HuffPo News Flash: Mormons Don't Think Jesus was Black

NewsBusters.org ^ | Sept 10, 2012 | Matthew Philbin

[Alex Murphy]

Finding racism in ridiculous places: It isn’t just for MSNBC anymore. The Huffington Post has performed a neat trick, exercising its own religious bigotry by accusing someone else of racism. The result is a breathtakingly inane article. (The crusade to re-elect Obama has spurred his media acolytes to heroic exertions, hasn’t it?)

Writing in HuffPo on Sept. 9, Paul Harvey and Edward J. Blum broke incredible news: Mormon iconography commonly includes a statue of a white Jesus! And that white statue first appeared in Salt Lake City in 1966, “the middle of the Civil Rights movement.”

The image, called Christus, is “based upon an old Danish statue from 1821,” according to Harvey and Blum. “He became even more poignant of a symbol after 1978, the year Mormon leadership lifted its bans on people of color from the priesthood.” Poignancy must be in the eye of the beholder.

The kicker here is that Harvey and Blum claim to be exploring why Christus hasn’t caused a “cultural firestorm” the way “Jeremiah Wright’s sermons about a black Jesus killed by white Romans” did in 2008. Wright’s black Christ“nearly derailed his former parishioner Barack Obama's candidacy.”

This is laughable on two counts. First, if the Wright revelations ever posed a danger to Obama’s campaign, it had nothing to do with the media. Second, what bothered those who actually knew about Rev. Wright were statements like “God damn America,” and the one about 9-11 being “America’s chickens coming home to roost.” Wright’s radical Anti-Americanism was troubling, not his ideas about Christ’s race.

So why aren’t Americans scandalized by the LDS Jesus? Again, Messrs Harvey and Blum brought this stunning revelation: we’re used to it.“Simply put: the black Jesus of American history historically has been threatening, while white Jesus imagery, at least since about the 1830s, has been so normative and dominant that it is assumed to be accurate,” wrote the authors, and thank goodness they put it simply. A concept that complex is tough to get one’s arms around.

Let’s see. Yes, the Christ on the cross in Catholic churches is whitish. And, sure, Hollywood seems to turn to white actors when portraying the Nazarene. And Greek icons make Him look, well, Greek. He’s black in some Ethiopian Christian depictions.

Since there are no photographs or contemporary descriptions of Christ, each culture imposes its own physical ideas onto Him, and in representations He ends up looking like a member of that culture.

Salt Lake City is only about 2.5 percent African-American today. And it’s not exactly synonymous with the racial turmoil of the Civil Rights era. Chances are, a Jesus statue erected there in 1956 or 1976 would be just as white as Christus.

“Even in the age of multiculturalism and a plethora of challenges to the historic iconography of the American Jesus, the white Jesus remains the norm, unnoticed and uncontroversial,” Harvey and Blum wrote. And it raises a question: If it’s uncontroversial, why write about it, except to slime Mormons and help your guy keep his office?

[UCANSEE2]

Ah, but do Mormons believe Mohammad was black?

No, but they are pretty sure his horse is.

[UCANSEE2]

Jesus will appear what ever skin color is looking upon Him

Perfect.

[Guardian Sebastian]

I’m in shock that the HuffPo believes that Jesus was real.

[UCANSEE2]

I could not have said it any better, and completely agree.

I still think they will use the Astronomical Passage (Dec. 21) to use to announce the conversion of the West to a Socialist Republic. There will be no border problems, because their will be no border.

Democrats worldwide will vote on the new Leader of the Western Hemisphere, probably Jan 1.

Democrats are already being 'cultivated' in the Arab Spring Project. The recent assault on the Embassy in Egypt and Libya was done by Muslims/Christians/Jews. The thing they have in common is they ...were...all... self-professed DEMOCRATS and looking forward to the new GOVERNMENT NANNY concept they have been promised. Modeled after what is going on in the United States right now.

Our only hope is that Canada nukes us.

[UCANSEE2]

I’m in shock that the HuffPo believes that Jesus was real.

Well... in this one... anyway.

[Nifster]

Oh shock of shocks....neither do a whole bunch of Christian religions either. Huffpo can go pound sand

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“Mormons Don’t Think Jesus was Black.”

