why is it that jesus looks like an european(white) but was from the middle east. please explain why if you can

Question

all of your answers up to the 'scripture' were good. i applaud you all for being mature about my question

very good...to be honest, i never thought anyone noticed.

to phoenix; you really put effort into that didn't? the forensics model actually looked like the gas station 'nazi' around where i live!!! thats weird

Answer 1

same reason why you can sometimes see a white santa or a black santa...you want someone you can relate to.

Answer 2

Simple :You're looking at the wrong stuff .
Look at the pre -Reformation stuff . There a literally thousands of portraits of Jesus that portray a dark swarthy muscular man with curly hair
Look at how the Italian painters of the Renaissance painted him .
Go into a Greek Orthodox church and look at the icons
Historically Jesus looking like John Lennon c.1968 is a recent phenomena

Answer 3

Because the first portrait paintings of Jesus were done around the medievil times or middle ages or whatever the hell you call them and people had this look. If you go to asia the pictures of Jesus will have a slightly asian touch to them, they are just images meant to depict Jesus, not to show what he actually looked like, really he would have been alot darker and looked arab, like you said

Answer 4

The basic principle is that any given race or species with the idea of a personal god pictures that god in a form known to them. If cats had gods, they'd look like cats. If trees had gods, they'd look like trees. You get the idea...

The majority of the pictures of Jesus we have today stem from the traditional depictions of European artists. After the death of Jesus, the Christian faith spread throughout the known world, but after a while, the orthodox faiths took root in Europe. Europe was populated by Caucasians who depicted biblical figures in the forms that were most understandable to them (i.e. Jesus as Caucasian). When the church split and the various religious communities went out to settle in new places and evangelize in order to share the faith they believed in, they all had a common image of Jesus due to their own religious roots--they took the images they had with them and...that's your answer in a nut shell. Only recently have we really stopped to think about it.

Answer 5

so that the christian religion will be more appealing to whites. it is common sense that tells you that Jesus, being the KING of the Jews, SHOULD be darker skinned. But the big ol fairy tale that people havnt grown out of makes him white. That is just the way people stereo type things. I am NOT being racist here when I ask this... I am being a REALIST.... Do you think that Christianity would be as big as it is now if it had a black Jesus or a Dark skinned Jesus?

Answer 6

He didn't really look white. The light brown hair and blue eyes was created by Europeans when they drew pictures of him. Everyone thinks he kinda looks like they do I guess, same race or whatever but he actually was a Middle eastern and he looked it as far as any of the most accurate records can describe.

Answer 7

The artists who painted the paintings chose models from the area they were in, and most show Jesus as being dark haired, light eyed and light skinned because most pictures of Christ were painted in Italy, as artists from other parts of Europe painted Jesus, they chose models from around them and those features started showing up.

Answer 8

When Jesus walked on this world, He no doubt looked pretty much like all the other Jewish people who were his family.

The paintings of Jesus were painted by people who never saw him and probably just painted a picture of someone that looked more or less like them self.
.

Answer 9

But you should already know if you are God.

BTW here's what happens to people that call themselves God:

Act 12:23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

Answer 10

The europeans have the tendency to attribute that which is good to themselves and that which is bad to either the middle Easterners or to the Blacks. This happens to be one of such. Don't worry Jesus is who he is. he belongs to every race.

Answer 11

No one can very the true skin color(race) of Jesus...I'm placing my bet on Jew. Contemporary art depicts Jesus as Caucasian to appeal or to relate more to western culture.