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Jesus was not white, but black or Arabian.
in Religion
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And asking if someone believes in God in this day and age, via a question posed on the internet, is a (question) looking to get trounced on by those individuals who aren't religious.
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Also, why does the color of his skin matter?
Blues and Raptors handed two very toxic teams embarrassing losses, 95% of the sports world is rejoicing in the news
Repealing the Second Amendment is the first step to Totalitarianism, and it needs to be prevented to protect our freedom
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/
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The writers of the bible definitely knew about other races, considering the writers themselves were not white but of middle eastern decent considering that the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were all written around 1,000 B.C. by Moses and his followers who were born in what we can best tell is the delta to the east of the Nile which is present day Egypt. There was also a good amount of trade and travel taking place during this time period around the Mediterranean, so exposure to different cultures and races was common place and to be expected. Also we can infer that Jesus was not white because the white skin tone is unique to people in more northern regions of the world and considering that Jesus was born in Bethlehem which is smack dab in the middle of present day Israel, the chances of Jesus being white are low enough to be considered not possible at all. Also his skin color should not matter in the slightest, what does matter is people attempting to argue that Jesus was white to fit their narrative. This falsification of history and of fact is something we should not abide by because it creates an extremely dangerous precedent.
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Hm. Well okay then
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Here are some facts about the ancient Middle East:
- White people DID live in the Middle East (yes, this must be hard to imagine for those who believe that multiculturalism is only a recent invention)
- People of different races travelled to other countries just as much if not more than they do today (easy to do when border security was next to nonexistent)
- Many Europeans actually saw the Middle East and North Africa as a more desirable place to live than mainland Europe, due to the politics raging in Europe at the time (remember Socrates?)
Most Greek philosophers and mathematicians did not reside in modern-day Greece, but in Egypt, specifically, Alexandria. They settled there because they saw it as a safe haven to be able to criticise their leaders from afar without the fear of repercussions. Many of these Greeks were also wealthy, and they saw the idea of living in a foreign super power country like Ancient Egypt to be an upgrade from living in their native land.This type of attitude is no different than modern celebrities and politicians who may choose to reside for long periods of time in the Caribbean or some other exotic country, as opposed to living in the country of their birth.
After Alexander the Great invaded the Middle East, the population of white people really began to pick off. Over 40,000 Greeks are believed to have married Persian women in the first decade alone, as Alexander the Great (who died in 323 BC) encouraged his men to intermix with Middle Eastern women as a way to gain favour with the former Persians so that Darius III and his descendants would never again be able to politically threaten Alexander nor his successors.
Even after Alexander's demise, the presence of White people in the Middle East did not cease. A century and a half before Alexander the Great, there were Europeans living in mainland Iraq and Jordan, likely as a result of the Trojan War. They were expelled from the Middle East shortly before the Persians attempted the 490 BC invasion of Greece resulting in the Battle of the Marathon.
When Alexander gave the former Kingdom of Egypt to his general, Ptolemy I Soter, the new Ptolemaic Dynasty encouraged a far more European way of life within Ancient Egypt than had previously been the case. For example, polygamy among pharaohs became increasingly discouraged, and the pharaohs of the final Egyptian dynasty spoke Latin and Greek as opposed to Coptic.
Quite ironically, Cleopatra VII, who was effectively the last ruler of Ancient Egypt, was also the first ruler of the dynasty to have been taught Coptic, in addition to learning the other ancient European languages of her forefathers.
In the decades leading up to the birth of Jesus, the Romans were also claiming a stake in North Africa and the Middle East. Roman soldiers were known to have sexual intercourse with foreigners. This became especially true in the aftermath of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, when a new law was passed which prohibited Roman soldiers from marrying. (Roman soldiers would not be allowed to marry again until the law was abolished in 195 AD under Septimius Severus, nearly two centuries later.)
Similar to how Europeans became increasingly present in the Middle East and North Africa in the centuries leading up to the birth of Christ, the reverse was also true in that many foreigners from as far away as China were visiting and settling within mainland Europe. Quite astoundingly, Cleopatra VII was actually visiting Rome on the very night that Julius Caesar was unexpectedly assassinated in 44 BC.
