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Could Jesus be black?
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:47 pm
by Poetic_Soul
There is a movie coming out called the Color of the Cross. It portrays Jesus as being a black jew. What is your take on this?
http://www.colorofthecross.com/video.html
Re: Could Jesus be black?
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:10 pm
by ryo dokomi
well, he wasnt white thats for sure. and no, because he was a dark, tanned skinned jew from the middle east. he was a middle eastern man. look at one from iraq or something, that is most likely what he looked like.
Re: Could Jesus be black?
Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:10 am
by Canuckster1127
Jesus was a Jew and further was of the lineage of David and traced back on both Mary's and Joseph's geneologies (which is why the geneologies of Matthew and Luke differ by the way. Joseph was not Jesus' physical father however so the only one that matters in this regard is Mary's)
The color of His skin doesn't really matter. He certainly wasn't white.
I suspect physically he was consistent with the average jew of those times and in that location.
Those who try and present him as black, (Or even white for that matter, which is completely ridiculous) usually have an agenda outside the historical truth and are trying to make a statement or generate comfort to themselves in thinking they are special in that regard.
There's no credibility to any claim to Jesus skin color other than that he was (is) Jewish, Middle Eastern and can be expected to fall within the typical ranges of skin tone of those days, which could be considerably darker than what we typically imagine, but not black in the sense of African skin tone as we would commonly understand it.
That's my opinion and what I base it on.
Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 9:57 am
by Poetic_Soul
It's funny how years past, history took for granted the Christ was white. Through pictures, paintings and even in hollywood, he is portrayed to be white. No one refuted this portrayal until now. If you ever notice how the History channel has changed this concept? The people of that time was of darker complexion. Am I saying that he is african? No. I am just pointing out the fact that Jesus was dark skinned. Which, mind you, leads me to believe that he has a trace of african decent in him. As we all do to some extent. Hell, science has traced Adam and Eve to Africa.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/occultic/hebrew.html
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGdna.htm
Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 10:04 am
by Byblos
Poetic_Soul wrote:It's funny how years past, history took for granted the Christ was white. Through pictures, paintings and even in hollywood, he is portrayed to be white. No one refuted this portrayal until now. If you ever notice how the History channel has changed this concept? The people of that time was of darker complexion. Am I saying that he is african? No. I am just pointing out the fact that Jesus was dark skinned. Which, mind you, leads me to believe that he has a trace of african decent in him. As we all do to some extent. Hell, science has traced Adam and Eve to Africa.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/occultic/hebrew.html
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGdna.htm
You know there are people from the Middle East that have a fair skin (not white, but very fair, olive skin, but not dark either).
Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 10:10 am
by Canuckster1127
Byblos wrote:Poetic_Soul wrote:It's funny how years past, history took for granted the Christ was white. Through pictures, paintings and even in hollywood, he is portrayed to be white. No one refuted this portrayal until now. If you ever notice how the History channel has changed this concept? The people of that time was of darker complexion. Am I saying that he is african? No. I am just pointing out the fact that Jesus was dark skinned. Which, mind you, leads me to believe that he has a trace of african decent in him. As we all do to some extent. Hell, science has traced Adam and Eve to Africa.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/occultic/hebrew.html
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGdna.htm
You know there are people from the Middle East that have a fair skin (not white, but very fair, olive skin, but not dark either).
That is true, but I think Poetic Soul has a fair point.
There is no question that culturally in the west, we have a tendency to project our own characteristics back onto Christ in terms of our astistic renderings of Him and contained within that action there is a subtle or not so subtle form of racism at worst, or insensitivity at best that has been used to build up our own sense of cultural esteem at the expense of others.
That having been said, I think the answer is to recognize that and correct it by striving for historical accuracy rather than seeking to balance it by doing it in another direction.
Maybe I'm adding elements here not necessarily intended by Poetic Soul, but that is the sense that I get.
Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 11:32 am
by Poetic_Soul
Canuckster1127 wrote:Byblos wrote:Poetic_Soul wrote:It's funny how years past, history took for granted the Christ was white. Through pictures, paintings and even in hollywood, he is portrayed to be white. No one refuted this portrayal until now. If you ever notice how the History channel has changed this concept? The people of that time was of darker complexion. Am I saying that he is african? No. I am just pointing out the fact that Jesus was dark skinned. Which, mind you, leads me to believe that he has a trace of african decent in him. As we all do to some extent. Hell, science has traced Adam and Eve to Africa.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/occultic/hebrew.html
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGdna.htm
You know there are people from the Middle East that have a fair skin (not white, but very fair, olive skin, but not dark either).
That is true, but I think Poetic Soul has a fair point.
There is no question that culturally in the west, we have a tendency to project our own characteristics back onto Christ in terms of our astistic renderings of Him and contained within that action there is a subtle or not so subtle form of racism at worst, or insensitivity at best that has been used to build up our own sense of cultural esteem at the expense of others.
That having been said, I think the answer is to recognize that and correct it by striving for historical accuracy rather than seeking to balance it by doing it in another direction.
Maybe I'm adding elements here not necessarily intended by Poetic Soul, but that is the sense that I get.
Right on point....you took the words right out of my mouth. Does it matter what color Christ was? Of course not. The main concern is that somebody;black, white or green, died on that cross and took my place.