I am sure some thought I was overreacting and just “playing the race card” when I posted HERE about the History Channel’s remake of The Bible. Those powers that be seemed to make the devil look just like President Obama, but the actor who played Jesus looked handsome and pretty much stayed true to the traditional image of Jesus.

Because you know, we all know exactly what Jesus looked like right? The people here on Fox News know:

I think Jack Wellman at Patheos.com summed it up quite well:

“Time and time again, the New Testament records that Jesus slipped away into the crowds and that the religious officials, when looking for Him, frequently couldn’t find Him?  Why was this so?  Because Jesus must have looked much like any other rabbi of the day with a robe yes, but not with the long hair that we think He wore.  There are dozens of accounts where Jesus simply slipped away and blended into the crowds:

John 5:13 “Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.” 

Luke 4:30 “but he slipped away through the crowd and left them.”

John 7:11 “The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”

John 11:56 “They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”

If Jesus had a long, white flowing robe and He had long hair, He would have been easy to spot, since historical accounts show that the Jews in Jesus’ day had short hair. He likely had a beard but so did many of the Jewish men in that day.   There is every indication that Jesus was hard to pick out of a crowd but when He wanted to be seen, He was able to make Himself visible.”

Now, I’ve had many conversations with non-Christians and fellow Christians about the importance of images, including the portrayal of Jesus as a long blond-haired effeminate white male. The common retort is, “Well, it really doesn’t matter and it’s not a big deal.” To which my response is, “If it’s not a big deal, why have I never seen any other image of Jesus in white churches, at white-church Christmas plays, or in movies/TV shows?” Even Mel Gibson, who received all types of accolades for his historically accurate portrayal of the final days of Christ’s life in the Passion Of The Christ, made sure that Jesus still had a European look, despite the fact that other biblical characters did have North African facial features (I guess we should be happy for small steps).

So if it doesn’t matter, why does is this image still being persistently used by people who claim to be champions of the truth? My point is, if it doesn’t matter, then every Christmas play, Christmas/Jesus movie, etc. should reflect the population that it’s trying to reach. The fact is, that it does not, because if you’re at a black Christmas play and they had a black-Jesus, the first thing most people would think is, “That’s not Jesus!”

Really?

Oh, and don’t get me started on so-called  Santa Claus. If you want to say that Saint Nicholas was “white”, go ahead. Just remember that Ole Saint Nick was born a Greek in the 3rd century, near the Mediterranean sea. So he likely had a skin color that was much darker than this:

So does it matter? I don’t know. It surely seems to matter to Megyn Kelly of Fox (and the others that sat there and didn’t challenge her statement). So it matters so much that people think you’re being PC and get upset if you say Jesus and that fictional character are upholding a standard of white beauty and not accurate history, then yes, it matters.

I’m just glad somebody was stupid enough to say as much on national TV.

Maybe I just have a problem. Too much Good Times when I was younger has changed my way of thinking…