WHAT DID JESUS LOOK LIKE?
Hugh Fogelman and John
Stone
Many
Christians claim they have seen Jesus or Mary ─ in the clouds; on tree stumps,
on foods such as toast, cheese, salads, fruits; on fences; on office windows;
on flood soaked drywall; and Mormons claim seeing him in their temples. This is
actually comical because no one knows what Jesus or Mary looked like. Even more
funny is that Catholics usually see visions of Mary while Protestants only see
Jesus. Sadly, this is really pathetic because Jesus and Mary are fictitious
characters; in no way were they historical beings.
The
only images Christians have in their mind’s eye is
what artists have conjured up as to what Jesus and Mary might look like. And
this was dependent on the country and time the artist lived. Curiously, Jesus intoxicated Christians overlook
the obvious, for example the Christian bible (New Testament) says absolutely
nothing about Jesus’ appearance. Regarding Jesus:
·
Did he have long hair or short hair;
·
Was he tall or short;
·
Was his skin dark or light;
·
Was he clean shaven or did he have a beard; or
·
Was he a medium build, olive skinned guy with medium length hair and a
moustache?
Paintings of Jesus are simply artists' conceptions and nothing more.
However they have tricked the minds of many into thinking they “know” Jesus;
just as the pulpits has tricked the masses in believing that there was a Jesus
and Mary.
These
artists would never have painted Jesus looking Jewish, fat or as a midget or
dwarf in size. Who is to say that those representations could not be just as
valid? The church and artists knew that no one would follow an ugly looking
leader, so they painted him strikingly handsome – a far fetch from the
description of Isaiah 53:2 which Christians love to quote claiming it is about
Jesus:
“… he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2 King James Version)
Is it not strange that Christianity blatantly ignores this scripture that they claim is about their dead man-god and deliberately pictures him as looking good, handsome, pretty and attractive – a very striking looking man. Throughout the ages, European and American art often depicts Jesus as a light-skinned man with reddish hair and blue eyes. Conversely, African art has depicted him as having dark skin while Asian art has depicted him as having Asian eyes. Yet, Christians having their “visions” claim they saw this black haired and black beard, white skin Jesus with a rather striking face, but failed to notice if he had short hair, or long hair, or if his beard was long, short, or if it bushy? The Mormons, have even officially portrayed “their” Jesus as a blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan.
Almost
every picture shows Jesus with nicely trimmed beard and hair. Wonder who his
hair stylist was? However, this doesn’t match up with the famous Sallmon
portrait of Jesus, which shows Jesus having blonde hair and beard, and having
blue eyes. This is really strange, because history says that people
from the area of
All these
painting of Jesus are simply dubbed “artistic freedom.” Each painter sees Jesus
in a different light. One has Jesus looking like a man from
What brings a smile to my face is when Christians say they have seen Jesus, or Mary. That statement is so silly – all they are seeing is an individual artist’s version Jesus or Mary deeply embedded within their blind-faith mindset. Take a look below, which is your Jesus?
Jesus #1
is the “official” Mormon Jesus of which there is a swirl of internet hoax
whipped up about this picture. Supposedly the Mormon prophet at the time this
work was commissioned, had the artist paint and repaint until he was satisfied
that it was the “Savior's actual appearance.” Guess that “officially” rules out
a Jewish Jesus or a black Jesus ─ after all, who could question a
“prophet” ─ a Mormon “profit” at
that (pun intended). Especially since the Mormons have declared that they are
the only true church on earth. 1
That pretty much settles it doesn’t it boys and girls?
Since
Jesus was Jewish and was supposedly holy, he would have observed God’s Torah
(the only scripture in existence at that time). In doing so, he would have had payot (those long curls that hang in front of
the ears of Orthodox Jews). According to Leviticus 19:27 and
21:5 in a reference to the hair between the head and the cheeks (side locks),
it is forbidden to destroy the "corners" of the beard. But I
have never seen a Jesus with any curly side locks.
How
many pictures show Jesus observance of Torah by wearing Tzitzit
(fringes attached to the corners of garments), or a Tallit
(a shawl-like garment worn during morning services), or a Tallit
Katan (a four-cornered poncho-like garment worn under
a shirt).
Where
is any artist’s rendition of Jesus that makes him appear as he would have been
– as a Jew? Evidently the artists of the past 
did not have Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic
movie, “The Passion,” to guide them.
