Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Was there a Star of Bethlehem?

Indeed ther was. This fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob, “Judah is a lion’s cub.… The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is his.”[37] When Venus was next due to rise with the sun 1.6 years later, the magi arrived in Jerusalem. The following morning, after they arrived near Bethlehem, Venus arose in the constellation or picture of Aries (ram or lamb). Venus, on the horizon, disappeared (or stopped) in the sunlight a few minutes later, over Jesus’ home, in a city of shepherds on Passover.[38] The star marked the house of a lamb, the Lamb of God was born.





Astrology, considered by many to be forbidden by the Bible, does not play a part in the interpretation of these pictures. The link between the star and the scepter is itself contained in the Star Prophecy: "A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." This is an example of, Biblical poetry, a common feature of Scripture, where something is said multiple times in different words or synonymously. The star is parallel to the scepter and Jacob is parallel to Israel.





The magi saw the picture in the east, indicating the king of the Jews would be born, the one who would rule all the nations. They came to the king in Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, assuming his son would be that ruler. They were instead directed to Bethlehem. The star did not guide them to Bethlehem; it guided them at dawn, from their camping location west of Bethlehem, to the exact house where Jesus lived.





King Herod reacted to the Star Prophecy because it predicted the coming ruler would crush the heads of … Edom,[39] and Herod was Idumean that is an Edomite. Though he was old he wanted his sons to rule after him.[38]





[edit] An astrological event





The use of the phrase "king of the Jews" by the magi has led many writers to link the Star of Bethlehem to astrology. In Hellenistic astrology, Jupiter was the king planet and Regulus was the king star.[40] As they traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the star "went before" the magi and then "stood over" the place where Jesus was. In astrological interpretations, these phrases are said to refer to retrograde motion and to stationing, i.e. Jupiter appeared to reverse course for a time, then stopped, and finally resumed its normal progression[41] (This assumes that the magi had an instrument equivalent to an astrolabe that allowed them to detect to the motion of a planet between one night and the next.)





In 3-2 BC, there was a series of seven conjunctions, including three between Jupiter and Regulus and a strikingly close conjunction between Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BC.[42] "The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event", according to an influential paper by Roger Sinnott.[43]





Astronomer Michael Molnar has proposed a link between a double occultation of Jupiter by the moon in 6 BC in Aries and the Star of Bethlehem.[44] This event was quite close to the sun and would have been difficult to observe, even with a small telescope.[45] Occultations of planets by the moon are quite common, but Firmicus Maternus, an astrologer to Roman Emperor Constantine, wrote that an occultation of Jupiter in Aries was a sign of the birth of a divine king.[46] "When the royal star of Zeus, the planet Jupiter, was in the east this was the most powerful time to confer kingships. Furthermore, the Sun was in Aries where it is exalted. And the Moon was in very close conjunction with Jupiter in Aries", Molnar wrote.[44] This set of conditions reoccurs every sixty years.[44]





A modern and exclusively astrological interpretation of Matthew's account of the star, based on the magi's role as astrologers, "decodes" the Star of Bethlehem as a rare celestial configuration that was visible only to the magi. The "star" was revealed in an astrological chart dated March 2, 5 BCE. [47]

Was there a Star of Bethlehem?
According to the Scriptures.......yes.





This is what God placed in the sky just at the correct time......and the wise men used it to navigate themselves to the baby Christ
Reply:Wow. Nice answers you guys got here. And a great


question, too. I understand that the Star of Bethlehem


was a beautiful sight to see.
Reply:More likely a supernova. Stars don't generally materialise suddenly.
Reply:I don't think there is anything I can add to the answers you already have. Something occured in the sky at that point in time. According to the Book of Mormon, the new star not only appeared in the sky to signal the birth of the Savior, but it also was such that the sky remained light as day even after the sun went down in the west. The next day the sun arose in the east as it was supposed to do signaling the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem. So this event not only appeared brightly in Jerusalem but also kept the sky light throughout the night in America.
Reply:Yes, the Bible says so...
Reply:The Star of Bethlehem, or Star of the East is actually the star Sirius. The story goes the Three Kings followed the Star of the East to the birth of the King. the three kings are the stars of Orion's belt (which are still called that to this day). on the night of the 24th (Christmas eve) the three kings line up and point directly to Sirius. This line points directly to where the sun will rise the next day on the 25th, 3 days after the solstice. This is the first day where the sun gains height in the sky instead of looses or remains the same. for the 3 days after the solstice is stays at just about the same position, and on the next day it "rises". this is also the story of the Resurrection as the King (the sun) dies (days get continually shorter until the 21st when the sun stops in the sky) remains dead for 3 days (does not change positions) then on the next day rises (gains one degree signaling the days getting longer). the 3 kings were said to be astrologers... well this is astrological as you can get. just wait til the 24th and look at the night sky just before dawn and where the sun rises. i guarantee you wont be disappointed
Reply:Well close but no cigars,yes scientists have proven a "star"was around in the year jesus was supposed to of been born,but it was in the summer time,not anywhere near christmas but that is the only proven refrence in history in accordance with the bible,pilate wasn't a grown up adult when"jesus " was put on trial it was a roman named quinnius,the bible is upto 30 years out on most of it's so called facts.....historically and scientifically proven my friends...check out how faith is defined in the concise oxford dictionary...belief without logical proof....
Reply:Sort of....it just shown for 2 years over Herod's palace in Jerusalem instead of the house in Bethlehem where Jesus was no longer a baby, but a child.





Matthew chapter 2 of any Bible.





It would more properly be called the Star of Jerusalem. It only appeared briefly over the house in Bethlehem.





Neither the magi (where the word magic comes from) nor the star was ever at the manger.





