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Opinions Please
by Helen Dowd I have seen many pictures from the Internet of Jesus lately, that show Him as a rather effeminate looking man -- too pretty, and I've also seen pictures of Him laughing. Now, I may be wrong, but I don't picture Jesus like this at all. Isaiah 53:3 describes Jesus this way: "He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were, our faces from Him...." To me, that doesn't sound like He was either effeminate or frivolous. It doesn't even sound like He was particularly attractive. I have not seen any Hollywood films depicting Christ--as I choose not to--so I do not have any preconceived notion of how He has been made to look, by some Hollywood star. However, I have seen many "ideas" of His looks by internet perception of Him, and I am aware how He has always been portrayed in man's drawing of Him. But in Isaiah 53, I read, in verse 2: "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him." In studying references from "Nelson's Complete Study System" NKJV, I learn that "No form or comeliness indicates that He (the Servant) did not have a majestic manner." He was rejected by His countrymen. He was not looked upon as anyone out of the ordinary. He had no natural charisma. It was not His looks that attracted the crowd to Him. It was His teachings and His miracles. In my opinion, had Jesus had a majestic manner, if He had been unusually attractive, if He had had charisma, then He would not have been the subject of controversy that He was. He would have been "idolized" as many of the Hollywood stars are these days. People would have been attracted to His looks, not His message. He would have been "loved" as are the Hollywood stars, just for His attractiveness. In further reading the passage foot notes in Nelson's Bible, I note that "Man of sorrows does not indicate that the coming One would be humourless or dour, but He knew better than anyone the havoc that sin brings into human life. Because He is a 'Man of sorrows,' He is able to comfort those who experience sorrow." So having given this some thought, my conclusion is this: Just think about it. Jesus knew every day of His life what was down the road for Him. He was human. He had the same emotions that we all have. Yes, we have happiness in our lives, and laughter, but let's face it, if we knew that in a few short days or years, we would be suffering the worst death imaginable, would we be very inclined to be frivolous? Would we feel much like laughing? I don't think so. So, although Christ was not humourless or dour, I do think He had a serious manner. This is just MY opinion. I won't mind at all if my Critics disagree. Please give me your honest thoughts on this. I am thankful to the Lord for my Christian parents who brought me up to love the Lord, and who taught me that there are no second-generation Christians, and that each person must accept Christ's gift of salvation--the shedding of His blood on Calvary. I gave my heart to the Lord at the age of eight. .... Now that I am in my retirement years, I am enjoying spending time at my computer, along side my husband of 51 years, writing poetry, story poems, stories about pets and life in general, as well as inspirational and Bible stories. My writings can be found on my website: www.occupytillicome.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |