Jesus looked like modern day Palestinian Christians as they are the only Levantine sub-population who didn't succumb to Roman destruction or Arab invasion.

Hard to deny that current Palestinian Christians (more broadly Levantine Christians) are genetically closest to Jesus, based on what we know.
More to come with our replication of what he did below.
Beware anachronisms for terms like Palestinian or Israeli. https://t.co/v4lEZns6qL

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) December 26, 2023

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These are all samples recovered from the Bronze Age and Iron Age Levant, dated to differing time periods and coming from different cultures. They are all genetically similar to one another.

Closest people are usually Christian Levantines > Many Jewish groups > Muslims > Other Jewish groups

Ancient DNA samples are almost always released to the public, and are investigated by thousands if not millions of hobbyists all the time. There are no serious disagreements about these findings and they are supported by multiple publications, labs, and independent verifications. You can in fact learn how to use these tools yourself. You don't have to be an expert. Palestinian Christians are almost genetically indistinguishable from Roman-era Levantines, people of the time of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, etc.

It provides interesting speculation as to their origin. Perhaps they descend from such people, the first Jews to convert to Christianity
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Almost all Jews, Christians, and Muslims of the region carry noticeable Bronze Age/Iron Age Levantine ancestry. This means that almost all modern Levantines are at least partially (some overwhelmingly), descended from Israelites or people genetically indistinguishable from them
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As you can see Samaritans (yes they still exist, but they are dying out) arealmost indistinguishable from not just Israelites, but even Bronze Age Canaanites. Very impressive continuity. But it comes at the cost of serious inbreeding. There are only a couple hundred of them left
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Everyone else (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) has mixed non-Middle Eastern ancestry, the majority of it being European (Greek and even Bactrian ancestry that entered the Levant after Alexanders conquests). Muslim Levantines also carry ~3-5% sub-Saharan African ancestry on average that Christians and Jews mostly lack, and a noticeable chunk of Arabian ancestry, but that is lower than most people would expect.

You can see this ancestry being picked up more when we stop using Bronze Age and Iron Age populations to model modern ethnic groups, and instead use Roman-era populations
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Jews, Muslims, and Christians of the Levant today descend mostly from Middle Eastern groups that form a broad racial cluster.

Some are more like Mesopotamians, others like Arabians or Levantines. But these differences aren't much more significant than the differences between Swedes, English, Italians, and Greeks.
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Eblaites and Amorites also form a cline and are part of the same regional population as Canaanites, Israelites, etc.
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The reason Christian Levantines are closest the Canaanites, Israelites, Roman-era Jews, etc is because they never relinquished their religion, and therefore never mixed with other groups after the Islamic invasion. Those Christians who converted to Islam now had opportunities to mix with other Muslims, and even slaves from sub-Saharan Africa.
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This is what it looks like happened.

The Bronze Age inhabitants of the region were Canaanites, Amorites, Eblaites, etc. The ancestors of the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc also came from the BA Levant.

A subgroup of Canaanites became Israelites (they are genetically indistinguishable from Canaanites). This subgroup remains largely similar to each other until Alexander conquers the entire Middle East.

Then, Greek and Bactrian ancestry start entering the Levant. At this time, Samaritans split off from the ancestors of Jews, Christians, and Muslims of the Levant.

They are the first to split off. This is because they barely mixed with the incoming Greek/Bactrian groups.

The new population Roman-era Levantines are almost indistinguishable from modern day Palestinian Christians, Lebanese Christians, etc. They stay like this till the modern period, refusing to mix with Muslim Arabs (they weren't allowed to regardless) and not usually being allowed to own slaves.

This is where Levantine Muslims (Palestinian Muslims, Lebanese Muslims, etc) split off from the Christians - some Christians convert to Islam. They are now allowed to own slaves from Africa, and mix with Arabians and Egyptians and other Muslim groups. They carry some of this foreign ancestry.

Before, during, and after Alexanders invasion you had many other Jewish groups of course, splitting off and going to Europe and North Africa, being forcibly deported to Mesopotamia, etc. They are the only ones who either

1: didnt convert to the Arabian religion
2: didnt convert to the new religion that was formed/evolved through Judaism

The truth is, everyone in the Levant is overwhelmingly descended from ancient Jews, or at the very least those genetically indistinguishable from ancient Jews.

