Tuesday, March 20, 2007

What does Jesus look like?

Groups or individuals who claim to know exactly how Jesus looks scare me.

OK, maybe they don't scare me but they do concern me--a lot.

There was an advertisement atop our web site with a picture of some man with long brown hair, wearing white robes and standing in front of a cross. The man has his arms outstretched. The type on the ad says: "I Love You This Much."

Since the man looks like all the other men that people say is Jesus I can only assume that the ad is trying to tell folks that Jesus loves them. I guess that's good.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, drive to the corner of East Kings and Youree Drive and look up. The advertisement is fairly large. And I commend Broadmoor Baptist Church for exercising their right to pay to put it there and on our site.

But how do they know what Jesus looks like?

We didn't have any pictures of Jesus in my church in Nashville because my pastor said there wasn't a clear enough description of God's son to make any definite pictures.

I'm not a historian but I don't think Jesus looks like the man on the ad. And I'm not trying to pick a fight with Broadmoor Baptist but the man on the ad looks like a hippie. I don't think Jesus was a hippie at all...

I'm not one of the people that thinks Jesus is a Black man or a woman. I don't know what he looks like so how do they?

I don't know.

Just my thoughts. Please share yours.

10 comments:

Kevan Smith said...

A few years ago, there was a relatively famous "composite drawing" based on forensic anthropologist's opinions of what Jesus might have looked like:

http://jswynne.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/storyjesusheadcnn.jpg

Adam Kealoha Causey said...

Were you thinking he looks more like Jim Caviezel?

Kevan Smith said...

Oh, and I found a CNN link:

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/25/face.jesus/index.html

Ashley Northington said...

Thanks, Kevan.

I like your style. Thanks for keeping me straight. But its all just speculation. Nobody knows for certain. I just hate seeing the same hippie-ish looking portrayal. I think it's probably the most inaccurate.

Ashley Northington said...

But, another question. If most people know that Jesus doesn't look like the way he's often portrayed, why do people keep imaging him that way? I have my own reasons as to why, but why do YOU think so...

Donecia Pea said...

Hey kevan, do you have another link to those sites? I tried both of the links you provided and I don't know if it's just something wrong with my computer or what, but I couldn't pull up the page. It just kept saying the page couldn't be found.

I'm really interested in seeing their interpretation.

Kevan Smith said...

Hmm, I double checked those links.

I found them with this Google search: forensic anthropologists Jesus. That should pull up a selection of stories, including the original one in Popular Science.

Ashley, I think people like to think Jesus would look somewhat like they do. But, one interesting exception is that one only rarely sees a black Jesus picture in a home or church.

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter one bit what he looked like, it's the message that matters.

Kind of related -- I'm a Buddhist, and that big, fat smiling Buddha you see everywhere is not the historical Buddha. It's the Maitreya, a future Buddha. No one really knows what the original Buddha looked like, either.

Unknown said...

Our Lord and Saviour could have been butt a** ugly or really handsome, light or dark-dark or some shade in between, but the important thing to remember is J-man was a radical feminist.

Anonymous said...

Probably a bit more brown. It is interesting to look at the art done throughout the years to see how various artists depicted Jesus. There are some great ones I've seen in recent years of him smiling.

Anonymous said...

vegetable exceeds programmed logicjohn accurate mlanet estimated austac congratulate macroscopic demanded
lolikneri havaqatsu