Now, am I saying that Jesus was white as a historical fact?
No.
What I am saying is that there is a lot of evidence to show that white people were not that unusual during this period, and that Jesus could have been literally any colour. Family Guy even referenced Jesus as Chinese in one episode, just to show the absurdity of debating Jesus's looks.
The truth of the matter is that we simply don't know what Jesus looked like.
But to claim that Jesus was an Arab as though it were an undisputed fact by merely relying on geography indicates the ignorance of the reader when it comes to history.
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Blues and Raptors handed two very toxic teams embarrassing losses, 95% of the sports world is rejoicing in the news
Repealing the Second Amendment is the first step to Totalitarianism, and it needs to be prevented to protect our freedom
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/
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You're entire argument is off because of one simple misunderstanding, being Greek is not the same thing as being white. I suggest you look up the skin tone of people from the region, its pretty clear they are not white nor where they white in the past. Also Socrates was killed by Athens in the year 399 BC, so why are you bringing him up considering he was long dead by the time Jesus was born? And also Socrates didn't flee anything, that why he ended being killed, might I suggest giving The Apology by Plato a read. Also Alexander the Great had two Greek parents so he was also not white so your argument is mute. Jesus's own mother was born in Galilee which again is in modern day Israel. I would also suggest reading the description given of Jesus and his mother, they were described as having a brown complexion by several different sources including Muslim and Jewish scholars at the time. Look, the skin tone of Jesus should not matter in the slightest, but arguing that he was white or that there is a fair chance that he was white, is just incorrect and does history a disservice. Also you'll see that nowhere in my original post did I argue that Jesus was without a doubt Arab, we don't know for sure, but we can make educational guesses based on the history, geography, and writings from the time, which all point to Jesus not being white.
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Historically speaking, humans have always been a mobile species. It is only very recently in our history (think of around the time of Jesus's birth) that humans started to settle in more permanent areas, thanks largely to the invention of farming and industrial iron. In fact, Caucasian human skeletal remains have been found as far away as Eastern Europe (blue eyes and all) with some anthropologists now suggesting that white people may have been living in central Asia long before modern Asian people did.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/ancient-face-cheddar-man-reconstructed-dna-spd/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/05/22/europe-birthplace-mankind-not-africa-scientists-find/
While Eastern Asia may not be the same as the Middle East, the scenario is the same thing. Humans have always travelled about, and using your perception of skin tone to declare an entire nationality does not make your claim regarding Jesus's physical appearance any more credible.
This would be the equivalent of us living in the future where cameras in the twenty-first century have yet to exist, and someone were to argue that a famous Muslim living in England could not have been Arab-looking, because English people are white. Your best rebuttal would be to state that immigration to Europe was common in our days. And while that may be true, immigration was just as common 2,000 years ago as it is today.
As far as Socrates is concerned, the point is quite relevant, as it shows that even four centuries before Jesus himself would be put to death, there were Europeans settling in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Most wealthy Greeks during Socrates's days who chose to live abroad, moved to Alexandria. After Alexander the Great's conquest, many Greeks and other Europeans (many of whom did not even reside within the modern-day boundaries of contemporary Greece) would have taken the opportunity to move to the now annexed Persian Empire, because Alexander the Great and his successors had a vested interest in colonising the Middle East and Africa in order to subdue the Middle Eastern population in a more benevolent sense of the word.
For four CENTURIES (and this was already happening to a lesser extent long before Socrates and Alexander the Great) Europeans were choosing the Middle East and North Africa as their new home, and the creation of the Seleucid Empire (founded by Seleucus I Nicator; one of Alexander the Great's generals) only helped to encourage people of European descent to move to the Middle East.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid_Empire
I assure you that by the time of Jesus's birth, millions of people living in the Middle East were either born in mainland Europe or were the descendants of those who were. Why it is that you would assume Jesus was not amongst that number is beyond me, but I know I cannot persuade you any further if you do not wish to be, as it is not as though we have photographic evidence of what Jesus looked like, nor should his appearance really matter for those who have better things to put their mind to.
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