Why are there no real pictures of Jesus?

Answer 1

There are two reasons. Firstly, in those days there were no photographs of course (the camera wasn't invented until the 19th century) and so the only way of producing an image of someone was to hire an artist to paint it, or a sculptor to sculpt it out of stone. This was very expensive and so only rich people like kings and emperors could commission paintings or sculptures of themselves. Jesus, being poor, would not have been able to afford such a luxury. Secondly the one of the ten commandments stated that graven images were forbidden - a graven image being an image either painted or sculpted, either of a person or of what they thought God looked like. This was to avoid the temptation of worshiping the image instead of God. As Jesus was a Jew, he would have kept these commandments and so he would never have allowed such an image even if he could have afforded it.

Answer 2

AnswerThere are several possible reasons for the absence of contemporary or near-contemporary pictures of Jesus:

• Cameras had not been invented, so any pictures would have had to be produced by professional artists.
• Only the well-to-do could afford to hire artists, so Jesus and his associates would never have considered the possibility of commissioning a portrait of him.
• Mark tells us that Jesus complained of not being properly recognised in his own country, so there may have been few who really wanted to keep a likeness of Jesus.
• There is at least some reasonable doubt whether Jesus of Nazareth really existed; the Jesus whom Paul taught in the forties and fifties does not seem to have been a person who lived in the recent past.

Answer 3

Because he was a Blackman, a wild dreadlox Blackman and did not mix up with the

Aristocratic hypocrites.

so just like 90% of the Blackman history, its been stolen, adapted and recycled into what we think is a religion called Christianity. the thing is if old J.C. was born and died a Jew when did he bring this Christainity.

(Whoops)sorry for finishing with a question. (LoL)

ok

On the previous answer: That made absolutely no sense whatsoever but some answers shouldn't be erased simply because they are a monument to greatness of a sort.

Now in answer to this question:

There were no picutures of Jesus when he was alive, because he lived 2000 years ago: he lived "just a touch" before the camera was invented, and just a skosh longer before the video camera, so....sorry, no luck on any lost video footage on Jesus walking around in ancient palastine either.

So, were there somehow any photographs out there floating around of Jesus Christ, while he was alive, (hanging out with the desciples, hi-fiving Peter, or giving an elbow to a Pharisee that deserved it), due to a black hole warping the space-time continuim on Earth and mixing it all up, it seems that those photographs have been swallowed up by the sands of time and now they are not.

It is believed that he never posed for a portrait either, as portraits were not all the "rage" back then either, unless you were a Roman ruler: Caesar was worshipped as a god, and when the Roman Legion carried their Standard bearing the image of Caesar into Jerusalem, the Jews then rioted over this because it broke God's 2nd Commandment forbidding the making and worshipping of any image:

Exo 20:1-5KJV And God spake all these words, saying, (v.2) I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (v.3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (v.4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (v.5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: ......

Lev 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

Deu 4:16-18 KJV Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a the graven image,similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (v.17) The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness ofany winged fowl that flieth in the air, (v.18) The likeness of any thing that creepethon the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

They were warned that if they did they would be taken into captivity and forced to worship images of foreign gods:-

Deu 4:23-29 GNB Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol, (v.24) because the LORD your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals. (v.25) "Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in the LORD's sight, and it will make him angry. (v.26) I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very longin the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed. (v.27) The LORD will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive. (v.28) There you willserve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell. (v.29) There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

Despite this warning, they disobeyed and were taken into captivity by the Babylonians and only about 50,000 returned to Judah. Because the Jews were terrified of being taken into captivity again because of the breaking of God's Law, the Law was made rigorous, detailed, and overly-legalistic to remove any possible chance of it happening again. Because Jesus Christ was a good Jew he therefore obeyed all the Old Testament:-

Mat 5:17-20 MKJV Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. (v.18) For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle [ie "the smallest letter or stroke of a letter" :NET Bible] shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. (v.19) Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. (v.20) For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

If there had been any pictures of Jesus they would have been destroyed by zealous Jewish Christians like Paul, an ex-Pharisee. The only pictures of Jesus are in Byzantine and Medieval art using artistic licence: Sorry.

Answer 4

It was many, many centuries after the death/resurrection of Jesus before camera's were invented so there are no photo's. Possibly, perhaps, I say perhaps, sometime during Jesus' ministry someone could have drawn a portrait of Jesus, but if they did that portrait did not survive. It could be that God the Father did not want it known what His Son, Jesus looked like as we do not have a physical description of Him either in The Bible.