abraham's descendants

The following explains the family relationship between the Jews and the Arabs that started about BC 1890 in Ur, Iraq, with Terah, the father of Abraham.

The tribes of Mecca were the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar, and from one of these tribes came Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

The twelve tribes of Israel were the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son by Sarah, and from Judah -- one of the two remaining of the twelve tribes -- came Jesus, the founder of Christianity.

Isaac married Rebecca; their son Jacob (Israel) married Rachel, Leah and others.

From Jacob (Israel)  and his wives came the the twelve tribes, of which only Judah and Simeon are known,

The ten lost tribes of Isreal are Joseph, Ephraim, Gad, Reuben, Dan, Benjamin, Naphtali, Zebulum, Asher, Issachsor, Manassah.

did christianity end the roman empire?

That the mighty Roman Empire of Hellenic civilization fell in 378 - fifty-five years after Constantine embraced Christianity as his empire's official religion - leaves many wondering whether Christianity caused the fall of the Roman Empire.

Actually, the Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity in 313 was a means by which he hoped to save the Roman Empire from the marauding Goths.

Not only were the Christians becoming increasingly difficult to control - there was widespread persecution of them in Roman ruled lands - but they were also becoming a force to be reckoned with. Rather than fighting the Goths as well as trying to quell the Christians, Constantine made a strategic decision to unite with the Christians.

Up until his conversion in 313, Constantine, and the Roman Emperors before him, had been throwing Christians to the lions for believing, among other things, that Jesus was the son of God. It was only apparently because of a dream he had of Jesus, telling him to put the cross on his warriors shields before going into battle, that Constantine decided turning away from the Roman gods towards the one Christian god was going to be more auspicious for him and the Roman state.

Had Constantine lost the battle, our history would be very different, but he did win the battle and consequently the 'cross' became not so much a symbol of Jesus' suffering but one of conquest. Hence, Christian soldiers!

Under the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church was held at Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople was established as the capital of the Christian (Roman) Empire in 330.

Forty-eight years later, in 378, the Visigoths defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople, so moving the capital of the Christian Roman Empire to Constantinople was a wise strategic move.

It was this battle at Adrianople in 378 - not the adoption of Christianity - that ended the old Roman Empire based in Rome.

By 395, the Christian or Holy Roman Empire - which it now became known as - was split into Eastern and Western regions, but Christianity had been - and would remain so - far more important a religious influence in the eastern city of Constantinople than it ever was in the western city of Rome.

The Romans - who had ruled the world from Egypt to England at various time during the period 31BC-378AD - were military conquerors not religious mystics. Having ruled for over 400 years, they were not likely to relinquish their superior place in the world easily. If adopting Christianity would further their aims - help them reclaim power by mystic rather than military force - then it was a strategic move for them to take.

were the prophets mentally ill or gifted?

In today's world, someone claiming to be a prophet - especially one having the ability to hear the voice of God, or professing to be the son of God - would be ignored as a nutter or taken to the nearest mental institution. In ancient times, however, afflicted people were not shunned as nutters. They were seen as being truly touched by powers beyond human comprehension.

Common among all new religions over the centuries has been the phenomenon of the 'vision' or the 'dream' of being spoken to directly by a supernatural being. The visionary prophets of old, with their epilepsy and various other mental disorders, succeeded in inspiring believers because nobody understood their conditions. It was widely believed that such people were literally touched by God, and as such they were especially gifted.

Like the Prophet Mohammed, who was born in 470, Jesus logically was a man of God rather than the son of God, but both not only claimed to have spoken directly with God but they also displayed disabilities that we would now call either epilepsy, schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder.

There is a passage in the Bible that describes the family of Jesus - his mother and brothers - taking him back to Nazareth when he became manic while preaching at Capernaum. His behavior at the Temple, overturning the tables of the money-lenders, is also indicative of mental instability.

Nevertheless, such traits were necessary in those days in order to gain the desired attention. You had to be extraordinarily different. Today, we understand the mental illnesses that caused the visionary hallucinations of the old prophets and do not hold such people in awe, but in ancient times those with mental aberrations had extraordinary charisma.

Basically, a certain level of insanity or mental aberration is still necessary in order to inspire others to believe in whatever it is you are preaching. You need to have extraordinary confidence in yourself and an extraordinary belief that you have been singled out for a special mission.

That the religious elites of today exist by virtue of the fantastic visions of ancient prophets - who may or may not have been severely afflicted by mental disorders - is something that nobody particularly wants to acknowledge.

Perhaps a more salient question to ask in view of the fact that many people take up religion after a personal crisis - especially an unhinging one - is not so much the mental state of the Prophets but that of the true believers.