Posted by Paul Younan from proxy.emsphone.com (199.67.51.78) on Monday, December 16, 2002 at 1:39PM :
In Reply to: Tweaking Abgar posted by pancho from pool0253.cvx24-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.210.253) on Monday, December 16, 2002 at 9:35AM :
Imagine what it must have been like for the Assyrians 700 years after the fall of their empire....once a proud people who ruled the known world...only to have everything destroyed, their Priesthood slaughtered and their Temples destroyed.
By the time Meshikha came around, speaking their own language and being inclusive of all tribes and races, they were ready to accept Him and His message, Semitic and ultimately Mesopotamian in origin....
They probably heard a lot of things that reminded them of their own experience and their own pre-Christian faith.
I don't think they considered the Jews as much of outsiders as you may today....remember, this was before they went into Europe and returned blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
Can you tell the difference between a Jew and a Christian in Urmia? They look, talk and act so much alike - they are really one people.
Aren't we really one people?
The very name "Hebrew" is Aramaic and come from the root "Abar", which means "to cross over." It designates those who "crossed over" the Euphrates river.
They were just Assyrians who are on the other side of the river, that's all. Awraham, Iskhaq, Yaqub all the way down to Meshikha - they were all Chaldeans.
What's wrong with Assyrians following an Chaldean prophet?
-- Paul Younan
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