why do westerners portray Jesus, as a blond hair,blue eyes, and light skin?

Answer 1

Because the artists portraying him were from Europe, and sanctioned by the Roman church, which was run by white guys. The idea of ol' JC being really Middle Eastern (as in swarthy, dark complected, with thick black hair) was pretty scary for those guys; I'm sure they would have said such an image was "too Jewish." I'm pretty sure even though JC was a Jew, they didn't want to worship anyone who LOOKED like a Jew.

Answer 2

Because in westerns the Hero is always a guy that stands out in a crowd. Also in most societies it is unacceptable to have a God of a different skin color than their own. Hitler believed that blond hair and blue eyes was the dominate race of the world, and actually in America we make fun of women as being dumb with these attributes. I imagine most white people that would see Jesus today would not recognize him anyways. He would probably look like a Mexican and people would think he was an illegal alien. But all the pictures of him painted during the dark ages pictured him this way also. Like they knew what he looked like?

Answer 3

I have 3 different answers for this question:

(1) It is common for artists to paint Ascended Masters with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin, even though they had dark hair, eyes & skin when they walked on Earth. This is because these beings have so much Light.

(2) I have heard that Jesus's hair was much lighter than was common among his people.

(3) Artists sometimes give their subjects qualities that they or their loved ones have. I am not familiar with the coloration of the artists that have painted Jesus.

Answer 4

I've never seen Jesus portrayed with blonde hair. I guess I've never looked closely enough at pictures to try to judge his eye and skin color. I guess it was never important to me because I know that those interpretations are up solely to the artist since no one has a true picture of Jesus. Most people use what they know as reference when they create artistically. It's not such an uncommon practice. The real question should be what does it matter what color his hair, skin or eyes were? Why are we taking our focus off of the gift of Jesus Christ which is salvation and choosing rather to focus on something as trivial as an artist's interpretation of what He might have looked like?

Answer 5

Actually, they portay Him as having brown hair, blue eyes, and light skin. But you have a good question, I think they are just painting what they think is lovely to look at or what they can best relate to, or what has been the traditional way of portraying Jesus. But Jesus, although He is God and transcends all races, was technically Jewish, so I think a nice painting/drawing of a Jewish-looking Jesus would be a very nice touch.

Answer 6

He's often portrayed that way here in Japan, where I live, as well. So don't think for a second that it's only "westerners" who do that.

I don't think it matters whether He's portrayed blond and blue-eyed, or some other way -- when thinking about Jesus, I'd rather not focus on such superficials.

I'd instead rather focus instead on who He is, and what He has meant not only in my life but for all of humanity.

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Answer 7

so tell me where you got information on what he really looked like .. where is the concrete proof of anywhere that it said how he looked..it says something about a beard but I can't ever recall anyone saying he looked this way or that or there ever being any proof..He could have been over seven feet tall and red headed. No one knows for sure. When westerners portray him they just do the best they can I don't think its their conception just a portrayal ..

Answer 8

Oh I don't know about that. Lately he looks more like a carrot muffin, slice of toast or even some stain on some carpet in Mexico, if you catch the light just right.

Answer 9

why do Asians and Africans portray Jesus as one of them?
Because no matter where you are from, people want to be included in Christ's family.

Answer 10

Because if they portrayed him according to historical information describing people of his tribe at that point in history (short thick hair, no beard and olive skin) the rednecks in the bible belt would stop going to church.