Out with Error, In with Truth

[Van]

One of the problems we have is our acceptance of the "truths" held by our culture of origin when we came of age. Here is a link to an article about the depiction of Jesus over time.
The Long History of How Jesus Came To Resemble a White European

I expect it might not be all true, but it is certainly true in some respects. The 1940's picture of Jesus is the one I grew up believing to be what He looked like. It was not until at least my thirties that I realized Jesus would have looked more like the people living in the Middle East.

If you grew up in the South, with all those monuments to Confederate icons, tearing them down seems wrong. But we must not choose what we had believed over what is a better view. We are to be students, growing to be more like Christ, who presented us with hard truths - we are sinners and we need to change - so that we can attract others to the gospel of Christ.

Food for thought...

 

[Van]

One of the claims of the linked article was to point out what appeared to the author to be an inconsistency:

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah [Isaiah 53:2] reads that the coming savior “had no beauty or majesty,” while the Book of Psalms [Psalms 45:2]claims he was “fairer than the children of men,” the word “fair” referring to physical beauty.

However, if we judge a person, not by outward appearance, but by the content of their character, the inconsistency vanishes. Jesus may not have been physically attractive, perhaps not tall, bronzed and handsome, but certainly had charisma, as His earthy ministry demonstrated. He healed the lame, blind, and sick, and offered the kingdom of God to all who believed. The Hebrew word translated "fairer" in Psalms 45:2 does not necessarily refer to physical beauty, A person's love was termed "beautiful" and a tree was called beautiful in its greatness, because it provided homes for birds and shade for nations.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

The thesis of the article is red herring nonsense. Jews are quite adept at being “White” when needed. The images are not the problem.

Radical shifts in perception are essentially accomplished by bypassing critical thought. Education is impotent to accomplish that task; indoctrination plays the key role.

But make no mistake, the real ignorance is spiritual. None of the possible shifts in perception mentioned in the article could be accomplished without a weakened or dead church, or by misappropriating excerpts to suit a secular purpose. Imagine the surprise of some once bowed by communism first encountering God’s Word in context: “That’s what they said under communism!”