The shepherds were invited by angels, not by astrology, and were at the manger. Luke chapter 2 any Bible.





God sent the shepherds, satan sent astrologers to have Jesus killed by Herod. Herod did get all males 2 and under in all Judea trying to kill Jesus. But Joseph escaped with his family to Egypt until after Herod's death to save Jesus.





Debbie
Reply:I believe it was a comet.
Reply:According to scripture, Matt. 2:1-2 the star was over Jerusalem, not Bethlehem.
Reply:Yes there was. It was proven a couple of years ago by a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Coins of that period had a "star" on them that coincided with historical events as well as scientific findings of the solar system. Ultimately, the Scripture is fulfilled.
Reply:of course.
Reply:"After Jesus had been born in Beth′le·hem of Ju·de′a in the days of Herod the king, look! astrologers from eastern parts came to Jerusalem, saying: “Where is the one born king of the Jews? For we saw his star [when we were] in the east, and we have come to do him obeisance.”





Matthew 2 v 1-2





Nowhere in this scripture does it say that there was a star.


These men were astrologers and looked at stars all of the time to read events on the earth. A practise which was forbidden in the Mosaic Law. And where did this so called star lead them, to the Messiah? No to a king which then proceeded to murder all babies under the age of two.





Think about it people! God did not send these men!


Who sent the star of bethlehem if it led the astrologers to herod who was going to kill jesus?

and god's law also condemns astrology. why does christendom celebrate a thing which the bible clearly puts in a bad light? did satan send it as he is an angel of light?

Who sent the star of bethlehem if it led the astrologers to herod who was going to kill jesus?
Your reasoning is correct. Furthermore if God had used the star to lead the astrologers to Herod and Bethlehem, why would he then discontinue its use, instead warning them in a dream not to return to Herod? This only makes sense if a sourse adverse to God had provided the star. That source would indeed be Satan the Devil.
Reply:SATAN
Reply:The magi (or wise men) did not come to Jerusalem because of astrology. They came because of a prophecy given by Balaam the son of Beor in the days of Moses that a star would signal the coming of the greatest king of Israel (See Numbers 22-24). Recently discoveries in the Middle East have found that actual prophecy engraved in stone from sometime before 900BC, with other sayings by Balaam. Remarkable proof of the truth of scripture.





The Bible condemns the idea that stars control and determine that fates of men. But it allows God to use the stars to displays signs and wonders that lead people to him.
Reply:God's Law never condemned the study of the stars for prophecy.





That is more recent 'Human' proscription.








The Star was foretold in Prophecy centuries before Jesus came along. It was also foretold of whom this 'Messiah' would come from and the Hebrews knew it. They made sure that the bloodlines of the potential 'Messiah' remained as true as possible (hence the reason for 'forced/ arranged marriages').


Was the Bethlehem's star an UFO?

Accordingly to the Bible that star has special movements, like an helicopter.


A star is a huge mass of gases and matter, also has planets, if a star moved as the Bible says, it could produce a big problems in its Galaxy.


What do you think about it?

Was the Bethlehem's star an UFO?
Nope.
Reply:No. It's just another part of the Christian mythology.
Reply:No, it wasnt a UFO. It wasnt a meteor or comet either...neither remain visible for a long enough period of time to cover the time needed to travel from India to Bethlehem.





In 3BCE, there was an alignment of planets. If you know anything about how planets move and what these movements appear like from earth, then you'd gain an understand of how planets can appear to go in one direction, then reverse course and head in the opposite direction - it has to do with our point of view and where our planet is in relation to the other outer planets that makes them appear to go in reverse direction.





While the actual date of Jesus' birth is unknown, scholars now put it at approximately 3-4BCE. This coincides with the astronomical data as well.
Reply:Could have been.


Can you grow Star-of-Bethlehem inside?

I see this plant all over the place outside but apparently the lawn mowers get to them before the pretty little blooms have a chance to grow is there a way to grow it indoors? I think this plant is extremely fascinating and would like to take photos of the blooms.

Can you grow Star-of-Bethlehem inside?
If you have animals or children, don't bring them into the house. They are poisonous.
Reply:they are extremely hardy, put them in a pot in a sunny window. outside they take over easily, i dont see why they wouldnt grow inside. it may take a season or two to bloom. also, make sure you dig up the biggest bulb you can find.
Reply:Use a big pot, water nicely, and put it near sunlight. The transplant is going to be the tricky part.
Reply:It will sprout but it wont grow in doors. Your plant might last a month.





thats it.

cassell

How far is the star of Bethlehem, and is the object a star?

The star of Bethlehem was a conjuction of the planets Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, during the reign of Caesar Augustus. These planets met on the night that Christ was born, therefore, you cannot see the "star" of Bethlehem because such conjuctions are rare and happens every thousand years or so.


The other possibility is that the "star" was a nova, which also would not be visible to the naked eye thousands of years later.

How far is the star of Bethlehem, and is the object a star?
Scientists have never been able to identify the Star of Bethlehem for certain. Modern theologians consider it "non-historical," which I think is a polite way of saying that it's a myth that was inserted into the gospel long after Christ's birth.
Reply:I think is was fictional but www.space.com think otherwise!





"Perhaps the simplest answer is a nova or supernova outburst: a new star blazes forth where none had ever been seen and leaves no trace for us to find in the future."
Reply:It is mythological. It doesn't have a distance.
Reply:Well, as you might know, the function of FAITH is NOT to ask for physical events and objects relating to the stories of faith.





Just in case you don't know, please ask your priest or preacher for a little theological introduction to the basics of faith.





