Why do people portray jesus as a white guy?
I am not stupid and I am not going to say Jesus was black like some black nationalists..nor am I going to say he was East Indian or Chinese either.
He had olive/tanned skin and dark hair according to several sources and he was born in Bethlehem which is in the middle east and has a warm climate. Shouldn't he look like Palestinians, Arabs, or Persians? or at least if you portray Jesus as a European, at least portray him as a southern italian as that is closer to his real description than a white guy that looks anglo-saxon.
Update:yes i know jesus was a jew but the jews in the region were not oshkanozi jews or the russian jews we think represent typical jews..so not all jews have pale white skin. a lot of the palestinian jews in the region where jesus lived have olive/light tanned skin.
Comments
People are Raciest. Period.
Everyone wants Jesus to look like they do. Then they can point and say 'look my race is better then your race, my race is the race of Jesus'. And a lot of people don't like the idea of 'worshiping another race'. And a lot of people like to pretend that their race is the only race.
And...Jesus was Jewish....so he had the typical look of a Jewish male.
Hi - You are right about the skin tone and hair for a standard semite...but not all Hebrews were or are, of that complexion. On the other point, every civilization has a characterization which they can associate with. Realism in art is just one perspective. You have to look at the pervaisive artistic attitudes, predominant artistic expressions, of each culture and era...if all art was supposed to be realism, then what is abstract art all about? What is impressionism? What is cubism? There is no set standard for what art is supposed to be (although there have been a lot of people who considered themselves "authorities" and wanted/want to have a very narrow definition of what art portrayal is). All you will ever really be able to say for sure is, there is a possibility that Jesus had olive skin or tan skin and dark hair and eyes...but you won't know this for sure and nobody else does either, because there is no description of what he looked like that exists. One other thing - semitic people, including the arabs, are considered by anthropologists, to be caucasians. This means, Jesus was not black and he was not asian...but! There is nothing "wrong" with portraying him that way, if people find that portrayal easier to identify with him. I am fairly certain, that Jesus would not care how he was portrayed physically to the world - it was his message that he tried to get into the world, not his appearance. So if Jesus is not offended by it, why should you be?
He was given light colored skin and European features by European artists who had no idea what a Middle Eastern Jew looked like. The tradition has just been carried on over the years. There is nothing evil about it--it was just an honest mistake. If you want to paint him with dark skin, go ahead. There is nothing evil about that either.
Well, most Jewish people i've known in my life have skin that is white. Since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and it is in Israel, Jesus was Jewish. Or you could say he was Israeli. Or you could say he was Hebrew. That's what i was taught growing up, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we Christians will celebrate in 8 days, was born in Bethlehem. Joseph, who was Jewish, was of the house and lineage of King David, who was also Jewish. BUT Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Then she brought forth her son, the Son of God. It was foretold to her in a dream by the angel Gabriel, that Mary had found favor with God. Mary was a Jewish Woman, and God's chosen people were, and still are, the Jewish people.
Sooooo in my opinion, Jesus was a white guy, because he was born of a Jewish woman. Every drawing i've ever seen of Jesus shows that he's white. I know there are no bigoted reasons behind it.
Whites usually see Jesus as a European-looking guy, and some black Christians see him as an African. People always seem to create their god in their own image.
I know Jesus Christ exist, but I never saw him - nobody has in this day and age, but He is everywhere in Spirit just look at his creation and in the mirror. we don't know what color He is, as far as I know He has no color. People portray Jesus from what they read and imagine or from their own prospective. When Jesus comes back a second time, we will see him.
You realize that the philistines were white Greeks right? Also, he should have a light tan.
Why couldn't Jesus be white? I've seen loads of pale Jewish guys.
Because the White Christian Americans hate colored guys!
Anyway, he won't come back in the physical but the spiritual form.