heres a question about jesus, (not contradicting his exsistance but i have to ask)?

Question

iof jesus was born in isreal, then wouldnt he bedark skinned. i dont wanna be blasthomus against any culture and im not bieng racist but... if he is from isreal then y is he always portraited as white? i mean if he was white fair enough but wouldnt that just be odd?

can i just clarify, i never said he was black i said he would have darker skin, he should have olive type skin but in alot of paintigs hes white as in pale white. and i didnt want to preached by peopel!!! thanks to thse who did not annoyinly preach. ill find my ownway to peace thanks

Answer 1

Why so many questions about the colour of Jesus' skin?
God made all races of people and salvation is available to everyone. I don't care if Jesus was black, brown or white. What is the difference? He is still God!

Answer 2

Rita h. You're right he was more than likely to have been olive skinned.
Reasoning intelligently one could say a lot of Him. He had black curly hair more than likely and for sure He was calloused. Thick callouses on His feet, and being a worker like every other Hebrew His hands would have been deeply callused. His body would have been sinuous and well muscled. Whether He had a beard or not is not known for sure. But His face would have been deeply tanned and shown deep wrinkles from the dryness of His living condition, and the amount of sun received in His 33 years.
The arts are responsible for the image we currently hold of Him. In the early Byzantine artwork you can see that they portrayed Him with a beard because at that time they believed a beard on a man expressed power & authority.(at the same time they allways portrayed Lucifer in red robes, and only that angel was robed in red.)
As the churches history unfolded the main source of commissions for art work was by the wealthy and the church. When the church called on an artist (up until the fifthteenth century an artist was very low on the totem pole of trades) he had to represent what was dictated.
As the early church was European dominated then the powers that were, would have demanded an image they would find comfort in. For about seventeen hundred years now we have become accustumed to a caucasian image of the Lord Jesus; by the call of the client in the arts demanding a bird of the same feather so to speak.
The one's paying the ticket wanted what would have been familiar to them "caucasion" and the artist most likely being white were just as happy to comply.
It wasn't until the fifthteenth century that people started to ask more questions than wanted. Guttenburg was responsible for this start. Five hundred years later we have the written word all over the world by works of a printing press. For the last two to three hundred years more and more people have asked deep questions of the Bible and more and more we have slowly broken away from the original Roman Catholic Church with the knowledge that all is not right with the pictures the ancient fathers of this denomination had portrayed. Paintings included!
Still traditions die hard and the traditional portrayal of the Christ is still strongly amongst us. I suppose it will be until the second coming of the Christ.
Good thinking darlin,and a good question.

Answer 3

When the apostles spread the gospel to Europe, Africa and Asia. People then have different idea how Jesus look like. Remember at that time not many people travel like nowadays. So, what they know is how people look like surround them. The apostles give the discriptions about Jesus, and unfortunately, European artist such as Michael Angelo and Leonardo DaVinci were some of the artist that tried to paint/potray Jesus. And the way they potray Him off course just like other european, that's how Jesus always potray as white.
But if you go to old churches along Africa and Asia minor, you will see different pictures of Jesus. (Darker skin in Africa and more yellow skin in Asia).
But yes, Jesus was jewish, and I picture Him, had olive skin, dark hair.

Answer 4

Yes, Jesus had the olive skin of the Jews living in Israel. He is portrayed in the US as white because so many Christian religions are controlled by white men and we like to think that God or the son of God looks like us. Also, I think there is some racism - you know how white people can be - anything or anybody different can be seen as scary. It's funny, really, that we're not scared of the idea of someone raising the dead, but we are put off by the idea that his skin was dark. Sigh.

Answer 5

It was to make him a superior white and give him more authority to order and dominate over other religions.

Interestingly white colouring is obviously a figment of the imagination. The Romans who Jesus annoyed so much they put him to death, have not one single record of Jesus in the entire archive! On the other hand there were a number of other Jews at the time claiming to be the Messiah and they are all well documented!!!

But, after all, it is a faith - let Christians believe what they will.

Answer 6

No, you're right. I understand what you are saying, "why isn't Christ portrayed with darker skin, like the people who live in Israel now?"
My opinion/guess, First, Roman catholics are based from a very white society, so back in the day, to draw more members; he could have been portrayed lighter like the Europeans, otherwise many wouldn't follow a darker skinned person. Second, Christ is thought of as pure, so is the color white, so ilghter people make the more pure he is. (This is said not suggesting that those that are darker are impure, just a thought). these are just my personal thought's hope they help.

Answer 7

Jesus being portrayed as having white skin has depended on the artist painting the portrait.

Some artists have portrayed Jesus with dark skin, in certain countries in the world he has been shown as Hispanic, African, and Asia

Hope that helps

Answer 8

Jesus wasn't fair skinned. During the Apartheid regime in South Africa, I often wondered if a middle-eastern person like Jesus would have been allowed in the 'white' churches there. Jesus isn't always portrayed as white, it's just western Europe artists who have spread this idea. Given his background he must have been 'olive'-skinned. If he came back tomorrow, with his socialist ideas he'd probably be arrested as an 'Arab' terrorist.
I've just read a few of the other answers.
Whites who cannot claim to be Europeans (USA) often refer to themselves as Caucasians. The regime in Moscow refers to Caucasians as 'blacks', which is why they're throwing them out of Russia. Just a thought!

Answer 9

Any white prtrayal of jesus is probably wrong. Any artist who does this may be working from a male model who is white.

What we think Jesus looks like is not necessarily important. Following what Jesus said and did may bring benefits that have been previously unimaginable.

If you want further information, this site might interest you. Ignore it if religion is not your thing, although even at that, you might find it in some small way interesting.

Answer 10

This question has come up often. The obvious answer is that no one knows what color Jesus' skin was. Many "assume" as I do, that He was a Middle Easterner and would be the color that the inhabitants of that area were back then.
People who paint pictures of Jesus often color Him the color of their skin. In paintings done by white people Jesus is white, But of those done by black people then Jesus is black. My 'guess' is that he was brown similar to the indigenous people of Palestine today.