I was today years old when...

[Delvianna]

I learned Tarsus is in present day Turkey and is still around, so the apostle Paul is from there and technically would be a modern day Turk. I don't know why that has never pieced together for me after the 30 some odd years I have in Christianity.... LOL
But I know that Tarsus was controlled by the Romans, which is where Paul got his citizenship from and the ancestors of present day Turks came from the Ottoman Empire, but still... Never knew it was present day turkey and this whole time was thinking Italy because of The Romans = Rome.

What have you learned recently that seemed to have passed you by?

 

[RileyG]

I learned Tarsus is in present day Turkey and is still around, so the apostle Paul is from there and technically would be a modern day Turk. I don't know why that has never pieced together for me after the 30 some odd years I have in Christianity.... LOL
But I know that Tarsus was controlled by the Romans, which is where Paul got his citizenship from and the ancestors of present day Turks came from the Ottoman Empire, but still... Never knew it was present day turkey and this whole time was thinking Italy because of The Romans = Rome.

What have you learned recently that seemed to have passed you by?

St. Paul was ethnically Jewish from the tribe of Benjamin, even if he was living in modern day Turkey. Is my understanding correct? So he wasn't technically Turkish? Hmmm...

 

[Delvianna]

St. Paul was ethnically Jewish from the tribe of Benjamin, even if he was living in modern day Turkey. Is my understanding correct? So he wasn't technically Turkish? Hmmm...

Correct! The area Paul was from, is modern day turkey, but was owned by the Romans which is why Paul had Roman citizenship (while also being from the tribe of Benjamin). So he's technically historically not a turk but would be considered a turk by present day (not by biological standards though). I just found it amusing.

 

[Chesterton]

I learned Tarsus is in present day Turkey and is still around, so the apostle Paul is from there and technically would be a modern day Turk. I don't know why that has never pieced together for me after the 30 some odd years I have in Christianity.... LOL
But I know that Tarsus was controlled by the Romans, which is where Paul got his citizenship from and the ancestors of present day Turks came from the Ottoman Empire, but still... Never knew it was present day turkey and this whole time was thinking Italy because of The Romans = Rome.

What have you learned recently that seemed to have passed you by?

My church is Antiochian, because technically we're headquartered in the city of Antioch (where believers were first called by the name "Christians"). Antioch is in Turkey, which back then was called Asia Minor. The city is nothing but a ruins today, but it was a big, important city when my church started.

But as to what I learned (but should have known) - when my Antiochian church first started, It had largely an Arab immigrant congregation. I kept meeting like, a guy from Bethlehem named George, a lady from Jordan named Veronica, a guy from Syria named Matthew. I had to stop and think "why do all these Arabs have Anglo names"? Because they're not Anglo names, they're Anglicized versions of much older Christian names. Duh.

 

[Delvianna]

My church is Antiochian, because technically we're headquartered in the city of Antioch (where believers were first called by the name "Christians"). Antioch is in Turkey, which back then was called Asia Minor. The city is nothing but a ruins today, but it was a big, important city when my church started.

But as to what I learned (but should have known) - when my Antiochian church first started, It had largely an Arab immigrant congregation. I kept meeting like, a guy from Bethlehem named George, a lady from Jordan named Veronica, a guy from Syria named Matthew. I had to stop and think "why do all these Arabs have Anglo names"? Because they're not Anglo names, they're Anglicized versions of much older Christian names. Duh.

That's great!!! I love it