Why do people portray Jesus as being fair skined if he was supposedly from the middle east?

Answer 1

Because WASPs are the ones who promote Christianity the most.

White
Anglo
Saxon
Protestants

Answer 2

Jesus throughout history, until the 1960's was portrayed with darker features. The Catholic church commissioned a painter during this time to paint Jesus as white, with blondie flowing hair and softer features. Yes, Jesus was an ISRAELITE, but the "Jews" of today are mixed with European ancestry which causes them to be lighter in complexion. But, the "Jews' which existed during the time of Jesus were darker in complexion. Jesus is a westernized God, and what would be the most likely color to choose, white. It is a form of ego centrism perpetuated by western culture.

Answer 3

Here we go again, lumping people together. I don't portray Jesus as white. He was a Jewish guy, he lived in the middle east before world travel was popular, I don't believe he was fair skinned. The bible says he had hair like lambs wool, not a typical hair type for white folks.

Back to your question, because they can.

Answer 4

Well! Jesus is from heaven, part of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. God isn't white, black, yellow or purple. The reason Jesus is portrayed as being white? Primarily, the early church in europe was segregated. Through out my life I have
seen white and black Jesus pictures, figurines and I've even seen
A statue of a female Christ. I guess the best way to answer this is to say we all want to see Jesus in our own image. When we should be willing to see him as he is.

Answer 5

Most Jews are actually olive skinned. And jesus was indeed portrayed as being light skinned due to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church throughout Europe. However, it is noteworthy that the Orthodox Churches portray him with olive skin.

Answer 6

Did you all know that the white Jesus face was modeled after Cesare Borgia who was the one of the earliest, founding Godfathers in Florence, Italy during the Reinaissance period (15th Century)?

"It has been suggested that some pictures of Jesus Christ produced around Borgia's lifetime were based on Cesare Borgia, and that this in turn has influenced images of Jesus produced since that time."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cesare_borg...

You can also find more info on that by googling it.

Answer 7

We all try to present God in our own image, in a variety of ways. I was looking through Ebony Magazine the other day, which is geared toward black culture, and there was a manger scene and everyone was black. Jesus was likely darker skinned than your average Euro, though not black.

In what ways do our thoughts about God come from making God in our own image? Is there another way?

Answer 8

Not to sound too racist, but would you convert if Jesus was portrayed by a Paki...you silly donkey dork!

Jesus was black, black and bald. They just put a white guy so as to cover the obscenity when crucified. (They say he had a huge hard-on, before the crucifixion, I mean Mary was there. *not the virgin * the w h o r e )

Answer 9

Does it really matter what color skin Jesus has?
Jesus died for the sins of the world. This includes every color skin, race, gender, whether rich or poor, healthy or cripple, Jew or Gentile. Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior.

Answer 10

It's called idolatry. God said it is sinful to worship an image which is probably why the Bible doesn't describe the physical features of Christ. We shouldn't care what Jesus looked like, but what He had to say about eternity.