Why is Jesus always depicted as white?

[GodisBlack]

Updates

+1 y

Have you noticed this, in the iconographies and churches of the western "white" catholic and protestant churches this is the case?

Updates

+1 y

I mean look at where Israel is located, near arab countries... surely he would have been at least brown skinned or tanned like arab

i think the roman catholic church of Europe poluted it to suit their own "white god"

and why are black people forced to believe in this crap,

[Setsu]

Probably lots of silly reasons, most of them rooted in convenience. Artists probably just felt more comfortable drawing what they knew. Visual exposure to people of different races was surely quite limited in those days. I agree, Jesus probably was brown. I see the white portraits and laugh. Ultimately, His race doesn't matter, as through Him salvation comes to every tribe and nation. He died for all of us, not just (insert random ethnicity here). ;)

[Illusive_Man]

Because Roman emperor Constantine changed the state religion to Christianity a thousand years ago and since the entire modern civilization today is basically built from the remnants of the Roman civilization and of course a bit of Byzantines.
Jesus now looks like a Roman lol

[GodisBlack]

thank you sir, you are educated sir

[Illusive_Man]

History is written by the winners.

[Illusive_Man]

i sometimes hate how cynical I am at night lol

[KhaysunDei]

Jesus was JEWISH, do you see BROWN JEWISH PEOPLE in ISRAEL?

[Luv2BRealExotic13]

@KhaysunDei
Well Jewish is a religion so techinically anyone of any hue can be Jewish. Jesus was Hebrew/Moabite his name is Yeshaw. Present day denizens of Israel are originally from the caucus mountains so they aren't indiginous people to the Middle East. And I will just put that out there that recently Israel had a beauty pageant and a black woman was crowned. So... There's obviously brown skinned people there.

[KhaysunDei]

@Luv2BRealExotic13 I have fully aware that there black jewish people, but I was trying to get a point across because this asker clearly had an agenda in mind when he asked this question.

[Peterepeat86]

Constantine did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire. (Theodosius)
White depictions are common because you live where most people are whites.
Christian countries with artwork depictions back to the earliest days of Christianity almost always portray Christ as one of them.

[Longblackveil]

You can be Jewish from any race but Jewish is also an ethnicity. Jesus was an ethnic Jew, not a convert.

He was most likely brown with curly hair similar to Africans. Jesus was able to hide in Egypt with the Egyptians without being noticed, so he most likely didn't look too different from them.

[KhaysunDei]

@longblackveil well said

[dipta]

I don't think people in South Europe (i. e. Italy, Spain, Portugal) think of themselves as "white" when compared to people in those countries. All the same, we're mixed and the same color in the Summer anyway, so I don't think it's a conspiracy as many people here seem to believe in...

[GodisBlack]

Ask anyone here, like a Spanish person themselves... they are caucasian!!!

[GodisBlack]

italians who drew jesus were caucasian, look at what caucasian actually means

[dipta]

We don't use those terms on an everyday basis, "Caucasian" is how other countries classify us.
Yes, I'm Caucasian, I know what it means... Whatever. Brown eyes, brown hair. No one said He was blond and pale skinned...
I doubt 2000 years ago people were that particular with skin tones when drawing.

[dipta]

And with most people back then working the fields and outside, I doubt they looked that much darker than us.

[mslady1993]

Good question, a God we have never seen that we have to believe by faith and not sight. How would they know? Magen they don't even know how they got here or what's going to happen to our poor evil spuls for the way we treat each other. But his white? Very false

[mslady1993]

Might*
Souls*

Typo

[Anonymous]

He's depicted as the same race as the artist rendering him usually; in mostly Black areas he's depicted as Black in the artwork. Art tends to go for making him reflect the community where the people who see it live, rather than historical accuracy

[GodisBlack]

Exactly, look at the orthodox and coptic churches in egypt and ethiopia jesus is depicted as black,
go to the greek orthodox chruch he is depcited as arab or greek

[Blondiee2014]

You made an account just to vent this one particular frustration of yours? Kinda weird.
You can't say he is black nor can others say he is white as no one knows for sure.
He could be brown or tanned as he was born over that side of the world but he was apparently also Jewish so could be white. Not that it even matters really it's just skin colour. the people that care about things that irrelevant aren't even worth listening too.

[GodisBlack]

It does matter... Because there were originally 12 lost tribes of judea acoording to the old testament and torah...

Jesus could have been arab or black, or semetic... and because the emperor of rome didn't like that, he turned god into a white man

[Blondiee2014]

@asker That is not fact. My guess steers more towards he isn't white yes but you really don't know 100% so you are coming off as silly as the racist people saying he has to be white.

[GodisBlack]

Look believe whatever your American white society tells you, wherever credit is due to the black man, the white man oppresses...

Blues music and jazz created by blacks= whiteys steal it
ancient egyptians black = depicted as white in movies
jesus was black= catholic church wants a white god

[Blondiee2014]

@asker see that is showing how deluded you are. You are just as racist as everyone else.
For one I'm British and two I don't follow a religion.

[KhaysunDei]

You make a good point. But just to be on topic, Jesus was white people he was Jewish, just look at Israeli people today (Jesus was born in present day Israel).

[cipher42]

Britain is pretty awful too when it comes to racism. And actually the Asker is pretty spot on. White people historically steal the accomplishments of black people and whitewash history. there's plenty of examples even today. If you can't see that, you're honestly the deluded one.

[Blondiee2014]

@asker I'm the deluded because he's painted an assumption in his head that I'm religious and from a certain country

And I didn't agree or disagree.