:-)
Reply:The biggest star of Bethlehem is probably Jesus. He was born about 2000 years ago. Although widely considered a star, Jesus does not possess a star on the walk of fame in Hollywood, so his status as being a star is somewhat in doubt. Also, humans are not considered "objects". They're people.





Below (source) is Jesus after finishing his first rock concert.


Do you think the star of Bethlehem was a real star placed there by God for a special occasion or something?

else astronomical?

Do you think the star of Bethlehem was a real star placed there by God for a special occasion or something?
Who do you think placed the stars there? How could it be a concidence?





The birth of Christ was the greatest event for mankind that could ever have happened besides the death and resurrection! It was even acknowledged in the heavens!





So what , if there is a scientific explanation? God is a scientist.
Reply:It's been there since the dawn of time. No God or any other superior being put it there.
Reply:no i think the star was just there, but people recognised it as special.and they took it from there.
Reply:Interesting that people say that the star was a world changing event, but only the Chinese *may* have recorded it.
Reply:have a look at the Crab Nebula... it went supernova around the same time so it's nothing religious
Reply:no, if anything it was the alien mother ship dropping jesus off to further their plan of ruling earth disguised as god.
Reply:Yes it was........it was place in the sky to light the way to the place of birth of his son. God also placed all the other stars in the sky.
Reply:No, but I believe mashed potato made by first baking the potatoes for 1hr 15mins is the best mash of all.
Reply:That star was evil. Led the three wise men directly to Jesus, and Joseph had to get up in the middle of the night and get his family out of Bethlehem, pronto.
Reply:Yes.





Matthew 2
Reply:Nope just a story.
Reply:It was one of God's advanced flying machines which many were reported by both prophets and regular people through out the history of the Bible and are still being seen and reported by mankind today that we now call U.F.O.'s instead of stars as they did in ancient times.
Reply:Yes, I do. This was a world changing event.
Reply:I'm not sure if it was a one-time-star, or if it's something that occurs once every certain amount of years and modern astronomers have yet to see it.





but it's definitely there, I actually am inclined ti believe that it was only there for a certain amount of time.
Reply:Don't know.


Why is the song called "O Little Star Of Bethlehem" when the star was huge enough to be seen from miles off?

It was like that deal where you hold up your fingers and pinch them together and say, "I'm crushing your head."





You know it's big, but it seems little.

Why is the song called "O Little Star Of Bethlehem" when the star was huge enough to be seen from miles off?
When a human looks at the stars in the sky with a human eye, the stars look small, So therefore to the writer it was The Little Star of Bethlehem
Reply:all stars can be seen for miles. I could see the big dipper when I was in Saudi Arabia and the southern cross when I was on an island south of the equator.
Reply:Two reasons I can think of:


A star, viewed from Earth, is far from huge.


The star is being compared with another star of Bethlehem - the child Jesus.
Reply:just a song...dont fret
Reply:Because "Oh big assstar of bethlehem" just looses the romance if you know what i mean
Reply:it was over bethlehem but could be seen miles from bethlehem
Reply:The song is called "O Little town Of Bethlehem".
Reply:I thought it was called "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
Reply:Mick, I was a cantor for churches for many years: it's O Little Town of Bethlehem.... does that help? LOL
Reply:lack of perspective. Like the rest of the bible.


Could the "Star of Bethlehem" been a major plantary alignment?

In astronomy, a syzygy (Greek: "yoked together") is a situation where three celestial bodies are positioned along a straight line.

Could the "Star of Bethlehem" been a major plantary alignment?
Considering the focus of early civilization on astronomy, it almost certainly was a planetary alignment, or possibly Jupiter in retrograde motion, which moves extremely fast and in a definite direction, and for the approximate length of time of the wise men's journey.
Reply:I will not disagree with the above. However, this "star" moved and then stopped right above the home of Joseph and Mary. Note: this was later when Jesus was a young child and not at the manger cave.





"and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was."





It is then my guess that this could be Gabriel in a state of glorification guiding the way for the Kings of the East.

skin rash

If the star of Bethlehem was a UFO?

and the chariott of fire was a UFO, and the new Jerusalem with the streets of gold, is inside a UFO, and angels are aliens...what would you believe?

If the star of Bethlehem was a UFO?
I'd believe that with them putting all that energy into this story, there's got to be something VERY important somewhere in all that mess. Do they know God? Or are they looking for Him here?
Reply:It wasn't a UFO..it was a flying craft .


Comets dont suddenly stop and shine a light.
Reply:Or what if it was Helios making a midnight trek across the sky?
Reply:I will refrain from speculating about what I WOULD believe until such time as there is EVIDENCE supporting further questioning of my beliefs ( a process in which I have already invested much time, thought and labor).





So if this big and pretty ludicrous "IF" turns out to be reliably proven - at that time I MIGHT begin the process again.





But probably not.
Reply:that would be an awesome religion unless the aliens purpose for us is slavery or just plain death
Reply:I believe that there is little to no evidence that the star of Bethlehem was there, as the only recorded evidence might be a comet seen in China at about the right time.
Reply:I believe in Deity or "god" ( i don't say God as that give gender to Deity) this has nothing to do with wether or not angles are aliens and the such so my beliefs would be unaffected.
Reply:no
Reply:You really don't understand do you? This link will help:





http://www.pocm.info/
Reply:That would mean that my mom is right.
Reply:You poor dear...
Reply:I will believe UFO......it stands for ....Ulcers From Others =)
Reply:The same things I believe right this second.
Reply:I dont think so
Reply:Jesus was an alien...... he came across the border illegally to do my mom's gardening.
Reply:http://www.rael.org/


Was The Star Of Bethlehem A Divine Visitation?

