Why is Jesus portrayed as White?

[jovanovic]

Jesus was a brown man from Middle East. Why then is he portrayed as a white man worldwide? A typical picture of Jesus looks like this:

Jesus in fact looked more like this:

 

[mukk_in]

Jesus was a brown man from Middle East. Why then is he portrayed as a white man worldwide? A typical picture of Jesus looks like this:

Jesus in fact looked more like this:

Indeed. Not sure, but what He looked like doesn't matter. What matters is what He looks like now (the glorified and risen Christ). Peace in Christ.

 

[Chesterton]

Jews are generally not brown.

 

[TuxAme]

Different groups of people portray Him differently. Whites generally depict Jesus as white, Koreans generally depict Him as Korean (If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of Christ | ChurchPOP), blacks often depict Him as black, etc.

 

[redleghunter]

 

[Ken Rank]

Jesus was a brown man from Middle East. Why then is he portrayed as a white man worldwide? A typical picture of Jesus looks like this:

Jesus in fact looked more like this:

While he is middle eastern and not the white, pasty faced surfer looking dude most pictures seem to portray him as... his color truly doesn't matter at all. What matters is the heart condition... his in giving himself for us and ours as we submit to him as servant. Color simply isn't relevant.

 

[Ken Rank]

Jesus was a brown man from Middle East. Why then is he portrayed as a white man worldwide? A typical picture of Jesus looks like this:

Jesus in fact looked more like this:

Dupe

 

[Chesterton]

Not everyone in the Middle East is brown. Muhammad was white, too. Here's one of his grandsons:

 

[jovanovic]

Different groups of people portray Him differently. Whites generally depict Jesus as white, Koreans generally depict Him as Korean (If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of Christ | ChurchPOP), blacks often depict Him as black, etc.

not true. jesus is almost always pictured as white.

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

Jews are generally not brown.

and aren't actually jews

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

jesus looks like this:

 

[Chesterton]

and aren't actually jews

What?

 

[TuxAme]

not true. jesus is almost always pictured as white.

I provided an example of why this is generally (notice the terminology) not true- can you provide examples of your own?

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

What?

these Europeans have no genetic connection to the original jews but are converts to Judaism in a much later time in history.

in short, they're "jewish".

 

[TuxAme]

As an example "against" my position, the Japanese seem to be "infatuated" with whiteness- this is a result of their culture, though, so "white Jesus", if they depict Him as white, would be a result of their particular culture.

 

[jovanovic]

I provided an example of why this is generally (notice the terminology) not true- can you provide examples of your own?

google search "coptic jesus" gave me white jesus:
coptic jesus - Google Search

 

[TuxAme]

google search "coptic jesus" gave me white jesus:
coptic jesus - Google Search

I googled Japanese Jesus (won't post a link because it has some less than pleasant results thrown in with it) and got the opposite result. Your point?

 

[Hearingheart]

generalization

noun gen·er·al·iza·tion \ ˌje-nə-rə-lə-ˈzā-shən \

1 : the act of forming conclusions from a small amount of information
2 : a general statement : a conclusion based on only a small number of items or instances

I've been in homes of black people who have a black Jesus on their walls as well as Asian homes with an Asian looking Jesus. I grew up with the blue eyed surfer dude as Jesus. It's cultural. The reality is that it doesn't matter what his skin color was. It's been my experience that middle eastern Jewish people don't have "brown" skin.

 

[redleghunter]

Good piece here:

Why Jesus’ Skin Color Matters

And I think it is fine for people to ask what Jesus looked like as He too is human.

 

[Der Alte]

In the book/movie "Heaven is for Real." Colton Burpo a 4 year old boy, in Nebraska, had a near death experience [NDE], in a hospital ER, where he said he met Jesus. His father showed him the traditional pictures of Jesus but he said that is not what Jesus looks like. One day Colton's father was researching similar NDE online and found a painting by Akiane a teen age girl on the east coast. Colton saw the picture and said that's Jesus. Colton and Alkiane had never had any contact. Here is that picture.