[Anonymous]

i1127.photobucket.com/.../...f.com-add-text_15.gif I"m atheist but I've always wondered the same thing LOL

[Luv2BRealExotic13]

Bc there were these people called the Holy Roman Empire, and there were no pictures of a white Jesus anywhere. So white painters like DaVinci were asked to use their families or convicts as points of reference.

[RichardTX]

This ^^^^

[Luv2BRealExotic13]

Well they were forced to believe bc of slavery. It was more of a means of survival to learn and adapt like learning the English language. I'm somewhat aware that people may use the bible as something of a self help book which is fine. However I was told the bible technically is nothing more than a tool to enslave the masses. I never really cared for reading it even though I was ironically sent to catholic school.

@RichardTX thanks.

[martyfellow]

He should be fairly dark, probably, most people were in that place back then.. much like the Palestinians today. He was pretty much a Palestinian, actually, by our modern definitions.

[GodisBlack]

Galilee is located in canaan ,

[Omar5881]

Of course Jesus isn't white he was born in Palestine in beetlahm

[GodisBlack]

and he was a prophet of allah in your religion? and considered arab, yes?

see why can't white christians get this

[Omar5881]

Yes he's the prophet of Allah in our religion and in our religion no he's not arab in our religion the only arab prophet is muhammad pbuh

[GodisBlack]

But he was jewish? i am confused

[Omar5881]

in Islam all prophets are Muslims even mosses and Jesus,

[Octavion]

The race of a biblical leader should be the most moot point in the world. God doesn't give a shit about your skin color why should you?

[KhaysunDei]

YESS

[KhaysunDei]

Good answer

[xxbebosxx]

Somewhat unrelated, but do you think Santa is not white?

[GodisBlack]

santa is a western and nordic figure, he was created loosely off saint nicholas and the nordic god odin...
Christmas is a western festival...

I'm talking about jesus and history changing his ethnicity to suit their interests to worship a ''white god"

[xxbebosxx]

The same thing can be said about "Jesus". How do you even really know he even existed in the first place when you weren't even really there to witness his miracles.

[xxbebosxx]

I'm not an Atheist by the way, I'm a Christian.

[GodisBlack]

I'm not talking about whether he existed or not, I'm talking about black people being brainwashed to worship a western god...

That's like me going to china and enslaving chinese people and force them to believe in christianity. and a white god

[cipher42]

Even if he never existed, it's still racist to whitewash him. Unlike Santa Clause, there's actual details about where Jesus was born and to whom. Considering these details, it's pretty unlikely he would have been white.

[zombiebabe]

i know what you are talking about... but according to the location he should have been described as a brown individual

[KhaysunDei]

He is Jewish and was born in present day Israel, just look at the people's skin color there...

[Peterepeat86]

I'm not Catholic but I can say with certainty that the catholics do not now, nor have they ever said god was "white".

[Anonymous]

Roman artists depicted him that way, probably at the behest of the Catholic Church.

[KhaysunDei]

Are you fcking serious? HE IS JEWISH, DO YOU FCKING SEE BROWN JEWISH PEOPLE IN ISRAEL

Excuse the language, but this is just ticked me off somehow.

[KhaysunDei]

I am Asian by the way if that alleviates some of your suspicions.

[cipher42]

Uh, yes, you do. Yeah, now a lot of them are white, but a lot of that happened after Jesus's time, when a lot of Ashkenazi Jews came to Israel due to Zionism and whatnot. Back when Jesus was around, it was probably a whole damn lot less white.

[Succcesssfulll]

So, if Jesus is a Jew and Jack Gilinsky is a Jew, does that mean Jack Gilinsky is like Jesus? X_X

[BigbuttLvr]

Because religion isn't real so the majority at the time in our history (europeans) molded it to their liking.

[skeptic007]

he was not white lol look at the area he lived plenty of sun

[Anonymous]

Would it be fair to add that he couldn't have been black because that race weren't taken seriously back then.

[ivanka]

because he was white. he was jewish, jewish are caucasians

[Ulyss]

White people in the Middle East doesn't add up

[ivanka]

what do u mean?

[GodisBlack]

Semetic people are arabs

[ivanka]

they not white..

[KhaysunDei]

This, just look at Israel today...

[Anonymous]

Because he would turn the earth into a fireball if we said he was anything other than white

[LittleSally]

I don't know... Western culture

Tradition?

[Ulyss]

He is brown

[Bards]

Because that's what sold and still sells.

[Kultegin]

Because Jews are not black ones..

[KhaysunDei]

This

[abundantlyrich]

He is 'white'. What else can he be? an inbred?

[GodisBlack]

No, see this is why black people don't want to worship your false "white god" because we were taken from africa and forced to listen to your "white jesus" when jesus came from israel, not Europe ...

That is racist, and your acting like white is the superior race?

[GodisBlack]

Nation of Islam, Black Israelites are trying to claim their "own" god, please respect that

[abundantlyrich]

Jesus is a jew so he is 'white' looking anyway. Are you telling me you know he is a black dude?

[abundantlyrich]

Jesus is a white dude. So how is that racist of me?

[abundantlyrich]

I dont have to believe what you believe... So there. Call me a Racist. :)

[GodisBlack]

No, that is because the emperor of rome adopted christianity and mixed it in with their own roman religion, And made thus jesus a white man to fit you europeans...

Jesus was not european, that is what society has forced down our necks

[abundantlyrich]

I'm not white or European.

is this worth fighting over for? arguing jesus is truly black or not?

[Luv2BRealExotic13]

I'm not religious per se but, I don't think this is what Jesus would think was a good thing to say.

[Anonymous]

Who gives a shit

[Lillianascelin]

early racism

[Kapooya]

Pure racism.