No, Satan was the force guiding the star. He wanted Herod to know where Jesus was, hoping that his enemy would be put to death. God intervened and the astrologers were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went a different way.


Christendom has praised that star for a long time, not realizing the real truth regarding it.

Was The Star Of Bethlehem A Divine Visitation?
The star was sort of like a spotlight. It shone above where Christ was born into this world. It was subtle so that King Herod would not realize what it was. However, the ones that seeked the Messaih knew to follow it. It was a star put there by God to say 'here He is!'
Reply:Yes it was. Merry Christmas
Reply:No, it was a UFO.
Reply:It was just a star that had exploded millions of years before, and had just been visible to Earth when Jesus was born. the fact that it folloed him around for a few day...ever have the moon follow you home on a drive late at night?


people back then just were stupid.
Reply:A comet
Reply:It was a comet put there divinely by God.
Reply:No, more likely it was a Satanic ploy to reveal the whereabouts of the Christ child so he could be killed. The shepherds in the fields found the child by angelic direction. The astrologers followed the star after they visited Herod who planned to kill the child once he found him.
Reply:The "star" was not sent by God. It was sent by Satan. Consider: God's angels announced the birth of Jesus to Jewish shepherds, right? The "star" that guided the astrologers were not worshipers of the true God; they were pagans from the east. Where did the "star take them first? To Jesus? No. It guided them to King Herod who wanted Jesus killed. Since the astrologers never reported back to Herod, he ordered the slaughter of male children, two years and younger.





One side point: The astrologers, who practiced something that was prohibited the Law, did not visit Jesus in stable. By that time Jesus was already living in a house. (Matt.2:11) By then Jesus was around 2 years old.
Reply:The three wise men were actually astrologers.





when they arrived in Jerusalem, they stopped by Herod and inquire about the born King of Jews, Herod was angered and he asked these 3 astrologers to tel him about tha boy if they see him, Herod wanted to kill him not pay homage.





Through an angel God told the astrologers to take a different route...because Herod would kill the baby if he knew where he is. Herod found out about the astrologers' escape so he ordered tha killing of 2 year-old kids and younger...





Surely, the one who made the star appear wasnt God because Jesus was almost killed because of the astrologers being led to him....guess whom did it came from?
Reply:NO it was Halley's Comet (seriously)
Reply:What does it matter?


What star does the 'Star of Bethlehem', and the 'three wise men' refer to?

Can anyone figure out his not-so-hard riddle? And where did those


'wise men' go? And where are they now?

What star does the 'Star of Bethlehem', and the 'three wise men' refer to?
before you get to that; answer this: Where in the bible that it says that there were only three wise men?
Reply:The remains of the three wise men rest in the Cathedral in Koln, Germany.





As far as that star goes, there's too many theories on what it was to go into here.


Was the Star of Bethlehem The Planet Venus Or the North Star Polaris?

I am convinced it was one or the other.

Was the Star of Bethlehem The Planet Venus Or the North Star Polaris?
neither one, it was a fictional story element added decades after the main character was dead.
Reply:The consensus among modern biblical scholars is that this was not an historical event, but was added about a century later to the gospel; see the article in the December 2007 Sky %26amp; Telescope.





Even if the story were true, it could not have been Venus or Polaris. The magi would have been astrologers, and familiar with the sky, and would have paid no attention to Venus, since it's a well known body. Polaris wasn't the pole star in those days, and isn't a very siignificant star otherwise. What would have caught astrologers' attention would have been an unusual event in the heavens. Astronomers have put forward dozens of possibilities, but none holds up under scrutiny.
Reply:I don't think there was actually a star of bethlehem. The story is fictional.
Reply:Astronomers have been debating this for centuries, and have reached no consensus on the matter. Such a phenomenon has not been confirmed by records from contemporary sources.
Reply:its in your beleif what do you believe in?
Reply:No it was not. If it was so then it would have been written that this was the north star. The star at Bethlehem was a spiritual happening by the Father in heaven. He made everything. Therefore, the universe is his to control. He can make even the wind to obey so why not a star?
Reply:It has been hypothesized that it was a comet , possibly Halley. The time frame fits.


Comet Halley is also depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.
Reply:Hi Paul!





This question has been argued up and down. The accounts mentioned in the Gospels would be astronomically impossible, and Venus could not be the Star of Bethlehem as described in the Bible.





According to Matthew, "... and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was."





Anyone who watches the skies know that stars and planets don't move like that, coming to rest over a certain place. They do not come to rest at all. If the Star of Bethlehem were an astronomical object, it could not move to the zenith at Bethlehem and then stop, to mark the place.





The star would stay with a constellation if it were, say, a super nova, following the same orbit night after night. (No supernova was reported by astronomers anywhere in the world at that time, and certainly not with the remarkable start-stop properties of the Star of Bethlehem.) For a star at astronomical distances to stop while the rest of the constellations moved would be utterly impossible under Einsteinian relativity, since it would be moving relative to other stars at a speed far, far in excess of the speed of light.





It could not have been the star Polaris, the current north star, because in the time of Jesus Polaris was not the north star! Due to the astronomical phenomenon of precession, the closest noticeable star to due north was Kochab, in the bowl of the Little Dipper, and it got no closer than 8 degrees from the pole. In any case, if the "north star" were overhead, then Jesus must have been born at the north pole, and obviously this is not the case.





If it were an unusual conjunction of bright planets, everyone would notice the planets coming together well in advance. Bright planets would not stop, over Bethlehem or anyplace else. They move through the evening. Jupiter and Saturn passed one another in the year 7 B.C., but no one thinks Jesus was born in 7 B.C., and if He was, a lot of other biblical events must be wrongly reported.





