The Real face of Jesus

[devilof76]

I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he was an Arab Jew born and raised in the Levant. Short of someone having sculpted his face accurately (along the lines of Caesar or the Pharoahs---though they were notorious for having their imperfections corrected) the only way to know what he looked like exactly is to find his skull.

I don't see it happening.

 

[wofford29]

I didn't see the documentary last night. I saw one two years ago though that took the skulls of people that were of the same area/possibly same family, as well as researching every other aspect of the culture of the times, the professions, the styles, etc., and they had an artist come up with a 3D sculpture of what they believed Jesus would have resembled, not so much an exact match, but in the ball park. This is what they came up with.

I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he was an Arab Jew born and raised in the Levant. Short of someone having sculpted his face accurately (along the lines of Caesar or the Pharoahs---though they were notorious for having their imperfections corrected) the only way to know what he looked like exactly is to find his skull.

I don't see it happening.

What I posted above was from the skulls of people of his region and perhaps family.

 

[devilof76]

Yeah, but there's so much potential for variation even within the same genetic line that there's no way you could ever get anything more than the vaguest approximation.

 

[devilof76]

I think God might look like this.

Nope,nope,nope.This is him:

You're both way off.

 

[jinxx]

Jesus looks like the guy I'm currently fancying. He's jewish and a red head, too. I'm not talking about the neanderthal pic here, though. Dear lord, I'm so going to burn in hell for this!

 

[barbelith]

And yet for those of us that are interested in history, and want to know what the real man looked like - there IS an interest.

Actually, anyone interested in history knows there are no primary sources indicating Jesus even existed in the first place.

 

[Bubbles]

The story of Santa is more believable.

 

[RJMacReady16]

Someone's been watching too many History Channel specials....

 

[Shai]

Jesus was a black homosexual.Its a fact.

 

[Memnoch]

Actually, anyone interested in history knows there are no primary sources indicating Jesus even existed in the first place.

Define primary sources. As there have been items from the period recovered that allude to him.

 

[barbelith]

Define primary sources. As there have been items from the period recovered that allude to him.

How interested in history can you be if you don't know what a primary source is?

There are no contemporary records supporting the hypothesis that Jesus was a real person, this despite the Roman empire being one of the most keenly documented cultures in history and Biblical references to events that would certainly have been documented (not least being the crucifixtion). To a historian, shows like this are like wondering what Robin Hood looked like.

This isn't an attempt to start a religious debate. I'm not interested in that side of things. But the fact remains historians have no evidence Jesus existed. Global religious life would be radically different if they did!

 

[ironwez20]

and so it begins

 

[Maglor]

How interested in history can you be if you don't know what a primary source is?

There are no contemporary records supporting the hypothesis that Jesus was a real person, this despite the Roman empire being one of the most keenly documented cultures in history and Biblical references to events that would certainly have been documented (not least being the crucifixtion). To a historian, shows like this are like wondering what Robin Hood looked like.

I may not get what you mean by "contemporary" but...

What about Cornelius Tacitus? (AD 56 – AD 117)

"Christus, from whom their name is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius."
- Annals, XV, 44

Or Flavius Josephus? (37 – c. 100 AD)

"[Ananus] convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named Jesus who was called the Christ, and certain others."
- Jewish Antiquities, XX, 200 (ix,1)

This isn't an attempt to start a religious debate. I'm not interested in that side of things. But the fact remains historians have no evidence Jesus existed. Global religious life would be radically different if they did!

Why do you think that?

If they could prove to you to a satisfying extent that he did exist, that doesn't mean that all of a sudden people would start believing he was the son of God.

 

[shocktrooper_au]

1. I don't get why they have been looking bones of a man who rised after death and ascended to heaven anyway?
2. I thought the worlds religious course already radically shifted aprox 2000 years ago at least in the west
3. Scholars mystify me anyway, I was watching a doco the other day on the book of Judas & if it was real, one of the arguments for it being fake was that the book suddenly ends when Judas died & didn't tell the story of resurrection. How was Judas supposed to write or know of this if he was dead

 

[Maglor]

1. I don't get why they have been looking bones of a man who rised after death and ascended to heaven anyway?

Well, one would have to believe that he had been resurrected and risen...

 

[ProgMatinee]

This isn't an attempt to start a religious debate. I'm not interested in that side of things. But the fact remains historians have no evidence Jesus existed. Global religious life would be radically different if they did!

1)you know you're trying to start a anti-religtious debate, don't deny it...

2)what does "global religious life would be different if he did" mean?

If Jesus didn't exist you'd think religions such as Judaism and Islam would have had something to say about the matter and from what I've heard my entire life is that both religions accept that he was at the very least a real historical person.

There is little proof because frankly a small place like Bethlehem, Nazareth or Jerusalem weren't exactly high on the list of places for the Roman's (who I guess you're considering as authenticators) to be recording historical events at that precise moment. How many historical records dated at that time exist at all? Very few.

Its not like anybody in Roman authority expected anything remarkable to happen in these small towns that they mostly considered nuisances.

So the events fell to normal people to record. And most people at that time were illiterate and didn't have means to write it down anyway. So they did it verbally.

100 years later the events were written down. 100 years is nothing in the context where the people were known to verbally record history for centuries. 100 years of verbal recollection is the equivalent of 2 months to us that aren't used to verbal story telling.

Anyway, point being, if Jesus wasn't real I'm betting the Jews and Muslims would to this day be fronting the argument that he never existed...which they aren't presuming at all.

 

[siquisiri]

In the late first centruy AD, the historian Josephus mentions Jesus in his work "The Antiquities of the Jews"...

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day"

Its also interesting to note that Josephus wrote about Jesus at a time when Chrisitanity is emerging and was still in a formulative period.

 

[barbelith]

I may not get what you mean by "contemporary" but...

Neither of the men you quote were alive in Jesus' time.

Why do you think that?

If they could prove to you to a satisfying extent that he did exist, that doesn't mean that all of a sudden people would start believing he was the son of God.

I know. But I think a lot of people gloss over things like logic.

 

[Voorhees27]

Of course Jesus existed, of course God is real but "proving" it on a Toy Board is absurd imo.

 

[barbelith]

1)you know you're trying to start a anti-religtious debate, don't deny it

I didn't say anything about religion. The simple fact is there are no primary sources indicating Jesus existed, and in fact the contemporary records create some pretty strong arguments to the contrary. What - no mention in the Roman bureaucracy despite attracting the attention of Pilate and the criminal execution? Claims only originating decades after his death, and by a cult notorious for retcons (hello Nicea)?

These are not religious claims, they are historical. And by historical standards, Jesus did not exist.