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Wisdom
Guest
Jesus was definitly a black man because he called everyboyd he met brother and sister and said a lot of amens.
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mjdonnelly
Guest
If the tone of his skin as represented by the Church is an issue, you have bigger problems with your values and need to take a look at yourself.
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freesoulhope
Guest
I ignorantly blamed the church for somthing i cant really blame them for, and for that im sorry. but, there are people out there that obviously lack information and are treatend by the thought, especailly black people, who’s ancestors where in slavery. ITs not really about jesus or the religion or the catholic church, its about rasism. My cosin( which is what this is all about) thinks the church is rasist. Its my job as a catholic, to make him think otherwise. Remember, people hate the church for what they think it is, not what it is. Surly the church would want to despel that ignorance from society. That doesnt mean throw away the statues that would make a person who lacks education, think that jesus was white( it doesnt matter) i dont think jesus was black, as in having"dark skin" anyway. Im was trying to tackle a lie, that i felt hadn’t been tackled enough. I was anwsering a Qeustion, so i could have the weapons and the tools to sufiently tackle the ignorance of my cosin and many other children that are growing up with this ignorance. My intension was to defend the church( i just went slightly overbored) Im not attacking, nore do i mean to. To me, seeing a white jesus, is seeing a white mans artistic prespective of jesus, not a literal one. When a black person, who doesnt understand the Catholic church see it, or somebody who is mistaking the church for a rasist church, they see the “white jesus” as a statement. A few people i know, have said to me that josepth ratzinger was a nazi, They dont understand, that people change, they just saw a weapon, or an excuse, and i felt it was my job as a Catholic and a Christian, to take that weapon away from them. I Already, sought of new the awnser to my own qeustion, I just didnt want to leave any error for doubt, on which a misinformed person, could rally up more hatred agaist the church, and teach young children who know nothing, that the church is rasist( no matter how popostrous the idea sounds.
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freesoulhope
Guest
This is where i went wrong)
why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man? this is not always the case
Im sure that if a black artist where to offer the church some art portraying a black jesus that they would not have a problem with putting it on display, so forgive me for this rude Qeustion. As i suspected, its obviously to do with the culture and how the artists who make these great works, want jesus to look like.
This is what my concern was)
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it doesnt matter to me, because for me its a matter of faith, but for him( my cosin, “who i love”), this was obviously a stumbling block, that made him think i was selling out, and that he would be a sell out. I fear that he may end up in a false church because of the “lies” that are floating about.
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I did not expect critisisim for asking for support on this matter.
The are many churches that are predominantly black that use arguments, like the “white jesus” to lead people away from the church, this is whats happening to my cusin, who used to be catholic.
why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man? this is not always the case
Im sure that if a black artist where to offer the church some art portraying a black jesus that they would not have a problem with putting it on display, so forgive me for this rude Qeustion. As i suspected, its obviously to do with the culture and how the artists who make these great works, want jesus to look like.
This is what my concern was)
( [COLOR=Red:
[QUOTE]
it doesnt matter to me, because for me its a matter of faith, but for him( my cosin, “who i love”), this was obviously a stumbling block, that made him think i was selling out, and that he would be a sell out. I fear that he may end up in a false church because of the “lies” that are floating about.
[/QUOTE]
I did not expect critisisim for asking for support on this matter.
The are many churches that are predominantly black that use arguments, like the “white jesus” to lead people away from the church, this is whats happening to my cusin, who used to be catholic.
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freesoulhope
Guest
i have know problem with the way the church wishes to act in terms it culture, my faith that the “Catholic church” is the church of christ, is in no way defined by its choice to have statues and pantings in which jesus is white. it isnt like, i became a catholic because i walked in the church one day and saw a statue of a white jesus, i have faith in jesus, some peoples minds look on the outward apperence and draw conclusions.
The first thing some young black people will asks them selves, especailly one that is a victim of racsim, is, why does jesus have to be made to look like a white person. Many people are victims of an idea, that all people that are white are inherently rasists, and this is what you need to understand. i am not attacking the church, im sure they wouldnt mind having art work that presented jesus as a black man, or would stop a child at a catholic school drawing jesus to look like a muslim.
But i think it does have to be taken in to account that this is a real problem. It really does take two to tango. I feel that i have two engage with the younger generation, especaily if its a multicultrial society, at least in london. ignorance has to be rooted out.
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Timidity
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Hence my use of the word “apocryphal”
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mercygate
Guest
I would say that the bolded clause in your sentence is itself inherently racist.
Have a look at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of LaSalette, Our Lady of Akita, and Our Lady of Da Nang. Each of these appearances of Our Lady is in the ethnic form of the people to whom she appeared.
As for Jesus being “White.” I believe you are in a position to help young Black people get past their own racism by helping them to accept a Jewish rabbi, whatever color he was, as the Son of God. It is not to the best interest of anybody to offer a counterfeit Christ. Do you know Noah Lett of EWTN? He is a Black man (former Lutheran pastor) who is an eloquent evangelist for Jesus Christ.
As I stated earlier, part of the purpose of showing Christ as one of ourselves is to help us draw closer to him. In many places we see images of a Black Jesus (and Blacks I know roll their eyes and say this is racist and immature).
We may need to image Christ as “one of us” when we are infants in the faith, but when we grow up we put away childish things and deal with the facts. The fact is, we don’t know exactly what Jesus looked like (even if we were to accept the Shroud of Turin as authentic, the image is pretty vague), and he was a Levantine Jew. He was not Norwegian, Chinese, English or Ethiopian.