If Venus were one of these bright planets, it is metaphysically impossible for Venus to appear overhead in the night sky. Venus cannot get higher than 47 degrees ahead of the sun, anywhere in the world.





The most obvious explanation for the Star of Bethlehem is that it fulfils a pre-existing prophecy in the Book of Micah. Either God performed a special miracle at Bethlehem, one that does not involve astronomical phenomena (something like the miracle of the falling sun at Fatima, reported by the faithful in 1917 but absolutely not observed anywhere else in the world, despite its obviously earth-shaking nature); or Gospel writers simply supposed that the Star of Bethlehem must have happened because the prophet Micah said it would.





P.S. I saw Michael's intriguing hypothesis about a planetary conjunction in August, 2 B.C.. I suppose that astrologers of the day might well have been fascinated, but the Wikipedia account of this planetary conjunction leaves out one essential fact: it all happened against a bright sky within a few minutes of sunrise. The Wikipedia image fails to show that the sun actually sat directly between Venus and the Jupiter-Mars pair. The "star" would have been invisible to the unaided eye, lost in solar glare. If this "star" did indeed pass overhead it would have done so at noon, a time when absolutely no one could have spied it, what with the blazing sun less than a fists-width away.
Reply:Its says on the history channel that it maybe when Venus and Jupiter conjuct.And with that case,it will be bright as like the one in the star in bethlehem.Other said that it is the comet Halley.
Reply:It couldn't have been the planet Venus because that is only visible in early evening and morning and it most likely wasn't the north star either because according to the time line that would put the birth of Jesus some time in the spring some 5 years earlier (according to astronomers).


I think it was a ufo. lol
Reply:Biblical Scholars think that the Star of Bethlehem is actually a very rare combination of the planets Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and the star Regulus, known as "The king star", in the constellation Leo that "fused together to form one star." Since this "star" was a "wandering star" and the planets do wander, it makes since.
Reply:There is a theory that it was actually a comet.
Reply:The Star of Bethlehem may have been an occultation of Jupiter by the moon that occurred in 6 BC, the re-emergence of the royal planet from behind the moon's disc suggesting a royal birth.


Or :


it was a nova with a cloud of hydrogen gas that was ejected


i.e a greater explosion of a star could have been the Star of Bethlehem. It could also have been a faint nearby star that exploded.
Reply:Neither. Its fictional okay. Planet Venus that bright? Seeesh...you can be easily convinced.





CC

camera

The star mary +joseph followed to bethlehem or jeruslim?

i forget wich way round it is..but i think its a distance of 16 or 18 miles..they followed a star for 18 miles it musta traveled at 5mph..that would of took a few hours..how did that star move so slow hovering at bethlehem over a stable

The star mary +joseph followed to bethlehem or jeruslim?
for some time i've taken the account by sheer faith waiting for a plausible explanation because it made no sense that "a star", one of gazillions in the sky, could "lead" someone to a particular place.





or perhaps "a star" that was actually one or more moving moons orbiting in an odd dance around a distant planet that gave it peculiar animation from earths perspective.





but since the slow moving latest comet.. i'm thinking that it might have been a comet that the magi followed. it had to be something unusual and different than what anyone could see happening in the heavens.


or perhaps they followed an angel.





an interesting part is the magi themselves. its said that they were among a long line of astronomers that were commissioned by Daniel after the angel showed him concerning the time of Jesus coming... and that the gifts they offered were chosen by Daniel to present to the Christ child. for Daniel had been shown that He would be the King of the Jews, and that He would be killed. and the gifts spoke of those events.
Reply:Mary and Joseph didn't follow the star - the Magi did. And it wasn't from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. They followed the star to Jerusalem, and then got directions to Bethlehem from there.
Reply:It was the wise men that follow that star, Joeseph %26amp; Mary was already there.
Reply:THE MAGI followed the star, not Mary and Joseph.





Joseph had to return to his place of birth for the Census. So he returned to Bethlehem. The Magi from the east following the star to find the Christ.
Reply:Jesus's birth record states he was born in a place called Mird, near Qumran in the year 7 B.C.(Gregorian). The Essene, which Joseph and Mary were, lived and worked in Qumran, where there was a library which also kept records of births deaths and marriages.





These records were part of 'The Dead Sea Scrolls'.





So there was no reason for them to go to Bethlehem or Jerusalem. As with most christian writings it's just a story to ensnare the gullible.


Why did the star over Bethlehem look exactly like the Star of David?

Coincidence? Purposed by God (Divine destiny)? Other?

Why did the star over Bethlehem look exactly like the Star of David?
Because in the flesh Jesus is a direct descendant of King


David and through the first born line.
Reply:I am adding this question to my all ready over filled storage box of interesting ideation.





Thank you questioner. I am now going to give you an "Interesting" tic.
Reply:Were you a witness? Sorry dude, you don't know that for sure.
Reply:The star of Bethlehem was never said to look like the star of David, but if it did, then maybe it was described as such because Jesus and his family were Jewish and he was the "King of the Jews"
Reply:Uhhh.. no one knows that or has asserted that... why are you?
Reply:It didn't, it was just a really bright star. It was called the Star of David, but that is only because it signified the descendant of David was born king of the Jews.
Reply:Please give the Biblical reference you base this on.
Reply:Why would you think that? Stars in the Bible are not always big burning balls of gases. Often they are angels. This verse refers to the angels singing at creation.





Job 38:7  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?





And this verse also shows that stars can be angels.





Revelation 1:20  The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches:





And look at this verse about the star of Bethlehem.





Matthew 2:9  When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, WENT BEFORE THEM, TILL IT CAME AND STOOD stood over where the young child was.