Well, there you go.

They’re obviously RACISTS! :-)

They probably don’t like peanut butter, either.

[UCANSEE2]

It’s ‘peanut butter and jam’.

[GeronL]

Maybe we could find someone who can write a tiny program, an applet or something. Just like a slot machine but it randomly throws together liberal enemies, buzzwords, scenarios et al.

It would just be funny.

Person (Bush, Palin, Newt) - action (starved, stomped, neglected) - innocent victim (children, gays, kittens)

or

Person (Bush, Rove, Palin) - action (tax breaks, spending cuts, etc) - beneficiary (big pharma, defense industry, Israel, the rich, )

or

well, you get the idea

[sten]

jewish people are now black?

who knew

[Cronos]

Jesus was in external looks Semitic. in color terms He wasn't black -- or white, but brown.

But in Africa He is depicted as black, in China as Oriental, in southern europe with black hair, in nordic lands as blonde. It doesn't matter.

[Elsie]

So why aren’t Americans scandalized by the LDS Jesus? Again, Messrs Harvey and Blum brought this stunning revelation: we’re used to it

I disagree.

We simply do not KNOW about it.

Much knowledge WILL be imparted between now and November 6th!

[Elsie]

...while white Jesus imagery, at least since about the 1830s...

Ya think??

1499 AD

[Elsie]

...Jesus was probably only one race...

Duh!

---

I can pretty well assume that He looked like any ordinary JEW of His time...

Isaiah 53 1:3

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

[Elsie]

Perfect.

But wrong...

---

Acts 1:11 (niv)

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky?
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

[driftless2]

Even quite a few HP posters think this a ridiculous article. A white Jesus? I’m 62, and in my life I’ve seen pictures of Jesus depicting him as either Anglo-Saxon, Greek, or somewhat Semetic-looking. Mostly Anglo-Saxon. I never gave any of them much thought. Only a race-obsessed moron would create a ruckus about it. Like people who post articles on HuffPo.

[Elsie]

Zechariah 12:10 >> "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

[Elsie]

I’m in shock that the HuffPo believes that Jesus was real.

While I shake my head in disbelief that MORMONs actually believe that JESUS appeared to Joseph Smith.

[Elsie]

Democrats are already being 'cultivated' in the Arab Spring Project.

MORMONs are highly 'cultivated' in their outreach to Muslims:

“I Will Be a Second Mohammed”

In the heat of the Missouri “Mormon War” of 1838, Joseph Smith made the following claim, “I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ”[1]

It is most interesting that a self-proclaimed Christian prophet would liken himself to Mohammed, the founder of Islam. His own comparison invites us to take a closer look as well. And when we do, we find some striking—and troubling—parallels. Consider the following.

• Mohammed and Joseph Smith both had humble beginnings. Neither had formal religious connections or upbringing, and both were relatively uneducated. Both founded new religions by creating their own scriptures. In fact, followers of both prophets claim these scriptures are miracles since their authors were the most simple and uneducated of men.[2]

• Both prophets claim of having angel visitations, and of receiving divine revelation to restore pure religion to the earth again. Mohammed was told that both Jews and Christians had long since corrupted their scriptures and religion. In like manner, Joseph Smith was told that all of Christianity had become corrupt, and that consequently the Bible itself was no longer reliable. In both cases, this corruption required a complete restoration of both scripture and religion. Nothing which preceded either prophet could be relied upon any longer. Both prophets claim they were used of God to restore eternal truths which once existed on earth, but had been lost due to human corruption.

• Both prophets created new scripture which borrowed heavily from the Bible, but with a substantially new “spin.” In his Koran, Mohammed appropriates a number of Biblical themes and characters—but he changes the complete sense of many passages, claiming to “correct” the Bible. In so doing he changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place. In like manner, Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon, much of which is plagiarized directly from the King James Bible. Interestingly, the Book of Mormon claims that this same Bible has been substantially corrupted and is therefore unreliable. In addition, Joseph Smith went so far as to actually create his own version of the Bible itself, the “Inspired Version,” in which he both adds and deletes significant portions of text, claiming he is “correcting” it. In so doing he also changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place.