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freesoulhope
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my brother, you have failed to undestand my point, the very things you pointed out, is what im trying to get across. the question was originally to find a inteligeble awnser i can give to my cuson( this is what this is about, its about riding my cuson of his ignorance) yet it seems that you have decided that i am trying critisise the church, i am not. All im trying to get acroos is that thier are people out that are afected by rasism, and thier are others who like to use that to thier advantage. for instance some churches like to say that the catholic church is evil cuase it worships statues. but you and i know that isnt true. but the people they tell this too believe them. the people that are brainwashed by the lie, this is who im trying to get to. it doesnt matter to me what colour jesus is, but it matters to them because they think that the church is false, and the fact that some parishes have a white jesus simply is an excuse for those who turn people away from the church( thier pro’s, i know becuase ive been to one, thier soul purpose is to find people like my coson and turn him away. “i” never said that white people are inherently rasist, i said that some black people who have been damage by rasism think that they are. when they look at a white jesus they see it as a white mans religion, so they turn away from it. i am not saying that the church should change thier culture to apease black people, its true that my job is to teach these people to rise above colour, but i can also understand where there coming from and why they are decieved. i was only asking for an apropiate awnser i can give to my cuson. whats wrong or rasist about that?
it doesnt matter to me what colour people are, and doesnt matter what colour jesus was, but fact of the matter is, where living in a rasist world. i wrongly cristised the church when the problem was outside, i regognise that.
it doesnt matter to me what colour people are, and doesnt matter what colour jesus was, but fact of the matter is, where living in a rasist world. i wrongly cristised the church when the problem was outside, i regognise that.
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mercygate
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I was not saying that YOU are racist, but affirming your observation that people who take issue with a “White” Jesus are using racism as an excuse for . . . what? A political assertion? Who knows?
The appropriate answer to your cousin is that playing the race card with the Lord is self-defeating. Is God White? No. Is he Black? No.
Jesus became incarnate as a human being, to draw all men to the Father. He had to be some particular kind of human being, and since “salvation is from the Jews” he came as a Jew. Duh.
It is common for people to image the Lord to be “like me.” That’s fine if it helps you draw closer to him. But point out to your cousin that insisting that Jesus be Black limits him to our idea of God.
Y’know, a LOT of White people have objected to the idea that Jesus was a Jew. Go figure. This is not a “Black” problem. The question is: Are we willing to accept Jesus Christ on his own terms, for who he IS more than what he looked like while on earth?
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freesoulhope
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nither i or my cuson was asking for jesus to be black, some people would like to think jesus was black, and want him to be, to sooth the wounds of insercurity, not heal the heart. my cuson wrongly assumed that the church was making the statement that jesus was white, not by vebal means, but by imagery. apart from that i feel you have awnserd my qeustion. i just wanted you to undestand what i was trying to get across, i felt i was misunderstood, it may be the way i worded the qeustion. thank you for your time, god bless
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mercygate
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I think you state that quite well.
If people have “wounds of insecurity” those wounds are healed in the fellowship of Christ. Have you noticed that Blacks who have deep Christian faith (whether Protestant or Catholic), are less racist than secular people? Have you noticed that Blacks who are Catholic seem to have much less racial insecurity than others? I attribute this to the comprehensive love of Jesus Christ who makes us all brothers in his love.
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thistle
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I see from your profile that you will be 25 this year. Are you a born and brought up Catholic or a convert? The reason I ask is that you seem to be sadly lacking in much knowledge about your faith and in another thread you said you felt insecure and weak in your faith.
I’m curious why it is only in the past few days you suddenly have all these questions (you have started 35 threads in 3 days which must be a world record for these forums). You don’t seem focussed on any topic in particular.
Don’t you ever talk to your local priest and ask him questions?
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JOHNYJ
Guest
Jesus was Jewish ! he would have looked like a Jew of the Time. People have a habit of making their heroes look like them.maybe its just a culture thing like, chineses Christian churches might have a Chinese jesus, but why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man? this is not always the case( and it doesnt matter if he was) but some peopel think he had darker skin, and certainly wasn’t white in the europeane sense. If it is true that he wasnt white, and if the church know this then, why do they continue this tradition? my cosin put me on the spot once, and he’s one of those people, that if give a little encouragement, and make things make sense, no matter how hard it is to believe in god in this crazy world, he will give it a go, or at least give it considerable thought. But When he told asked me about, why the catholic church had a white jesus. what could i say? for me it did not matter because i had faith, but for him, this was obviously a stumbling block, that made him think i was selling out. I fear he may end up in a false Christian church, at least this is where i think his mind is heading. do you have any thing, i could say to him?
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alekzander
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Jesus was a Jew-My buddy is Jewish and he looks more caucasion than african.Jesus had longer,darker straight hair and was probably tan but had semetic features not African features,not German features,not Scottish features. Look at the Jews in Israel today that have stayed and had kids with other Jews and Jesus would most likely have the same features.
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freesoulhope
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Are you saying that all jews are white?
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alekzander
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There is a small population of black Jews…i doubt jesus fell into this particular group.
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deb1
Guest
This thread is getting long and I haven’t read every single post. If this has been mentioned before then I am very sorry for bringing it up.
Jewish people of today are not the same race as Jewish people of Jesus’ time. The reason is that after Rome destroyed Jerusalem, the Roman soldiers enslaved the Jewish people and sold them in many far flung places. Today Jewish people have many more different races in their background then Jesus would have had. My best guess is that Jesus looked like the Palestinians that you see on the news.
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alekzander
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I don’t see any Geneology where Jesus bloodline had roots in Ethiopia.
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deb1
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My hubby is Jewish also and looks more like a caucasion then an African but this is a result of racial intermarriage.
Many of the Jews in Israel returned to their land after the Holocaust. Israel became a country again in the 1940’s.
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Timidity
Guest
A fair bit of inbreeding though! Father impregnating daughter, brother impregnating sister… I guess that could do a lot to one’s genetic make-up
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