This is not a moving ball of fire - it is an angel, guiding those wise men to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Reply:Who said it did? The only time you see that is in a few paintings. There were no drawings or paintings done while it was in the sky.
Reply:Divine destiny. Bethlehem is the city of David, where he was born and raised as a shepheard, and David was an ancestor of Our Lord.





Oh, and Jesus was a Jew.
Reply:It didn't.
Reply:You realize it's technically impossible, right?





For all matters concerned it's just a point of light. The best it could have is a six-point symmetry.
Reply:And your source for this is.....?
Reply:I didnt know the Bible came with illustrations.


The only image of the star over Bethlehem show it more as a twinkling plus sign or something.


And the Star of David is far from that...its more like two triangles attached together..


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Dav...
Reply:I'm sure the star that the maggi or wisemen saw and followed to Bethehem was not formed by two blue triangles one over the other.


So why is the Star of Bethlehem and the A-Star the Same Star in Sagittarius Announcing the Messiah of Earth?

The passage in Luke about "the low estate of his handmaiden" takes on an astronomical meaning when we see Virgo arriving from below with her hand first to emerge above the horizon, i.e. the hand of the maiden.


BLACK HOLES ANNOUNCE THE COMING OF CHRIST


Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. —Isaiah 60:1-3





And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,


For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; (Luke 1:48)


The zodiac constellation preceding Capricorn is Sagittarius...JESUS

So why is the Star of Bethlehem and the A-Star the Same Star in Sagittarius Announcing the Messiah of Earth?
Black Holes: What Are They?


Black holes are the evolutionary endpoints of stars at least 10 to 15 times as massive as the Sun. If a star that massive or larger undergoes a supernova explosion, it may leave behind a fairly massive burned out stellar remnant. With no outward forces to oppose gravitational forces, the remnant will collapse in on itself. The star eventually collapses to the point of zero volume and infinite density, creating what is known as a " singularity ". As the density increases, the path of light rays emitted from the star are bent and eventually wrapped irrevocably around the star. Any emitted photons are trapped into an orbit by the intense gravitational field; they will never leave it. Because no light escapes after the star reaches this infinite density, it is called a black hole.


But contrary to popular myth, a black hole is not a cosmic vacuum cleaner. If our Sun was suddenly replaced with a black hole of the same mass, the earth's orbit around the Sun would be unchanged. (Of course the Earth's temperature would change, and there would be no solar wind or solar magnetic storms affecting us.) To be "sucked" into a black hole, one has to cross inside the Schwarzschild radius. At this radius, the escape speed is equal to the speed of light, and once light passes through, even it cannot escape.


The Schwarzschild radius can be calculated using the equation for escape speed.


vesc = (2GM/R)1/2


For photons, or objects with no mass, we can substitute c (the speed of light) for Vesc and find the Schwarzschild radius, R, to be R = 2GM/c2


If the Sun was replaced with a black hole that had the same mass as the Sun, the Schwarzschild radius would be 3 km (compared to the Sun's radius of nearly 700,000 km). Hence the Earth would have to get very close to get sucked into a black hole at the center of our solar system.





The above describes a black hole rationally. What you are saying is nonsense. Stick to religion and stop trying to be scientific....you are not fit for it.
Reply:Interesting observation.





Check my sources in regards to Cayce's interpretation of revelation. Cayce clearly connects the 12 disciples to the Zodiac and I see it also within the entire works of Revelation.





Try Searching under "Edgar Cayce Revelation" and see what you think.
Reply:Sorry, it would have been obscured by the sun.





The astrological dates are given as the time the sun spends in that constellation. Since Sagittarius is right before Capricorn, it would still be impossible to see at that time of the year. It is not a "winter" constellation.
Reply:i was informed by a prof that the "star" may not have been a star at all as there is no astrological record of one in the vincinty, but it was probably celestial event of great magnitiude such as a comet
Reply:An amalgamation of religion and astronomy.


That should make things very clear.


Jupiter largest and Venus brightest came together to form the Bethlehem star? http://thestarofbethlehemmovie...

Thanks, great information it makes sense also. Using the bible an writings of historians and new astrology software WOW it is exciting. These are FACTS not theory's.


Here is some of his writings from his web-site on the death of Christ at 3:00 pm exactly.





But there is more which they could not see. Kepler's equations indicate that the moon rose already in eclipse, already bloody, fulfilling Joel's vision. Necessarily, this means that the eclipse commenced before moonrise. With software we can look below the horizon and see Earth's shadow begin the eclipse. When we do, we find that at 3 PM, as Jesus was breathing his last on the cross, the moon was going to blood.





The sky at Christ's birth can be viewed as a kind of visual poetry, with the new moon symbolically "birthed" at the foot of Virgo, the virgin. To complete that celestial poem, on the night of Jesus' death the moon had returned to the foot of the virgin. But now it was a full moon. A life fully lived, blotted out in blood.

Jupiter largest and Venus brightest came together to form the Bethlehem star? http://thestarofbethlehemmovie...
This link explains some possible stellar events of that time--


http://dev.smm.org/buzz/buzz_tags/star_o...





However this is of course a matter of religious faith and not really subject to a "science" debate.
Reply:Actually, Tom, the conclusion of that article is that all modern biblical scholars are agreed that the Star of Bethelehem is a "non-historic event," i.e. it didn't happen.
Reply:The source is really good. Basically it could have been Jupiter and Saturn, but it is really more complicated than that.





The bible actually says very little about the star, but one thing it does say (in Matthew 2:7) is that Herod asked the wise men what time the star appeared, which implies it was not obvious to ordinary people.
Reply:It's Christmas tradition to bring up this question.





First, I wouldn't gather my science information from a movie.





