Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 144
To answer this question, we have to keep in mind a phenomenon of the history of religions. In the first century, Taxila and. Kashmir were the greatest centres of Bhuddism, whereas today. Bhuddism has vanished completely from these areas. . Another example can be quoted of Islam in Spain which was forced out of that country by violence. This leads to the conclusion that a dominating religion can be wiped out of certain regions as a result of compulsion or even by peaceful propaganda by another religion. . It is a historical fact that Persia was governed by the Sassanians in the third century. The Persian kingdom extended from the North-west of India up to the Euphrates. . The Bani Israel inhabited in great numbers both Persia and. North-western India. There were followers of Jesus Christ known as Nasira. Inscriptions found recently in Persia bear testimony to this fact. These inscriptions, traced down to the third century, clearly mention that in the bounds of the Persian Kingdom the. Number One community was "Yhwdy", the second largest religious community was of Bhuddism, the third was Hinduism, fourth was the Nasira and the fifth the Christian. (I. Korter 273293 A. D. ). As the dominant figure in the Zoroastrian Churchas stated in the Kabe-ye Zendusht inscription of Karter, he claims credit for the suppression of Non-zoroastrian religious communities in Iran "and Jews, Buddhists, Brahmans, Nagoreans, Christians. . . " (Encyclopaedia Britanica: Persia). . Scholars are surprised at the separate mention of Nasira and. Christian. . It is clear from the New Testament that the followers of. Jesus in Antioch (Syria) were described as Christians. Thus the. Christians of the inscriptions of Persia are Syrian Christians. . The followers of Jesus in Persia and North-west India were described after Jesus of Nazareth as Nasira. The Syrian Christians were taken prisoners during the Sassanian reign and settled in Persia. Within the State Boundaries thus there were two sects of the followers of Jesus, the Nasira and the Christians. . The inscriptions further reveal that the Great Magi of the. Zoroastrian religion in Persia destroyed the centres of the other religions and gave supremacy to the Zoroastrian religion. . The Persian history supports the contents of these inscriptions. The Persian Christians were persecuted at different intervals during a period of one hundred years. This resulted in the sup148