What color was Jesus?

[Ligurian]

What color was Jesus?

Mediterranean.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Yeshua is Jewish, but He was all of us on the cross...

 

[ozso]

This is something I remember from my childhood:

 

[Halbhh]

Hi everyone,


I’ve been hit with a trial that is extremely hard for me to overcome.NOW I make it clear,I’m not a racist person,I don’t persecute anyone of any race.I love dearly anyone of any race that is Christian,wether they are Native American,Latino,African,Arabic,Māori,Indian,southeast Asian,East Asian,Caucasian,mezoAmerican,etc.

But this is something very ashaming and very hurtful to my soul that I’m reaching out for advice for.So for some reason,I don’t think I’d love Jesus as much if he were Darker skinned(Like African dark complexion) and I’m very very ashamed to say that.I don’t have any grudges against anyone ever of African American color,and I’m very anti-slavery.I must admit I’m conservative but disdain far right and far left groups.However,many say Jesus had olive colored skin,which is totally ok with me.

Once again I’m not racist or against any race,I don’t know why it would be hard for me to love Jesus if he has(d) darker skin,once again,I’m speaking of significantly dark skin,what I’m referencing to is NOT Indian people,but a skin color dark like them,ONCE AGAIN IM NOT AGAINST ANY RACE,INCLUDING PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY OF INDIA,SRI LANKA,AND BANGLADESH,NOR ANY AFRICAN COUNTRY OR AFRICAN AMERICAN.

It’s just that I do not know why I wouldn’t love him is he has skin of that color.And it hurts me to my heart to ask for help regarding this matter,im very embarrassed to ask for help about this,and this is a struggle I’m only encountering for the first time today……


Please can you my Christian family help me with deeper understanding?

Yes. While Christ would probably have simply a typical Jewish skin tone, this isn't enough to address what you need here, since we must truly love all people of any race.

Wonderfully, Christ gave us a prayer to pray each day here: Matthew 6 NIV

Pray also for aid to do this, and then do it: go and make a new friend of the skin color that you are ambivalent about.

 

[FreeinChrist]

ADVISOR HAT

This thread is closed for staff review. ​

 

[ewq1938]

Thread has been cleaned up. Don't accuse people of racism. If you see some, just report it. Do not address it in a thread.

 

[Blaise N]

I don’t think I’d love Jesus as much if he were white skinned (like northern European white complexion), although I am ashamed to say it. But rest assured everyone, I can assure you that there is not even a smidgen of racism within me.

I would like some advice too, but please keep in mind that I am not racist when giving the advice.

Thank you.

In your words,how can I improve?

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Hi everyone,


I’ve been hit with a trial that is extremely hard for me to overcome.NOW I make it clear,I’m not a racist person,I don’t persecute anyone of any race.I love dearly anyone of any race that is Christian,wether they are Native American,Latino,African,Arabic,Māori,Indian,southeast Asian,East Asian,Caucasian,mezoAmerican,etc.

But this is something very ashaming and very hurtful to my soul that I’m reaching out for advice for.So for some reason,I don’t think I’d love Jesus as much if he were Darker skinned(Like African dark complexion) and I’m very very ashamed to say that.I don’t have any grudges against anyone ever of African American color,and I’m very anti-slavery.I must admit I’m conservative but disdain far right and far left groups.However,many say Jesus had olive colored skin,which is totally ok with me.

Once again I’m not racist or against any race,I don’t know why it would be hard for me to love Jesus if he has(d) darker skin,once again,I’m speaking of significantly dark skin,what I’m referencing to is NOT Indian people,but a skin color dark like them,ONCE AGAIN IM NOT AGAINST ANY RACE,INCLUDING PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY OF INDIA,SRI LANKA,AND BANGLADESH,NOR ANY AFRICAN COUNTRY OR AFRICAN AMERICAN.

It’s just that I do not know why I wouldn’t love him is he has skin of that color.And it hurts me to my heart to ask for help regarding this matter,im very embarrassed to ask for help about this,and this is a struggle I’m only encountering for the first time today……


Please can you my Christian family help me with deeper understanding?

I don't know....it's kind of difficult to tell what He looked like or, even more importantly, "looks like."

 

[honey badger]

when his hour came ... red ... and having been clothed with a garment having been dipped in blood. And His name is called The Word of God.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

In your words,how can I improve?

Focus more on who He is now ...

 

[trophy33]

I think his hair was blondish or reddish like of David.

Eyes - hard to say, from blue to brown, there are various variations in the area.

Skin color - from white to olive, certainly not black.

1. remember that only half of his DNA was Jewish - from mother. The other half was miraculously added, so he could look very differently from what was common. For example blue eyes would not surprise me.

2. remember that however he looked like, it was before the resurrection. Spiritual bodies are different and have no exact form (or can change it at will) so he can appear to anybody differently. To blacks as black, to whites as white. Spiritual body is a truly universal body.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Hi everyone,


I’ve been hit with a trial that is extremely hard for me to overcome.NOW I make it clear,I’m not a racist person,I don’t persecute anyone of any race.I love dearly anyone of any race that is Christian,wether they are Native American,Latino,African,Arabic,Māori,Indian,southeast Asian,East Asian,Caucasian,mezoAmerican,etc.