I believe that you can find star maps on the internet that can take you into the past to see what the skies might have looked like. It's true that we do not have the exact date of the birth of Jesus. It is likely somewhere between 6BC and 7AD. It is not known whether King Herod died in 4BC or 1BC (Jesus was born before Herod died). This time frame presents many opportunities for conjuncts (if that's what it was).





It is my understanding that the three Magi went out in search of a baby boy. They only stopped at Bethlehem since there was a celebration going on (that's why the inn's were full) and the Magi figured that, with all of the extra people there, this would be a good place to find a baby. This was not necessarily where the 'star' was overhead.





In modern times, astronomers have proposed various explanations for the star, including a nova, a planet, a comet, an occultation, and a conjunction. The Biblical account suggests that the visit of the magi took place at least several months after Jesus was born. Matthew's account suggests that by the time the magi arrived, Jesus was a child (paidion), not an infant (brephos). This is why Herod ordered the execution of all male children in Bethlehem age 2 and under. This ends the familiar fiction story of Jesus receiving gifts as a baby in a manger. In fact, it remains quite possible that, if the savior was supposed to be a baby, the Magi gave presents to the wrong boy.





We are able to place the death of Jesus during the reign of Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea . Pilate ruled from 26-36AD. Jesus' entire 2-3 year ministry occurred during Pilate's rule (most likely from records as 28-29AD).





It wasn't just Jesus that had a star in the sky: The ancients believed that astronomical phenomena were connected to terrestrial events. Miracles were routinely associated with the birth of important people, including the Hebrew patriarchs, as well as Greek and Roman heroes.





Locating a baby was then a self-fulfilling prophecy. There was an unusual star in the sky, therefore there had to be a savior found on Earth.





Jesus was not considered important during his lifetime so the precise details of his birth were not recorded as they occurred. The major non-biblical source of information about Jewish happenings around the time of Jesus' lifetime comes from the writings of the Jewish historian, Joseph ben Matthias ( also known as Flavius Josephus), called The Jewish War, written just after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD, and Jewish Antiquities, written around 93AD. Jesus receives just a brief mention in Josephus' writings and what is there is only about his adult life. The Roman historian Tacitus mentions Jesus in only one sentence of his last large work, the Annals, and that sentence is about Jesus' death. The best information we have comes from the biblical books of Matthew and Luke that were written about 80-90 years after Jesus' birth. The authors of Matthew and Luke did not write with our modern understanding of historical accuracy in mind. This fact is not remembered by many Christians, agnostics, and atheists today. Jesus did not have a scribe at his side recording his daily life and sayings.





That's all from me, it's time to saddle up the camel. If someone can pinpoint a magnificent event during these years (besides north star I mean) good luck as there are many many possible conjuncts. A nova would seem likely yet the Chinese report that the nova that occured in 5BC was not very bright. We must remember that the Magi were astronomers (or at least astrologers), so the event must have been more spectacular than average.





Happy holidays and happy star gazing.





-





north star, if you are going to quote the Bible, you may want to actually read it instead of repeating STORIES about the Bible that you may have overheard when you were a child.





Thanks for narrowing down the date of the conjunction to the rule of Augustus Ceasar 27BC - 14AD! All stars 'appear' when the Sun sets. The Magi did not travel for a few days as you suggest. From Persia, whence the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem was a journey of between 1000 and 1200 miles. Such a distance may have taken any time between three and twelve months by camel. Besides the time of travel, there were probably many weeks of preparation. The Magi could scarcely have reached Jerusalem untill a year or more had elapsed from the time of the appearance of the star.
Reply:1997-2006 I was working flat out had no time to look for dates


2007 Got a chance to start dating again
Reply:Hi Forgive!





This question has been argued up and down. The accounts mentioned in the Gospels would be astronomically impossible, and Venus could not be the Star of Bethlehem as described in the Bible.





According to Matthew, "... and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was."





Anyone who watches the skies know that stars and planets don't move like that, coming to rest over a certain place. They do not come to rest at all. If the Star of Bethlehem were an astronomical object, it could not move to the zenith at Bethlehem and then stop, to mark the place.





If you had been trying to find a Christ child, the planetary conjunction in August, 2 B.C. would have been of absolutely no help to you. The articles you've been reading about this planetary conjunction leave out one essential fact: the conjunction happened in the daytime. I've seen images of it on Wikipedia, but they fail to show that the sun actually sat directly between Venus and Jupiter. The "star" would have been invisible to the unaided eye, lost in solar glare. If this "star" did indeed pass overhead it would have done so at noon, a time when absolutely no one could have spied it, what with the blazing sun less than a fists-width away.





The most obvious explanation for the Star of Bethlehem is that it fulfils a pre-existing prophecy in the Book of Micah. Either God performed a special miracle at Bethlehem, one that does not involve astronomical phenomena (something like the miracle of the falling sun at Fatima, reported by the faithful in 1917 but absolutely not observed anywhere else in the world, despite its obviously earth-shaking nature); or Gospel writers simply supposed that the Star of Bethlehem must have happened because the prophet Micah said it would.





People of faith, like me, have no trouble accepting that God could perform a special miracle that the Wise Men saw, but that did not otherwise upset the celestial order. Those, however, who believe in the sort of "Bible-science" that requires the Gospel account to be explained by some sort of natural phenomenon are, I am convinced, fated to perpetually spin their wheels!
Reply:There is some evidence that the Star of Bethlehem was a rare conjuction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. This event coincides with the birth of Christ, which is known, because it was during the reign of Caesar Augustus, and the year of the taxing of the Empire, which is kept in ancient records here on Earth. It says in the Bible that the "Star" appeared, which means that it was not always there and had not been there. The one downside to this is that the wise men traveled for days following the star, and a conjuction of planets could not stay together for more than a night(unless it was supernaturally held in place). Another possibility is a nova, which could easily have dimmed and grown extremely bright for a period of days. The Bible actually describes this star very little, but says that it led to Bethlehem and the place of Christs' birth.
Reply:That's a possibility discussed in the December Sky %26amp; Telescope. It was dusk on June 17, 2 BC in the west-northwestern sky as seen from Babylon. It's not known for certain if this was it, because the exact day of Christ's birth is not known.

gordon

What was the Bethlehem "star"?