Lots of Muslims like to exxagerate their relationship to Arabians, since that is where their religion is from, and their prophet was an Arabian. The truth, for better or worse, is that almost none of them carry much Arabian ancestry. Only Negev Bedouins and Yemenite Jews do.

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Have zero preference on how much melanin* was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

Edit: not melatonin. Thanks for correction

fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

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Amen,

And as I have always said, something scared the F out of the Romans. Because not long after murdering Christ, who existed without question, the "empire" started converting in mass to Christianity. And Rome itself became the capital, for better or worse, for all of it. Considering how long the Romans worshipped their mythologic deities, it is telling.

IMO.

Urban Ag said:

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fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

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Amen,

And as I have always said, something scared the F out of the Romans. Because not long after murdering Christ, who existed without question, the "empire" started converting in mass to Christianity. And Rome itself became the capital, for better or worse, for all of it. Considering how long the Romans worshipped their mythologic deities, it is telling.

IMO.

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Yep. Most historians agree he existed. One guy. That the entire calendar and world history is based off of. Koolaid guy. Waco dude (hi FBI), etc etc. all blips in history. But not Jesus.

Urban Ag said:

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fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

---

Amen,

And as I have always said, something scared the F out of the Romans. Because not long after murdering Christ, who existed without question, the "empire" started converting in mass to Christianity. And Rome itself became the capital, for better or worse, for all of it. Considering how long the Romans worshipped their mythologic deities, it is telling.

IMO.

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Pretty much nobody is going to get skinned alive or walk to India without a good reason.

Urban Ag said:

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fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

---

Amen,

And as I have always said, something scared the F out of the Romans. Because not long after murdering Christ, who existed without question, the "empire" started converting in mass to Christianity. And Rome itself became the capital, for better or worse, for all of it. Considering how long the Romans worshipped their mythologic deities, it is telling.

IMO.

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You think the Romans, interested in maintaining their vast empire, got scared of anything? They weaponized a series of religious beliefs that were gathering followers rapidly. They took celebrated pagan holidays and made them Roman catholic holidays that the entire empire celebrated.

You think the fear of God inspired them? Well I suppose it did, but not the way you made it sound.

They stripped the protochristian rituals and beliefs of anything that supported finding your own truths into listening to what the word of God, only available from Rome, claimed was truth.

The US did this with money and the Federal Reserve.

Jesus Christ's genetics really aren't pertinent to His claims/life/death/resurrection at all, though the lineage and placement as a fulfillment of prophesies in the OT.

I prefer the Johannine versions (such as here) vs. the Matthean or Markan ones, providing the analyses but no where, period, is it appropriate to claim Jesus was a Palestinian or some such related to the vile scum in Gaza/West Bank today. Garry Wills' "What the Gospels Meant" is a very good book for anyone interested in a good hermeneutical read that isn't too dense.

There are some hilarious memes about nowadays regarding historical people/things retroactively claimed to be "Palestinian:"

Titanic was a Palestinian ship. It was sailing from East Palestine to West Palestine. It was sunk by a conspiracy of three Jews named Goldberg, Rosenberg, and the more well-known of the three, Iceberg. pic.twitter.com/QTPA8UcEzG

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 30, 2023

X remains undefeated!
🤣 pic.twitter.com/f6pJhIl8RS

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 30, 2023

The T-Rex, Einstein, and Titanic are my favorites so far.

The gospels are the result of a 30-100 year long game of telephone since very few at the time could read/write. Oral histories tend to get twisted and embellished over time.

The issue about who wrote the gospels and whether or not there is a common source for some of the books is an interesting study too.

These come up from time to time. "Jesus was black." "Jesus was a dark skinned palestinian." It's meaningless. The only thing that matters regarding Jesus is do you believe He is Lord and Savior and that He died for your sins and the only reason you have an opportunity to spend eternity with Him is by His grace that you cannot earn or deserve.

'Modern humans' interbreeding with denisovans/neanderthals is a bit more fascinating to me than this sort of focus, but I am no expert at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_between_archaic_and_modern_humans

So I am not going to open the Jesus identity.. That is a matter of faith not science. Peter however is fair game.