• As a part of their new scriptural “spin,” both prophets saw themselves as prophesied in scripture, and both saw themselves as a continuation of a long line of Biblical prophets. Mohammed saw himself as a continuation of the ministry of Moses and Jesus. Joseph Smith saw himself as a successor to Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph and Moses. Joseph Smith actually wrote himself into his own version of the Bible—by name.

• Both prophets held up their own scripture as superior to the Bible. Mohammed claimed that the Koran was a perfect copy of the original which was in heaven. The Koran is therefore held to be absolutely perfect, far superior to the Bible and superceding it. In like manner, Joseph Smith also made the following claim. “I told the Brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book.”[3]

• Despite their claim that the Bible was corrupt, both prophets admonished their followers to adhere to its teachings. An obvious contradiction, this led to selective acceptance of some portions and wholesale rejection of others. As a result, the Bible is accepted by both groups of followers only to the extent that it agrees with their prophet’s own superior revelation.

• Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith taught that true salvation was to be found only in their respective religions. Those who would not accept their message were considered “infidels,” pagans or Gentiles. In so doing, both prophets became the enemy of genuine Christianity, and have led many people away from the Christ of the Bible.

• Both prophets encountered fierce opposition to their new religions and had to flee from town to town because of threats on their lives. Both retaliated to this opposition by forming their own militias. Both ultimately set up their own towns as model societies.

• Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith left unclear instructions about their successors. The majority of Mohammed’s followers, Sunni Muslims, believe they were to elect their new leader, whereas the minority, Shiite Muslims, look to Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, whom they consider Divinely appointed, as the rightful successor to Muhammad, and the first imam. (Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad). Similarly, the majority of Joseph Smith's followers, Mormons, believed their next prophet should have been the existing leader of their quorum of twelve apostles, whereas the minority, RLDS, believed Joseph Smith's own son should have been their next prophet. Differences on this issue, and many others, have created substantial tension between these rival groups of each prophet.

• Mohammed taught that Jesus was just another of a long line of human prophets, of which he was the last. He taught that he was superior to Christ and superceded Him. In comparison, Joseph Smith also made the following claim.

“I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him, but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.”[4] In light of these parallels, perhaps Joseph Smith's claim to be a second Mohammed unwittingly became his most genuine prophecy of all.

---

[1] Joseph Smith made this statement at the conclusion of a speech in the public square at Far West, Missouri on October 14, 1838. This particular quote is documented in Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, second edition, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), p. 230–231. Fawn Brodie’s footnote regarding this speech contains valuable information, and follows. “Except where noted, all the details of this chapter [16] are taken from the History of the [Mormon] Church. This speech, however, was not recorded there, and the report given here is based upon the accounts of seven men. See the affidavits of T.B. Marsh, Orson Hyde, George M. Hinkle, John Corrill, W.W. Phelps, Samson Avard, and Reed Peck in Correspondence, Orders, etc., pp. 57–9, 97–129. The Marsh and Hyde account, which was made on October 24, is particularly important. Part of it was reproduced in History of the [Mormon] Church, Vol. III, p. 167. See also the Peck manuscript, p. 80. Joseph himself barely mentioned the speech in his history; see Vol. III, p. 162.”

[2] John Ankerberg & John Weldon, The Facts on Islam, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1998), pp.8–9. Eric Johnson, Joseph Smith & Muhammed, (El Cajon, CA: Mormonism Research Ministry, 1998), pp. 6–7.

[3] Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.4, pp.461.

[4] Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.6, pp.408–409.

[Elsie]

Democrats are already being 'cultivated' in the Arab Spring Project.

MORMONs are highly 'cultivated' in their outreach to Muslims:

In particular, “Mormonism,” he writes, “excited my interest at an early age before all else because of the surprising analogy, extending even to the smallest details, between it and the fundamental drives, external forms, and historical development of Islam: here one might hope to discover significant clues for a proper understanding of Mohammed and his religion. … there is hardly another historical parallel as instructive as this one. … It is impossible to undertake the scholarly investigation of the one without a closer acquaintance with the other.”⁴

 

 

http://lds.org/ensign/1972/03/islam-and-mormonism-a-comparison?lang=eng