Why the HELL does it matter, and why do people make an issue out of it?
Jesus, black or white????
by avishai 40 Replies latest jw friends
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BabaYaga
I think Jesus is more of a gray matter.
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nameless_one
Actually, Jesus is invisible
(Seriously, I do get your point, and it doesn't or shouldn't matter. This is yet another man-created non-issue that people will angst and bicker over while ignoring the bigger picture.) -
BurnTheShips
Why the HELL does it matter, and why do people make an issue out of it?
It doesn't, except to small people. BTS
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Dorktacular
Well..... not that it matters to me, nor should it, but Jesus was born in the Middle East. Ergo, he probably looked more like Osama Bin Laden than Jim Caviezel. Could he have been black? That possiblilty is much more likely than Jesus being white.
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saywhat29
Hmm, I remember seeing my grandfather's bible one time and it having pictures of Adam and Eve as being black; and then seeing Jesus with dreadlocks. It was different from the WT versions as Adam and Eve being blue-eyed white folks and found it actually quite nice. I think people like to personalize figures like that to make them more "believable" to them, and/or to make them more of their own, a piece of themselves. I can tell you that seeing a black Jesus does more for me as a black person (living in America with its history, issues concerning race, class, and politics, ) than does seeing a white one. And why do people always wonder about if Paul or Jesus were 'gay' when thats a word and label totally constructed in our moment in time and space that could hardly fit theirs?
Say what you want- "That's racists- yadda yaddya ya" but it just does help a person relate more to someone that is like them- its human nature. Hell, I've past a Korean church and have seen Asiatic Jesus. *shrugs* It's human to take figures and somehow make them more like you.
All things aside, what Jesus supposedly taught should be more important than that; the black/white issue of Jesus is just our political/social issues with race coloring (no pun intended) biblical figures.
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snowbird
Since the Black/White thing here in the States is the most pressing, I would say that Jesus could "pass" for a light-skinned Black man or a dark-skinned White man.
How's that?
Sylvia
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BurnTheShips
How's that?
Mediterranean Semitic genes. Walking around everywhere in the hot sun during his ministry. Sleeping out of doors. And this after working as a tekton like his foster father Joseph taught him. Probably outdoors for most of his human life. Not a recipe for light skin.
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snowbird
a tekton like his foster father Joseph
Burn, you're going to make a scholar of me yet. Thanks for that reference to Proverbs 6 on yesterday. I'm continually amazed at how similarly we think. From The Message Bible:
Hebrews 3:4 Every house has a builder, (Greek tek' ton) but the Builder behind them all is God.
Sylvia
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BabaYaga
Seriously, it does not matter how much melanin Jesus had in his skin. It is the Christ who is invisible and available to all... THAT is the important part. Jesus just wore it well.
