Re: Why gods/goddesses sometimes skinned blue?
And to be honest, I find it equally confusing to talk to people for whom the word of god is just a book - like a fixed curriculum. Anyway, to each his own. 
- You are correct that god has no physical shape and characteristics. But in my religion, we are taught that god is everywhere and in everything. And we are asked to love and respect everything that god has created…be it a mountain or a snake or an elephant or water or air…everything basically. We believe that humans have been created along with the rest of the creations on earth and we supposed to lead a symbiotic relationship with each other.
Now why do we give these physical shapes to god when there is no actual physical shape? This is just for the purpose of co-relation and nothing else. For example, why do you have to build mosques/temples/churches when you know that you can pray anywhere? Does god really live in only these places? Are we trying to put God in a prison by building these structures and say that god cannot be anywhere else apart from these physical manmade structures? You and I both know that neither of us have such an intention. Yet, we build these physical structures and the moment we see any of these structures in front of us, by default, we are reminded of god. And this is exactly the same reason as to why we give physical shapes to god…so that we are reminded of him every time we see those pictures. A temple might be a kilometer away for me but I want god at my place 24hrsX365 days…and a picture of him as per my visualization hangs in my house. And we have different pictures of him and call him by different names so that we are reminded of him constantly and in every situation.
Most of the gods and goddesses are depicted in human shapes because we too are of a human shape. We prefer to seek god between ourselves and everywhere. We believe he is with us and lives in every one of us. We do not want to see him as something unattainable or unreachable. We want to be mentally and physically close to god and so we see god as something in our own shape. But at the same time - this is not limited to just humanoid shapes. We worship monkeys, snakes, elephants, rats, lions, tigers everything. If you notice clearly, you will see that almost every god in Hinduism is associated with an animal. Lord Ganesha is associated with a rat, Lord Shiva is associated with a single snake, Lord Vishnu with a huge snake, Goddess Saraswati with a swan, Goddess Durga with a Tiger…and so on. These pictures teach us from childhood about the symbiotic relationship that we humans are expected to share with animals. Animals have as much right to exist on this earth as much I do and I am supposed to respect their right to live along with me.
- Now coming to your second question - God has made everything in different colors, not just the skin! Different colors of flowers, leaves, seasons, shapes, fragrances, tastes, sounds, and so on. In fact, no two leaves of the same plant are 100% same. From my religious point of view, god did not want to create anything that might get monotonous for the living creatures that he created. God wanted us to live among diversity and wanted us to belong in it. How much of interest would you have in living your life if you were given the same pair of clothes, the same food, and the same entertainment every day? God wanted us to be at ease on earth and not at dis-ease.
We see life more of a philosophy, something that is constantly changing and constantly challenging. As a creature of god, I should thank and prove to god that I am making the best use of my brain that he has bestowed upon me. You must have noticed that Lord Shiva might be depicted in different forms by different artists and nobody gets killed for doing that. Now, every time I see any of Lord Shiva’s pictures irrespective of the artist who has created it - I am reminded of god and his power of creation and destruction. Do I treat the physical picture as god? No, that picture only makes me remember and realize god. But does that mean that I will disrespect or not care at all for that picture? No, because the picture reminded me of a good and pleasant experience called god. Now why should I disrespect anything that has given me pleasant memories?
The next time you make garam masala, don’t add elaichi in it and see if you still appreciate the flavor of that masala. You might continue to eat that masala but you will for sure miss the flavor of elaichi in it. The LOVELY flavor of garam masala is because of the different flavor of each of the spices in it. So you see, being different is not bad – it is the reason for variety
I don’t know how much of sense does all this make to you…yet I had to put down whatever came to my mind.