, Jerry F, GW would all have to find new jobs!) There are a multitude of ways money could be better spent than on windup Jesus dolls or Mel Gibson movies. PLEASE, lead your people from temptation! Free them from the lies, the corruption and bonds of Jesus Corp. of America!

[Noachian]

As a Christian I am proud to back you up on the point of Jesus franchaise. Using the very Savior HImself as a product is NOT exceptable.....its ok to sell books expecialy for Christians or films for Christians to watch or Cross neclases etc but dolls, pictures of Christ as an Italian AMerican patriot


Huh? I'm not quite sure what you are saying here, but my "ungodly" scientist remark was sarcastic. It is well known that many modern, powerful Christian sects have a serious problem with science because they feel it threatens their otherwise simple black and white world view. Christians - and religious folks in general - will come up with some of the most fantastic and utterly ridiculous counter-explanations for even the most well-established scientific theories in order to keep their dogma alive. In this case, some religious folks were not happy with the scientist's rendering of Jesus because it does not portray their hero as the strapping white young lad that their books, movies, statues and other artwork portray him as.

THis is where I dont really agree with you, yes some people arent really scientifically minded for certain reasons, but everybody has to agree with facts of science...many atheists see science as a religion itself "science is right and God isnt" I mean come on; no body denies facts of science (only theories and everybody has the right to deniy a theory if they interprit evidence differently). We have to stop this middle age catholic theocracy attitude, where science and Religion are at war with each other, science is a way of studying nature and Religion is a way of worshipping god/GOd/gods/godess/deity etc. THE CORRECT TITLE FOR THIS SLIGHT CONFLICT AGAINST CERTAIN THEORIES IN SCIENCE AND CERTAIN BELIEFES IN CERTAIN RELIGIONS...FALLS DOWN TO
CREATION VS EVOLUTION AND NOTHING ELSE.
[/quote]

[Noachian]

I laughed more than thought when I read it

Good! I have heard it said laughter scares the Devil away. Especially when accompanied by evil grins.

.I don't think there was any point making this thread if you have the answers all worked out (I'm not saying that all threads should be questions, but this one was a qu I believe).

My OP and invitation for debate is indeed a question:

Why the sexy Jesus in nearly ALL Christian literature, artwork and movies?

I have presented a feasible explanation. (which is likely correct, otherwise I would pose something different!) However, I expect to hear from others - Christian or not - who are willing to take me to task on this. I am hoping to learn something new; either about the psyche of a true believer or further analysis of this phenomenon.

whats with the 'ungodly scientist' I hope your not a middleageist where you think Christians dont believe in science or sumat stupid

Huh? I'm not quite sure what you are saying here, but my "ungodly" scientist remark was sarcastic. It is well known that many modern, powerful Christian sects have a serious problem with science because they feel it threatens their otherwise simple black and white world view. Christians - and religious folks in general - will come up with some of the most fantastic and utterly ridiculous counter-explanations for even the most well-established scientific theories in order to keep their dogma alive. In this case, some religious folks were not happy with the scientist's rendering of Jesus because it does not portray their hero as the strapping white young lad that their books, movies, statues and other artwork portray him as.

look beond these marketing scams and you will see the HERO Jesus was.

Hallelujah Brother!!
This is precisely what I hope all Christians will do! It would certainly solve a lot of problems very quickly. If people saw these marketing scams as marketing scams, it would put an end to a multi-billion dollar Jesus-product enterprise overnight. (Pat Robertson, Billy G, Jerry F, GW would all have to find new jobs!) There are a multitude of ways money could be better spent than on windup Jesus dolls or Mel Gibson movies. PLEASE, lead your people from temptation! Free them from the lies, the corruption and bonds of Jesus Corp. of America!

[Cmass]

some people arent really scientifically minded for certain reasons,

The reason is often ignorance - compounded by lack of curiosity.

but everybody has to agree with facts of science...

Please tell that to other Christians! It appears they don't have this message yet.

many atheists see science as a religion itself "science is right and God isnt"

This is incredibly simplistic and has been used as a Christian mantra for years. It does not take much thought to understand why this statement makes no sense whatsoever and indeed shows a glaring lack of understanding about what science is and is not. First off, no true Atheist would say "God is wrong" because God does not exist in the first place. And "science is right"? Science is a methodology that seeks to uncover truth and present facts. What is especially interesting about science is it's built-in error correcting mechanism. Every time a scientist presents a major new theory that theory is immediately checked, cross checked. Other scientist probe and prod it to see if it holds up to scrutiny. Religion does not do this.
Science and religion don't get along for good reason: Science has no interest in protecting any religious dogma and religion has no interest in proving any of it's stories untrue. Science is simply a way of figuring things out. While religion seeks to protect it's stories - no matter how absurd the story - at any cost (even mass murder), science seeks to determine if the story's claims are true. If they are found to be untrue, religious zealots go ballistic. Conversely, religious zealots absolutely love science if it uncovers so much as one twig related to biblical happenings.
No, it is not just the evolution controversy. Perhaps you have not been paying attention to all the areas where fundamentalist religious people and scientists have been clashing over the past 100 years? The bible is chalk full of stories and claims that are childishly silly and clearly made up by ancient people that would make the current batch of Middle Eastern tribes look positively progressive.
Although most religions have some silly story at their core, I could write a full book on the subject of Christian biblical inaccuracies (they have been written) but for starters, there is the whole idea of creating the world in a few days, and then there is the concept of placing all species of the planet onto a creaky little wood boat and then flooding the entire planet with 30,000 feet of water for a couple of months to kill off everything. There is absolutely no scientific basis for these claims. And these claims were not developed in response to any observable phenomena. They did not seek evidence around them to explain anything. They did not collect and analyzing data in response to anything. They just made up stories and now some Christians are scrambling for any scrap of evidence they can find that might back up the story. This is backwards! It is just a silly story on par with the story of Peter Rabbit that I read to my son at night.
..... Then there are claims about ghosts that walk on water or devils or angels or that the earth is only a few thousand years old or that people can be cured of disease by begging God to change his mind through prayer, or that God causes natural disasters because he hates gays or certain ethnic groups, or that God spoke to GW and told him to clean up the Middle East using military force....I haven't got time but it goes on and on and none of it has anything to do with science.

Perhaps a trip to the dictionary can help here:

re·li·gion Pronunciation (r-ljn)
n.
1.
a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.

sci·ence Pronunciation (sns)
n.
1.
a. The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.
b. Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena.
c. Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study.