Gibson’s Jews had dark circles under their eyes and Judas had a hook
nose and long chin. Take a look at this picture of Jesus and Judas! Isn’t it
strange that pictures of Jesus don’t show that same Semitic features? Why not?
Some
Christian historians described Jesus as being a tall man with chestnut-colored hair, parted
in the middle, with short hair which turned up at the end. German painter L. Fahrenkrog, says, "Christ certainly never wore a beard, and His hair was beyond a doubt a closely
cut.”
Dr. Jack Hyles in a sermon at the First
Baptist Church of Hammond,
Indiana. Told his congregation;
“The plain simple truth is that during the life of Christ, short hair was the acceptable style. That
Jesus wore the conventional style of his day is proved by
the fact that Judas had to kiss him to point him out to the soldiers. Had
Jesus been somewhat different, as a long-haired freak, Judas could have
simply told the soldiers that Jesus was the one with the long hair. This, of
course, is not true, as Judas had to place a kiss on him in order to
identify him.” 3
One
possibility for a long-haired Jesus might be explained if he was a Nazarite who were generally thought to let their
hair grow long. Dr Hyles continues on to debunk this
possibility:
There is no such Scriptural evidence. Jesus was a
"Nazarene" because He was from
Also, a Nazarite could
not eat grapes or drink grape juice or eat anything
made of the vine. (Numbers 6:2-4) But the author of Luke told of Jesus drinking the Passover wine.
“For I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of
the vine, until the
Likewise a Nazarite could
not touch a dead body. Numbers 6:6,…Yet the authors of
Mark and Luke wrote Jesus touched a dead body.
Long-haired
Jesus pictures ─ very strange indeed, since even the inventor of
Christianity, Paul, said long hair was a disgrace.
Doth not even nature
itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is
a shame unto him? (1
Corinthians 11:14 KJV)
Don’t you
think it is amusing to say the least, that Paul’s declaration of “long-hair shame” never entered the minds of the
early church fathers? But, then again the early church was so busy and
overwhelmed ─ with inventing Christianity; including this book or
that; excluding 80 more; editing verses
here; and adding verses there ─ this little detail (long-haired shame)
slipped their attention. Shortly, Jesus portraits were being churned out
willy-nilly, by then it was too late to make corrections; too late to give
Jesus a haircut. So, in ignorance of their own scriptures, Christians believed
whatever they were being told and shown ─ the shameful Jesus was “in.”
If any
Christian thinks they saw Jesus, they didn’t see a Jewish Jesus. Perhaps this
is the Jesus people picture.
Figure 1: Jesus?
Figure 2: Charlie Manson
Maybe, just
maybe, these Christians who see Jesus or Mary had really seen Moses or
Sarah. Why not? Because Christians don’t
see Jews!
As I was
writing this article, I paused to watch a TV show “My Name is Earl.”4 This particular story was so appropriate because it simply sums up
everything up in a nutshell.
Earl, his brother Randy, his ex-wife Joy and another friend Charlie were
leaving a large retail story – make it Multi-Mart – when a security guard
stopped the friend and asked him to open his jacket.
Joy turned to face the friend and asked, “Charlie, you are not still
stealing are ya?”
Charlie says; No, I’m a Christian now” and opened his shirt to reveal a
tattoo of a bearded long-haired man.
Joy asks, “Who is that?”
Charlie answers, “Jesus.”
Joy exclaimed, “It looks like Willie Nelson to me.”
The church
has manipulated blind-faith sheeple for over 1,680 years ─ telling them
what and how to think. The theologians, clergy, apologists and missionaries all
want you to operate on the George Constanza rule;
"Remember Jerry, it's not a lie if you really believe it's true."
Please
think independently ─ refuse to be lead astray.
Footnotes:
1. Mormom Doctrin & Covenants; "... the only true and living
church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well
pleased..." (D&C 1:30)
2. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the
least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 17-19
KJV)
3. Pastor Jack Hyles, Pastor of First
Baptist Church,
[http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Books/Dr%20Jack%20Hyles/jesus_had_short_hair.htm
as retrieved on Feb 12, 2006 15:33:29 GMT ]
4.
"My Name Is Earl," 2006-2006, Created by Greg Garcia; Starring Jason Lee,
Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly,
Eddie Steeples and Nadine Velazquez; Shown On NBC.
© 2001-2005
All rights reserved.The content on
this page is produced by Christianity Revealed, and is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Christianity
Revealed.
If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute
it further, provided that you comply with our copyright policy and provide
proper attribution to the author and jdstone.org .