Peter is most likely descended from the proto-Canaanites. They were a Semitic people from the Caucasus and arrived in the Levant by way of Mesopotamia, about 3500BC. They were nomadic and had paler skin than the ancient Egyptians. They inter married with the indigenous population (Natufian culture). From the proto-Canaanites emerged the Hebrews (trans Jordan) and the Canaanites (Palestine). These groups were never completely driven from the Levant. The Jews were the decedents of the ancient Hebrews and there leaders were expelled to Babylon about 582BC. The remaining Jews were dispersed about the region. Galilei was repopulated by Jews from Judea during the Hellenistic and Roman occupation, this is most likely when Peter's decedents came to the Sea of Galilei. After Jesus, the Jewish Christians lived in this area (many early Christian churches have been found in this area). The Romans depopulated Judea but left Galilee alone (for the most part). The Jewish Christians had no religious ties to the Temple and thus they were spared from mass deportation (slavery, etc). Over the centuries the Jewish Christians and the Samaritans were left relatively alone by the Byzantines, Arabs and Crusaders). Thus their decedents still live in these areas today. Peter would have resembled the inhabitants of the indigenous peoples from today's Northern Israel.

Of course this is still a bit speculative. Who knows the true genetics of Peter.

"Religion is the culture of faith: Science is the culture of doubt" R. Feyman

It seems irrefutable though that God in the OT (David, etc), nor Jesus chose his disciples on the basis of physical traits though. Poor, illiterate fishermen (as an example, peter and james) were not exactly of a royal genetic lineage, by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, if James was really Jesus' brother…well that's another can of worms.

PA24 said:

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Mary was a descendant of David who came from the line of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob (later named Israel)
Jacob was the son of Isaac
Isaac was the son of Abram (Abraham)

If you are a Christian, you believe in the great flood, hence we all came from the line of Noah. One of the three sons of Noah, a guy named Ham, saw Noah passed out drunk and naked. He didn't cover Noah, instead he showed Noah to his two brothers. His brothers covered him, Noah blessed the two sons who covered him and cursed the son of Ham, a guy named Canaan.

The Palestinians are from the the tribe of Canaanite.




I have read the Old Testament a couple of times and find it to be absolutely amazing. Every time I start losing my Christian faith, I see the promises God made to Israel and know the time is getting near.

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LOL that's wild

fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

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Melanin.

Melatonin is that stuff that makes you sleepy.

so did he have a six pack or not?

MookieBlaylock said:

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so did he have a six pack or not?

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With President Trump and Christ Jesus leading the battlefield, we patriots feel very confident in the new Civil War. pic.twitter.com/OS2fbg7ERF

— Gary Peterson 🇺🇸 (@GaryPetersonUSA) December 29, 2023

So, Jesus looked like Jared Leto?

Algorithmic Epiphany said:

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Urban Ag said:

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fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

---

Amen,

And as I have always said, something scared the F out of the Romans. Because not long after murdering Christ, who existed without question, the "empire" started converting in mass to Christianity. And Rome itself became the capital, for better or worse, for all of it. Considering how long the Romans worshipped their mythologic deities, it is telling.

IMO.

---

You think the Romans, interested in maintaining their vast empire, got scared of anything? They weaponized a series of religious beliefs that were gathering followers rapidly. They took celebrated pagan holidays and made them Roman catholic holidays that the entire empire celebrated.

You think the fear of God inspired them? Well I suppose it did, but not the way you made it sound.

They stripped the protochristian rituals and beliefs of anything that supported finding your own truths into listening to what the word of God, only available from Rome, claimed was truth.

The US did this with money and the Federal Reserve.

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Who do you think we learned it from?

There was a show that took the Shroud of Turin and, using current tech, showed what Jesus really looked like.

Wasn't a blond honky, fosho.

Little history fact of conflict with the Philadelphians

Old Army Metal said:

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fredfredunderscorefred said:

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Have zero preference on how much melatonin was in Jesus's skin. However, if the DNA genetic stuff moves the needle, even in the slightest, to his existence (which I firmly believe), then fantastic. But again, who gives af how well he could tan so long as He existed.

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Melanin.

Melatonin is that stuff that makes you sleepy.

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Oh...I thought it was this thread that makes you sleepy.