Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

Today I saw something at the front of some church on my bus route home: it was the typical Joseph-Mary-and-baby-Jesus statues thing, for Christmas, only the difference was that the three of them were shown as looking Middle Eastern. And I couldn't help but think "about damn time" - I mean, in almost every painting or statue of Jesus or Mary they look like they've lived in Western Europe all their lives. I can't help but think "Medieval people can't have been that stupid - I mean, try to tell me that not one person said 'Hang on a second, where exactly is Judea? And what do the people there look like?'" And even if no one did, what's recent history's excuse?

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"They've taken Mr Rimmer! Sir, they've taken Mr Rimmer!"
"Quick, let's get outta here before they bring him back!"

Most Europeans in medieval times were unable to travel far beyond their part of the world. The reason for not expressing Jesus (or any other religious figure of that period) as Middle-Eastern may simply be because they had never seen such a person before.

Plus, a very defining feature of Christianity is its ability for all races to be able to connect with it. That's a very big reason why Christianity grew into existence in the first place--it was a form of Judaism for the gentiles. If people in Medieval times found it easier to connect with God by depicting Jesus & Co. much like themselves, then so be it.

I have actually never seen a Middle Eastern Nativity scene before, and I do think that's quite cool.

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~*The Only Thing to Do is Jump Over the Moon*~

Its good to see that some people are depicting him correctly.

Frankly I think it has to do with the fact that people nowadays rely too much on how tradition pictured things as. or assume that He would have looked like that, oooor They are "in the closet" racists and They dont know it(maybe not the last one, but theres a chance).

*singing Tune from Southpark*Well now tom Cruise Wont Come Out of The Closet.....

i think that you cant Depict Jesus and his Family Accuratly[sic] because how he looks is always changing. by the year 2045,(if the Appocolyps hasnt happend yet...), that the Face of Jesus Will have Changed So much, that we of Today couldnt Recognize him.

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Well, have you ever seen any of these people? I agree they probably did look like you all are saying, but we don't know. Maybe they did look englishy, who knows?

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Have any of you folks ever seen any of the Greek Orthodox or Ethiopian icons? In most of them, Jesus is portrayed as dark skinned. I think you're focusing way too much on Western European iconography.

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so in otherwords, jesus was black? i could go with that...

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Jesus was not black, he was Jewish, we have Jews all around us to show us what they look like. Some have very dark skin, others have very light skin.

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Most of the Jews that live in the US have European blood in them that makes them look less Semitic. Semites tend to look like modern-day Arabs, and, let's face it, Arabs have darker skin than Europeans.

My point is that some people are complaining that modern iconography seems to portray Jesus as European looking, whereas my point was that other cultures, particularly Eastern Orthodox in nature, tend to prefer a darker skinned appearance. In other words, there Are portrayals of black Jesuses, even if they're not as predominant in the US.

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Jesus was originally Jewish.
Also, this topic is of my religion, Christianity.

Why do you do this Religion and Politics forum? Is it to torment Christians with this kind of stuff?

I dislike this part of the forum.

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No, it's not for tormenting Christians. It's about having (ideally) civil discussions of religious & political matters.

Toast paint.

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The Shroud of Turin(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_turin), bears an image believed by many to be that of Jesus. Distinct racial features are certainly present. Is this legitimate? I honestly don't know, but I think it's an interesting point to bring up in this conversation.

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~*The Only Thing to Do is Jump Over the Moon*~

Ya, that shroud thing never seemed legit to me. It seemed to much like the taco the looked like Mary, or other things like that.

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Reports vary concerning the Shroud of Turin. Some claim that the testing demonstrates that it could actually have ben Christ's burial shroud. Others, that the shroud is not more than 1500 years old. I reserve judgment myself, but have doubts about its authenticity. It doesn't really matter, though, since I do not revere the Shroud itself, but rather the One who supposedly was buried in it.

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Plus, the shroud did get caught in a fire way back...and scientists say that this could throw off the carbon dating.

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I don't know why people get so worked up over what Jesus looked like. It doesn't matter, not one bit. What's important is what he did.

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