极速赛车168官网 Comments on: Was the Star of Bethlehem Real?: Responding to the Go-To Skeptic https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/ A Digital Areopagus // Reason. Faith. Dialogue. Fri, 31 Mar 2017 04:01:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 极速赛车168官网 By: Dag Kihlman https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-175563 Fri, 31 Mar 2017 04:01:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-175563 First of all, anyone can follow a star to Bethlehem. This is the way to do it: Go to Jerusalem and find the ancient road Derech Beit Lehem. It was built by the Romans after the birth of Christ, but it follows the terrain. Use some vehicle that will take you to Bethlehem in perhaps 1 h and 20 minutes, like a horse in gait. The road starts south and bends gently to the west as you travel. Due to this you will have the same stars or planets in front of you all the way.
Adair and astronomers say that it is impossible to say that a planet stops, it is not possible to notice. Well, that is poor research. While it is true from an astronomical point of view, what matters is if the magi thought they could say that a planet stopped. And actually that was one of their main tasks of observation. Numerous diaries of sky observations have been found in Mesopotamia, and again and again they have recorded that planets stopped. Obviously they hade some rule for telling when a planet had stopped.
If the magi followed Jupiter in 2 BC, as suggested above, they must have travelled in early morning in late december. In such a case they decided that Jupiter stopped in the morning. That is actually an omen described in their divination manual, Enuma Anu Enlil. It means "kings will be reconciled", i.e. peace on earth. A coincindence?
The other thing to observe when discussing the star is that modern people tend to believe that it was a star or a planet as such that was a sign. That is something an astrologer would never say. What matters is what the planet does and how the astrologer is taught to interpret it. That is why Herod had not seen the star, because a star is basically the sign and not the star as such.
The Star of Bethlehem documentary assumes that the Venus/Jupiter encounter directed the magi to Israel and told them a king was born. That is not true. The fact that the sign happened in the west is of little importance, and the sign actually means that the king of Akkad [Mesopotamia] will die. However Venus approaching Jupiter told them that the aggressor was the King of Amurru, and Amurro is the Amorite area, that is Syria down to Israel and Jordan. Since the House of Herod was the dominant force at that time, it would be natural to assume that the new king was a kind of Alexander the Great coming from Jerusalem to overthrow the Parthian (i.e. Persian) king just as Alexander the Great had done 330 years earlier.
I develop this more at http://www.starofbethlehem.com

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: miranda https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-101806 Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:50:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-101806 amyinohio Good Day! Do You Know If They Make Any Plugins To Help With SEO? I'm Trying To
Get My Blog To Rank For Some Targeted Keywords But I'm Not Seeing Very Good
Results. If You Know Of Any Please Share. Many Thanks!

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: Kenneth Heck https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-95124 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 00:14:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-95124 I am on the side of Wayne Stahre, but there is no need for a supernatural object. The star of Bethlehem was seen only by the magi because it came to each of them in a subjective vision. For three or more persons to see the same vision independently is remarkable and they perhaps counted it as a sign or miracle. The magi
were star gazers and Zoroastrians who would have believed in the Zoroastrian messiah called the saoshyant, which the visions could have connected with Christ's birth. This explains why no else on the planet, even in China or Persia, recorded any new astronomical sight at that time, and why the "star" seemed to disappear at Jerusalem, but reappeared to guide them to Bethlehem.

We don't see astrologers making long journeys because of unusual planetary or star positions, either now or in ancient times. The connection of stars to angels or deities
is quite ancient and there is even a reference in Rev. 1:20. The account of the Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich of the whole episode is quite interesting.

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: Doug Shaver https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-56060 Mon, 04 Aug 2014 09:32:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-56060

What do the commenters here at Strange Notions think?

I think that any skeptic who tries to argue on naturalistic grounds that some event recorded in the Bible couldn't have happened is begging the question. I don't care a lot about any attempt to prove that the star of Bethlehem could not have been a natural phenomenon.

But neither do I care a lot whether an apologist says it was a miracle or a natural phenomenon. In either case, I will stipulate that for all I know, it could have happened. What I want to know is why I should believe that it actually did happen on this particular occasion. And -- speaking of begging the question -- I need an answer that doesn't presuppose anything about the Bible's historical reliability.

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: wayne stahre https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-49679 Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:58:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-49679 The Star of Bethlehem was not a natural object. The account of it from Matthew 2 makes that clear. Babylon and Jerusalem were at roughly me latitude. Any naturally occurring object would have been noted by observers in Jerusalem as well as Babylon. Matthew 2:7 shows that only the Magi saw it. The Magi were followers of Zoroastrianism. They were watching for the coming of a Sayoshiant which would be announced by the appearing of King' s Star. The Sayoshiant would then emerge from Lake Kansava.

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: wayne stahre https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-49603 Mon, 21 Apr 2014 19:39:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-49603 "7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. "

Babylon was at roughly the same latitude as Jerusalem so stars visible at one would be visible at the other. The fact that Herod had to ask when the star appeared meant that he, and none of his advisors could see it. The Magi were followers of Zoroastrianism. They were waiting for the coming of the Sayoshant who would emerge from Lake Hamun after the appearance of the King' s star which they visualized as what we know as The Star of David. It is also noted that Herod had a model for the murder of the babies in the circumstances surrounding the birth of Augustus.

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: Paul Brandon Rimmer https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-48474 Mon, 07 Apr 2014 19:20:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-48474 In reply to Irenaeus of New York.

Ok. I now am satisfied that I understand the method. Thanks for being patient with me.

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: severalspeciesof https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-48472 Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:38:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-48472 In reply to Irenaeus of New York.

And I know a person who's family came over on the Mayflower voyage
several hundred years ago, and we know where many of the graves are from
that event. The things of great historical importance that people do, do not always fade away from history that quickly.

My guess is, you know this (and this knowledge didn't fade away) because a ledger was kept of who went aboard on the Mayflower at the time they boarded. No such ledger exists nor existed (for what reason?) on who visited the child Jesus.

Glen

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: Ignorant Amos https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-48462 Mon, 07 Apr 2014 09:13:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-48462 In reply to Irenaeus of New York.

In that case, can I ask are there any bits of the scripture which you don't believe to be an actual event and your reasons why?

I also wonder what the consensus among your fellow Catholics is on such things?

]]> 极速赛车168官网 By: Ignorant Amos https://strangenotions.com/was-the-star-of-bethlehem-real-responding-to-the-go-to-skeptic/#comment-48457 Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:46:00 +0000 http://strangenotions.com/?p=4075#comment-48457 In reply to Irenaeus of New York.

Science save us all from harm.

]]>