But this is something very ashaming and very hurtful to my soul that I’m reaching out for advice for.So for some reason,I don’t think I’d love Jesus as much if he were Darker skinned(Like African dark complexion) and I’m very very ashamed to say that.I don’t have any grudges against anyone ever of African American color,and I’m very anti-slavery.I must admit I’m conservative but disdain far right and far left groups.However,many say Jesus had olive colored skin,which is totally ok with me.

Once again I’m not racist or against any race,I don’t know why it would be hard for me to love Jesus if he has(d) darker skin,once again,I’m speaking of significantly dark skin,what I’m referencing to is NOT Indian people,but a skin color dark like them,ONCE AGAIN IM NOT AGAINST ANY RACE,INCLUDING PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY OF INDIA,SRI LANKA,AND BANGLADESH,NOR ANY AFRICAN COUNTRY OR AFRICAN AMERICAN.

It’s just that I do not know why I wouldn’t love him is he has skin of that color.And it hurts me to my heart to ask for help regarding this matter,im very embarrassed to ask for help about this,and this is a struggle I’m only encountering for the first time today……


Please can you my Christian family help me with deeper understanding?

Jesus, as a Middle-Eastern Jew who grew up as a carpenter's Son, and was Himself trained in the carpentry trade, and who when He began His public ministry spent His time walking to village to village, town to town, and in the streets would have been quite dark.

In other words Jesus was a darker-skinned brown man.

Jesus wouldn't have been "black" (i.e. sub-Saharan African), nor would Jesus have been "white" (Caucasian). So those who argue for a white Jesus or a black Jesus are both wrong (though a "black" Jesus is more reasonable than a "white" Jesus).

Here is what traditional Christian iconography from the historic and ancient Ethiopian Church looks like:

We confess that Jesus Christ is the God-Man, God made man. As such wherever the Gospel has been preached and people have believed, Christ (and also saints and biblical figures) are depicted looking like the people who are doing the depicting. So in Ethiopia, everyone is black; if you go to places in northern Europe, you'll see a whiter Jesus, because people are whiter in northern Europe.

In fact:

The beauty of this is as follows: God became man. That means human, like all of us. So regardless of whatever superficial physical differences we all have as human beings from all over the world, Jesus was one of us, "us" just being humans. As the Nicene Creed says, "For us human beings and for our salvation, He became human".

I don't know all the reasons why this is tripping you up or a struggle for you. Perhaps a helpful exercise could be to go and explore other cultures, explore the music and language and uniqueness of the various different cultures around the world. A good way to do that is by exploring traditional Christian art, liturgy, music--which cuts across national boundaries, language, time.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Blaise N]

Jesus, as a Middle-Eastern Jew who grew up as a carpenter's Son, and was Himself trained in the carpentry trade, and who when He began His public ministry spent His time walking to village to village, town to town, and in the streets would have been quite dark.

In other words Jesus was a darker-skinned brown man.

Jesus wouldn't have been "black" (i.e. sub-Saharan African), nor would Jesus have been "white" (Caucasian). So those who argue for a white Jesus or a black Jesus are both wrong (though a "black" Jesus is more reasonable than a "white" Jesus).

Here is what traditional Christian iconography from the historic and ancient Ethiopian Church looks like:

We confess that Jesus Christ is the God-Man, God made man. As such wherever the Gospel has been preached and people have believed, Christ (and also saints and biblical figures) are depicted looking like the people who are doing the depicting. So in Ethiopia, everyone is black; if you go to places in northern Europe, you'll see a whiter Jesus, because people are whiter in northern Europe.

In fact:

The beauty of this is as follows: God became man. That means human, like all of us. So regardless of whatever superficial physical differences we all have as human beings from all over the world, Jesus was one of us, "us" just being humans. As the Nicene Creed says, "For us human beings and for our salvation, He became human".

I don't know all the reasons why this is tripping you up or a struggle for you. Perhaps a helpful exercise could be to go and explore other cultures, explore the music and language and uniqueness of the various different cultures around the world. A good way to do that is by exploring traditional Christian art, liturgy, music--which cuts across national boundaries, language, time.

-CryptoLutheran

Understood,you see my friend,it probably has to do with the fact I’m awaiting my medication in the mail and it’s messing with my head.Like I said in the OP,I’m not a racist person,and I strongly oppose and hate racism.I think(this isn’t an excuse though)
It’s because it (hypothetically speaking of Christ in the flesh was significantly darker Colored) it would be hard to relate and understand Jesus if he were significantly darker because I’d fee different,like he would relate to people of darker complexion better and I’d fee different because I’m lighter complexioned and it would be harder to relate .Nonetheless people around the world have their different viewpoints of who he looks like,understandably like one said above,he isn’t meant to be worshipped in the flesh but in the spirit,therefore the flesh isn’t of any concern.

 

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