Why are there so many Christians in Lebanon and Iraq and other Arab Countries?

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Dec 1, 2014
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#22
Hanady...and may I add that mohamad wanted his brother's wife, so he forced his own brother to watch his children be slaughtered and his wife raped before his brother's eyes and then had his brother killed...but somehow, some way, all of this is forgotten, disregarded, or erased when it comes to teaching islam to young people. At least the BIBLE does NOT sweep anything under the rug when it comes to the individuals that are woven throughout the entire BIBLICAL history.
 

Hanady

Senior Member
Apr 20, 2012
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#23
Yes you are right, if we want to talk about what's wrong with him and what's wrong with Islam we will never stop talking lol




Hanady...and may I add that mohamad wanted his brother's wife, so he forced his own brother to watch his children be slaughtered and his wife raped before his brother's eyes and then had his brother killed...but somehow, some way, all of this is forgotten, disregarded, or erased when it comes to teaching islam to young people. At least the BIBLE does NOT sweep anything under the rug when it comes to the individuals that are woven throughout the entire BIBLICAL history.
 

chanchuinchoy

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2015
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Sungei Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
#24
Since this is not a private (password protected) forum, may I start a thread?

1) My main question is, How did they get to be so many Christians in Lebanon?

2) How they get to be numerous Christians in the Arab world like the Copts in Egypt.
Isn't being a Christian a death sentence in countries under Shariah Law, how are they tolerated, nevertheless not well.[/QUOT

I wish to enlightern that being a christian in a muslim country is not death sentence. It is the work of misconception people like IS, Osama etc.... I believed they kill christians is because they taught that majority of the white people which they hate are christians. It has nothing to do with religion only individual hatred against the west.
 

OrthodoxGirl

Junior Member
Feb 11, 2014
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#25
As I understand it, these communities have been in the Middle East since before the dawn of Islam.

Shariah Law does not call for the death, but rather the segregation, taxation and eventual conversion of Dhimmi (a.k.a. non-muslim communities). As such, a lot of these Christian communities were allowed to persist even after their territories were conquered.

That isn't to say there were no adherents to the "convert or die" doctrine.
Amen, that's correct. For Jordan, there are big muslim families that protect Christian families. It was an oath taken ages ago that they would protect them should any harm come to them by other muslims/extremists. The King Abdullah of Jordan is making it as safe as possible for Christians in Jordan at this time even with the rising threat of ISIS at its borders. King Abdullah doesn't stand with ISIS has offered housing, food, and water, even free medical aid to those who have escaped Syria and Iraq even though the country itself has so little. But let's back track once again... Simply put Arab Christians came before Arab Muslims. At one point Lebanon was 100% Christian. Some leave the middle east, some remain. Many have stood and professed their faith in Jesus Christ while some converted to Islam in regards to the days of Mohammed.

(I know I jumped around a lot in regards to my explanation, but I hope I clarified a bit.)

~ Yout Arab American sister in Christ.
 

peacenik

Senior Member
May 11, 2016
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#26
Why so many Christians in Lebanon and other Arab countries?

Easy: Clement (founder of Coptic church) was from Alexandria, Maron (Maronite church) from Lebanon, the Assyrian church was founded in the 1st century in Iraq, and the Eastern orthodox churches claim to have been created by the Apostles. They are the original followers of the founders of Christianity.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
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#27
Christians and Jews can live under Islamic rule according to islam as long as they are subjugated and feel themselves oppressed. When Shiara law is fully implemented Christians and Jews need to pay an extra tax called the Jizyah tax for them to have the right to remain as non-muslims ..
 
Jan 5, 2019
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#28
Hmmmm we don't have Shariah Law in Lebanon and Lebanon is Christian country, our president should only be Christian.
Lebanon is christian? Is that why Palestine is more liberal than most arabic countries
 

massorite

Junior Member
Jan 3, 2015
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#29
As I understand it, these communities have been in the Middle East since before the dawn of Islam.

Shariah Law does not call for the death, but rather the segregation, taxation and eventual conversion of Dhimmi (a.k.a. non-muslim communities). As such, a lot of these Christian communities were allowed to persist even after their territories were conquered.

That isn't to say there were no adherents to the "convert or die" doctrine.
They are mostly Assyrian Christians or Coptic Christians which have been there much longer than Islam.
 

