pukeutumisnormit ja ulkonäkö

>>Jos joku väittää, että Jeesuksella ei ollut partaa sanoisin, että hän valehtelee.

Inokkaimmat jehovantodistajat toistavat jatkuvasti toisesta suupielestään, että Jehova ohjaa Vartiotorniseuraa ja kuinka ymmärrys Raamatun sisältämästä sanomasta kirkastuu jatkuvasti. Onneksi ihmisellä on kaksi suupieltä, koska sitten kun joku osoittaa tuon ymmärryskehityksen nurinkurisuuksia, niin toisesta suupielestä on helppo päästää ilmoille epätäydellisyyskortti.

Tässä eräs esimerkki siitä kuinka ymmärrys Raamatun sisällöstä on kirkastunut Vartiotorniseuralle. Englanninkieliset lainaukset ovat vuoden 1968 lukijain kysäristä:

“Biblical evidence is the most reliable testimony to be found on this question, and a recent careful review of what it says indicates that Jesus did indeed have a beard.”

Eli Vartiotorniseura oli muka vasta 1968 nurkalla tutkinut Raamattua riittävän tarkasti havaitakseen, että lakiliiton alaisuudessa olleen Jeesuksen tuli noudattaa lakiliiton vaatimusta parran ja hiusten suhteen. Vartiotorniseuran alkutaipaleella Jeesus ymmärrettiin parrakkaana ja pitkätukkana, mutta ilmeisesti Rutherfordin partakiellon johdosta Jeesukseltakin vietiin lopulta parta. Lapsuuteni Vartiotorniseuran julkaisuissa Jeesus oli lyhyttukkainen ja parraton.

Mihin, omien sanojensa mukaan Raamattua ehdottomana auktoritettinaan pitävä Vartiotorniseura perusti parrattoman Jeesuksen? Vartiotorniseura tukeutui arkeologiseen löytöön ja kumosi sillä aikaisemman raamatuntulkintansa:

“It is appropriate, however, to give consideration to arguments advanced to the effect that Jesus was beardless. This idea has been largely based on theories built up by certain archaeologists with regard to the so-called “Chalice of Antioch.” This is a large silver beaker or cup within a silver framework shell of vines and figures of men. On one side of the cup is a boy, with five men facing him, and on the other side a young but more mature man, beardless, with five others facing him. All appear to be seated. The cup, supposedly found by some natives in Antioch of Syria, was acclaimed as being of the second half of the first century C.E., and therefore the earliest pictorial representation of Christ.”

Vartiotorniseuran ”partatotuus” kirkastui kirkastumistaan kun asiaa tutkittiin aikaisempaa tarkkuutta tarkemmin:

“However, an analysis of the facts now makes it evident that the figures on the cup have been identified according to the imagination of the individuals interpreting them. The boy is considered to be Jesus at the age of twelve and the other central figure is said to be Jesus, possibly after his resurrection, or, again, it may be John the Baptist. The other ten figures have been interpreted variously to be ten of the apostles; or the apostles and evangelists; or, on one side the four evangelists with James the son of Zebedee, and on the other side Peter, Saul, James, Jude and Andrew.
There are serious objections made by many archaeologists to these identifications. Really it has been guesswork, and it is impossible to say what is represented by the figures. Some even doubt the authenticity of the cup, believing that it may be a forgery. Most, however, acknowledge it as an authentic discovery but give it a much later date, from the fourth to the sixth century. So it is very doubtful that the cup is an early representation of Christ, if, indeed, it was intended to portray Christ at all.—See The Biblical Archaeologist, December 1941 and February 1942.

Bearing directly on the question is the fact that the early Christian writers, Justin Martyr, Origen, Clement of Alexandria and others, clearly indicate that no satisfactory record of the physical likeness of Jesus and the apostles existed in their time. Augustine, writing about 400 C.E. (De Trinitate, VIII, 4), said that each man had his own idea of Christ’s appearance, and the concepts were infinite.

Evidence from the Roman catacombs has been adduced to bear on the subject. In catacombs thought by some to date from the second century C.E., but by others as no earlier than the third century, pictures have been found. The unusually extensive catacomb called the Catacomb of Priscilla contains wall pictures, one of which is thought to portray the resurrection of Lazarus. It is almost obliterated and is very difficult to make out, but in the center there is a figure that has been taken to be Christ, depicted as a young beardless man. But in the catacombs apocryphal and false religious ideas are also plentifully represented. For example, in the Catacomb of Priscilla, and of about the same date, is a scene of the apocryphal Story of Susanna. A ceiling painting dated a little later contains a Madonna with child, with a star above her head. In the Crypts of Lucina a ceiling painting dated as the middle of the second century includes a little winged person, known as Erotes or Amoretti, which, on pagan tombs, represented departed souls. Therefore, it has become evident to us that the catacomb representations of Jesus are seriously questionable as to authenticity.

