The Error of the Long-haired Jesus
One of the biggest errors Hollywood has made is in their depiction of Jesus while he was teaching here on earth. The error comes because the preachers, priests and theologians have themselves accepted a false type of Jesus that nowhere resembles the true Jesus who is described in the New Testament. The images of Jesus that Christians have in their churches, homes, Bibles, Sunday School or Sabbath School books are those which have the outward features of the chief pagan gods of the heathen world. If the apostles could come back to life and visit our churches, enter our homes, and see our movies about Jesus, they would be aghast at witnessing Jesus being portrayed like the chief gods of the heathen world.
One of the biggest errors Hollywood has made is in their depiction of Jesus while he was teaching here on earth. The error comes because the preachers, priests and theologians have themselves accepted a false type of Jesus that nowhere resembles the true Jesus who is described in the New Testament. The images of Jesus that Christians have in their churches, homes, Bibles, Sunday School or Sabbath School books are those which have the outward features of the chief pagan gods of the heathen world. If the apostles could come back to life and visit our churches, enter our homes, and see our movies about Jesus, they would be aghast at witnessing Jesus being portrayed like the chief gods of the heathen world.
In the fourth century it became common for many Gentile peoples throughout the Roman Empire (who had long worshiped pagan gods and goddesses) to begin identifying their deities of old with the newly honored Jesus, Mary, and the “twelve apostles” (plus other saints of the Old and New Testaments). One particular deity that seemed to blend together the attributes of several gods into a unified portrayal of deity was the Egyptian god “Sarapis.” This god had been famous for 600 years in Egypt and now his worship was found all over the Roman Empire. He was equated with the Greek Zeus (the chief god over all other gods) along with Asclepius (the god of healing).
Professor Everett Ferguson in his excellent work titledBackgrounds of Early Christianityshows an example that the statues of Asclepius (the pagan god of healing) were images”that imitated Zeus and that his portraiture influenced artists in depictingboth Sarapis[the Egyptian Zeus]and Christ”(p.114).
Remarkably, the pagan god Sarapis of the fourth century appeared very much like what Christians (from the time of Constantine onwards) began to depict as their “Jesus.” At that time the people began to abandon all of the early depictions of Christ made in the previous hundred years or so (which showed ‘Jesus normally as young, beardless and with hair like ordinary men—not with long flowing feminine type of hair).
Remarkably, the pagan god Sarapis of the fourth century appeared very much like what Christians (from the time of Constantine onwards) began to depict as their “Jesus.” At that time the people began to abandon all of the early depictions of Christ made in the previous hundred years or so (which showed ‘Jesus normally as young, beardless and with hair like ordinary men—not with long flowing feminine type of hair).
But now, with Constantine, the people began to want “Jesus” to appear like the pagan gods, so they selected the model of Zeus after the Egyptian rendition of Sarapis (the Egyptian Zeus) to be their new “Jesus.” What they actually did was to change the name of “Zeus” (Sarapis) into “Jesus.” The people kept on worshiping Zeus (Sarapis) but they now called him “Jesus.” Note the picture of Sarapis below.
Sarapis
Sarapis
With the time of Constantine a new type of JESUS began to be portrayed among the Christian population of the Roman Empire. They took the style of grooming which was typical of the pagan gods and adopted it as their “JESUS.” The above drawing is from a bust in the British Museum of Sarapis, the Egyptian version of Zeus (the chief of the Gentile gods). See reference Harper’sDictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, article, “Coma.”
Note what the scripture itself said in 1cor 11:14 about the long hair!
New International Version 1 cor 11:14
Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him
New International Version 1 cor 11:14
Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him
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