KhedetOrthos

Active member
Dec 13, 2019
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#30
Since this is not a private (password protected) forum, may I start a thread?

1) My main question is, How did they get to be so many Christians in Lebanon?

2) How they get to be numerous Christians in the Arab world like the Copts in Egypt.

Isn't being a Christian a death sentence in countries under Shariah Law, how are they tolerated, nevertheless not well.
...because all these lands had large Christian populations before they were invaded by Muslim Arabs. Even Iran had a large Christian population. Converting to Christianity from Islam is a death sentence under Shariah; being Christian from birth simply allows you to live either be killed or live as a Jizya paying Dhimmi based on the whim of the ruling Islamic government at the time.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#31
Hmmmm we don't have Shariah Law in Lebanon and Lebanon is Christian country, our president should only be Christian.
We should keep in mind that the whole region of Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt had turned to Christianity gradually after Pentecost. The first translation of the Bible was into Syriac in the 2nd century.

The Romans were in control for hundreds of years, and they too turned to Christianity after Constantine. Also the Christian Roman and Byzantine Empires controlled the Middle East and Turkey until the Muslims entered Palestine in the 7th century. But the Crusades began in the 11th century, and Islam only took control of this region by the 14th century. Here is a quote from an article on this subject.
***********************************************************************************

How did the Christian Middle East become predominantly Muslim?
OXFORD ARTS BLOG
17 Sep 2018

How did the ancient Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to the majority-Muslim world we know today, and what role did violence play in this process? These questions lie at the heart of Christian Martyrs under Islam: Religious Violence and the Making of the Muslim World (Princeton University Press), a new book by associate professor of Islamic history Christian C. Sahner. In a guest post for Arts Blog, Professor Sahner, from Oxford's Faculty of Oriental Studies, explores his findings.

Although Arab armies quickly established an Islamic empire during the seventh and eighth centuries, it took far longer for an Islamic society to emerge within its frontiers. Indeed, despite widespread images of “conversion by the sword” in popular culture, the process of Islamisation in the early period was slow, complex, and often non-violent.

Forced conversion was fairly uncommon, and religious change was driven far more by factors such as intermarriage, economic self-interest, and political allegiance. Non-Muslims were generally entitled to continue practising their faiths, provided they abided by the laws of their rulers and paid special taxes. Muslim elites sometimes even discouraged conversion, for when non-Muslims embraced Islam, they no longer had to provide these taxes to the state, and thus the state’s fiscal base threatened to contract.

Compounding this was a belief among some that Islam was a special dispensation only for the Arab people. Thus, when non-Arabs converted, they were sometimes treated as second-class citizens, despised as little better than Christians, Jews, or other “infidels”.
This combination of factors meant that the Middle East became predominantly Muslim far later than an older generation of scholars once assumed.


Although we lack reliable demographic data from the pre-modern period with which we could make precise estimates (such as censuses or tax registers), historians surmise that Syria-Palestine crossed the threshold of a Muslim demographic majority in the 12th century, while Egypt may have passed this benchmark even later, possibly in the 14th. What we mean by the “Islamic world” thus takes on new meaning: Muslims were the undisputed rulers of the Middle East from the seventh century onward, but they presided over a mixed society in which they were often dramatically outnumbered by non-Muslims.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/how-did-christian-middle-east-become-predominantly-muslim#
 

KhedetOrthos

Active member
Dec 13, 2019
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#32
“Indeed, despite widespread images of “conversion by the sword” in popular culture, the process of Islamisation in the early period was slow, complex, and often non-violent.

Forced conversion was fairly uncommon, and religious change was driven far more by factors such as intermarriage, economic self-interest, and political allegiance.”

This is absolute nonsense, published by a leftist, politically correct, pro Muslim source from England.

Here’s the truth:

 
May 4, 2020
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#33
Being a catholic, baptist, Lutheran, Quaker, etc does not mean you are SAVED. It only means that you attended one of those denominations. You can attend a yearly carnival and/or circus for all of your life, but that does not make you a clown. Hitler was 'catholic' in his younger days......catch my drift?
All of Us started in Religion and ended upto Christianity.Thats how God works for ages..
 

Prycejosh1987

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2020
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#34
The short answer is Apologist David Wood and acts 17. He is going from strength to strength in his mission.