It is true that, beginning with the fourth century, the majority of pictures show Christ and his apostles with beards, having emaciated, sad, weak and effeminate “monastic” countenances, usually with a pagan nimbus or halo. These are surely no true representations of the man Jesus Christ, of whom Pontius Pilate said: “Look! The man!” or of him who overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple, and drove their cattle out, neither of the apostles, who vigorously preached God’s Word until it spread over all the Roman Empire. (John 19:1, 5; 2:14-17) No, these were strong, active and happy men, servants of the happy God Jehovah. (1 Tim. 1:11; 6:14, 15; Acts 20:35) The dreary religious pictures are products of the apostasy, which by the fourth century was in full bloom, pagan Emperor Constantine making a fusion of apostate Christianity with pagan religion the State religion.”

Näin monisanaisesti Vartiotorniseura perusteli aikaisemman, Raamatun kannan syrjäyttäneen, kantansa hylkäämisen. Palaten näin alkuperäiseen, Raamatulla perusteltuun kantaansa Jeesuksen parrasta. Siis näkemykseen Jehovan luomasta mekanismista, jossa lähinnä miehille kasvaa sarveiskamaa pärstästä, jopa pari päivää kuoleman jälkeen. Mutta ei hätää, kyseessä ei ollut oppi- tai näkemysmuutos – niitähän ei juurikaan esiinny – kyseessä oli ainoastaan harmonisointi:

”Nevertheless, as already shown, it is apparent that Jesus did wear a beard, and so artistic representations of him in future Watch Tower publications will harmonize with the Scriptural evidence to that effect.”

Sitten lukijainkysäri huomaakin huomauttaa, että parrattomuus ei ollut ennenkuulumatonta, koska roomalaiset olivat parrattomia. Kerrankos sitä erehtyy kun kippoon tuijottaa:

“Doubtless the early Christians followed the custom of the time and locality in which they lived, with regard to the wearing of a beard. The Roman custom was beardlessness. Romans converted to Christianity would very likely continue in the Roman custom, while converts from the Jewish community would continue in the Jewish custom of wearing a beard.”

Sitten tulemmekin nykypäivään ja Jeesuksen malli ei kelpaa, vaikka niin moni muu VT:n aikuinen säädös kelpaakin tueksi nykynäkemyksille:

“Today Christian ministers, like the early Christians, are concerned with neatness and cleanness, but they strive to dress inconspicuously, so that their appearance does not in any way detract from the dignity or the effectiveness of the message they bear. (2 Cor. 6:3, 4) In recent years in many lands a beard or long hair on a man attracts immediate notice and may, in the minds of the majority, classify such a person undesirably with extremists or as rebels against society. God’s ministers want to avoid making any impression that would take attention away from their ministry or hinder anyone from listening to the truth. They know that people are watching true Christians very critically and that to a great extent they judge the entire congregation and the good news by the minister’s appearance as a representative of the congregation.”

Ja sitten loppuhuipentuma – mahdollinen parran salliminen:

“In paradise restored on earth it would not be out of order if men returned to wearing beards, in perfect fashion, like Adam in Eden.” (w68 May 1 pp. 286-288)

Näin jehovantodistajille olisi mahdollisesti lupa antaa jehovan luoman parran kasvaa. Kuka tahansa suomalainenkin jehovantodistaja voi repiä – Rovaniemen itäistä serurakuntaa myöten – esille esimerkkejä parrakkaista tai viiksekkäistä jehovantodistajista. He ovatkin yleensä seurakunnan hengellisen ravintoketjun huipulla ja näin arkisen arvostelun ulottumattomissa. Rivijulistajan parranhaiven on huomattavasti helpommin merkki hengellisyyden puutteesta. Näin se oli jo puoli vuosisataa sitten.

usean kerran dokumenttiohjelma, jossa eri alojen tutkijat rakensivat tietokoneanimaatioilla noin -2000- v sitten eläneiden miespuolisten henkilöiden pääkalloista silloin eläneen työmiehen pään muodoista miehen kuvan jeesuksen ajan mukaan , siis miltä tavallinen mies näytti hänen aikanaan. ja kyllä hän oli sitten ihan erilainen kuin nämä uskonnon keskiajalla tehdyt piirrokset englantilaisesta aatelismiehestä, luultavasti richard 2;n kuvia.
jeshuan perheesä isä joosef oli "hurskas," siis farisealaisen lahkon edustaja, heillä oli parta, ja työmiehillä se oli lyhyt. mutta kovasti oli jeshuan ajan mies erilaisen näk. kuin nämä lännen klisee- jeesuskuvat-ja -vaatimukset.
ja taisi puheetkin olla erilaiset, kansa sanoi, että "hän ei puhunut kuin kirjanoppineet, vaan kuin se jolla on valta,"