The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5
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- Saturday, January 23 2010, 20:33:06 (CET) from 12.199.144.42 - mail.shpl.org  Non-Profit Organizations -  Linux -   MozillaWebsite: Website title: |
...I just finished reading a book by Dr Asahel Grant, an American medical doctor and early missionary, written in 1838. He was only the second outsider to travel among the Nestorian tribes in Urmia and the Nineveh regions as well as Hakkary. The first, a Mr. Shultz had been murdered because he'd acted "suspiciously". This is one of the books mentioned by Dr Joseph. What is interesting is that throughout the book Dr Grant, who befriended even the Patriach Mar Shimun, there is not a SINGLE mention of the word "Assyrians" in connection with the Nestorians he met...not ONE! Dr Grant does refer to that region as "Assyria"...and to Urmia as "Media", the land of the Medes. But those are GEOGRAPHICAL names having nothing to do with the "ethnicity" or even ancestry of the people living there. In fact, he only recognizes, by name, Chaldeans....saying that they are the Nestorians who "returned to Rome"..meaning re-converted back to Catholicism. But nowhere, not once, is there any mention of the Nestorians themselves calling themselves, or even thinking of themselves, as the modern-day Assyrians. Not once. Even more fascinating is Dr Grant's theory, which he presents very well and convincingly, with evidence too, that the Nestorians were at one time Jews...the Jews who were moved there by both Tiglath-Pilesser and later Shalmanessar. There were still small Jewish tribes living in the region and both they and the Nestroaians admitted to Dr Grant that they were all at one time Jews...but that early Christianity had converted most of them...hence the peculiar hatred the Christians and Jews felt for each other. Dr Grant and others mention that many of the Nestorian chiefs and families knew this to be true and said it quite openly...as did the Jews. It makes perfect sense...and all evidence points to it. Again,,,to be born in a country where ages ago a certain tribe or people lived does not make YOU one of them! And as far as Aramaic goes, it is NOT the language of the Assyrians...but it did become the language of the Jews of Israel, that northern segment of the Jews who were heavily influenced, and for a time ruled, by the Syrians...hence the strange fact that those Jews reverted to the worship of Baal, and the golden calf, which were part of Aramean or Syriac religion and which won them the hatred of their brethren in the south, in Judah. These Jews, conquered by the ancient Assyrians, along with their Aramaic language and customs, were transplanted to the mountainous regions of the Assyrain highlands, including parts of Urmia...where they continued to pastor their flocks...down through the ages. And it was there, to fellow Jews, that the apostles and anyone else escaping the Romans, came...and first spread the Christian doctrine..which was nothing more than Judaism plus the notion that the Messiah had finally come, and it was Jesus, who had just been killed for his pains. It wasn't difficult, among the transplanted Jews, to find people willing to believe the Messiah had come...and so we have the first "converts" to Christianity. Later converts, from among non-Jews, were "found" through force...force brought on by the Romans and others. But at no time did masses of Assyrian survivors turn to Christ...not willingly anyway. They came to Christ as most did, through force and the threat of death. Their offspring however, were taught to believe otherwise...even the children of the Africans brought to slavery and Christ at the same time and through the same means. People forget, especially children who are lied to and manipulated in the name of "education". But we don't HAVE to stay children...we can grow up, read, think and learn. Which may explain why the most die-hard Assyrian nationalists remain such immature little tykes, no matter if they drive trucks or earn advanced degrees, for believing this stuff cripples a part of the rational mind....because they insist on retaining those childish tales of greatness and glory and "discovery of Jesus" they were raised on, unfortunately by the same parents they learned to love and , saddest of all, trust. But still...each of us the chance and the obligation to grow up. --------------------- |
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