Also, was it only visible to certain people (shepherds and Magi) or was everyone able to see it?

What was the Bethlehem "star"?
The Bible does not say it was visible to the sheppards, only to the magi or astrologers from the east. What was it could be hypothesized based on who it attracted and where it led them to.





The sheppards were invite, but the magi were astrologers who predicted the future based on the movement of the stars. They went bearing gifts for the children of significant births, such as when Augustus Cesar was born.





In studying the Jewish traditions, and seeing the Star, they followed it. The Star appeared on the night of the birth of Christ, sometime in early fall, so they couldn't have arrived to find a babe in the manger, as mythology states. All Bibles state that they found a boy in a house.





It should be noted that the star did not lead them first to Bethlehem, but to Jerusalem, where they met with King Herod, who desired to kill the Christ child. It has always been funny to me that people say it led them to Bethlaham. If it had, so many kids would not have been killed. Herod's advisers told them to check Bethlehem. The movement of the star led to the death of every first born child under the age of two, so the Star was not of God, but of Satan.





There have been many theories about what the star was, but personally, I think it was Satan or one of the fallen angels, appearing in the sky. Remember, Christ said they can appear as angels of light and this was a time before telescopes. All they would have known was that it was a bright light in the sky. There would have been no way to determine its size or distance from the planet.
Reply:please read Matthew 2: 1-12





this is the answer you are looking for.
Reply:there is a book titled, " The Stat of Bethlehem " which has been fully researched and documented which may help answer your question.
Reply:The astrological sign of the Messiah, that the Zoroastrian priests(Magi)were able to interpret.
Reply:I have heard one very plausible explanation. Using a special astronomy program, modern-day astronomers have calculated two very bright planetary conjunctions around the time of Jesus Birth and the visit of the Magi. Not knowing the difference between "stars" and "planets", everything back then was a star.





Mesopotamian scholars in this era were very well-versed in astronomy and astrology. They watched the stars all the time for portents and signs of things going on on the earth. So did the Romans and the Greeks. Meteor showers portended death, planetary conjunctions or "new" stars suggested birth, especially of royalty. Where that star was located would indicate into "what nation" the new royal child was born.





Try typing "Star of Bethlehem" into your search engine, along with "astronomy", to find out some interesting facts and theorys.
Reply:The Star of Bethlehem is a common topic of questions asked to astronomers, especially around Christmas time because it is a special astronomical phenomenon that occurred around the time of the birth of Jesus the Christ. What was the Star of Bethlehem? The first reference to the Star of Bethlehem is in the New Testament of the Bible in the second chapter of the book called ``Matthew''. Here are the relevant verses from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV, note that references are annotated as book chapter:verse(s))


Matthew 2:1--2:


Matthew 2:7--10:


Matthew 2:12:


Everyone saw it but payed no heed, just like now, the miracle of life is being un-noticed!!!!
Reply:Most Christians think that it was an energy force sent by God as


a sign of The messiah, others say that it was a natural comet


experience and have looked to the sky for many years in an attempt to identified it.
Reply:probably like any other star..if you were on the right side of the earth you could see it
Reply:From what i have briefly read, according to astronomy records, there appears to have been a unique alignment of planets at that time. The alignment would have intentsified the brightness of the evening planet viewed, and shined like a star. This would have been visible over a large geographic area, so that the "wise men of the east" would have seen this from far away. These planets would also have been in position for a certain time, and it would have taken time to travel to get there.
Reply:Don't you believe me? Get a star projection program and dial in the date. I think it's 6 BC. It'll show Saturn and Jupiter come together in Pisces two or three times, one after the other.This was understood by the maji for what it was: A sign that a great King was born in Judea. The shepherds didn't see stars, they saw angels. That's different.
Reply:Supernova.
Reply:Go here and read "The Star of Bethlehem" online: http://www.askelm.com/index.asp





It is believed to be the best scientifically sound theory ever presented. I could just answer your question right now, but then I'd have to kill you.
Reply:I think the best answer would come from someone who really witnessed the star. Any way referring to the scientific analysis of stars locations since 2006 years on 25 December using a computer program ... it was dark, cloudy and rainy in bethlehem that night and the people who know Bethlehem's weather during that part of the year surely they know this fact ....





God ... I wonder what type of telescope the sheperds used to see the STAR ... unless they have seen a rock star ... :)
Reply:The Bethlehem star would have led Herod to the babe, Jesus. And, Herod was out to kill him. So, guess who made that star shine?
Reply:The 'star' brought astrologers to Herod.


The Bible is against astrology and Herod wanted to kill what he saw as a future king.


These 2 factors should lead one to believe the 'star' was NOT from God.


2 Corinthians 11:14 says Satan can transform himself into an 'angel of light' ....both literally and figuratively.


Would Satan try to kill Jesus while Jesus was in baby form?


Sounds like a plan.


Matthew 2:12 says these 3 were given DIVINE warning not to return to Herod.


Sounds like a fight between good and bad.
Reply:On May 29, 7 BC there occurred an extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pices. It was this that was made into the ledgend of the star of Bethlehem. Urantia book P 1352
Reply:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_bet...
Reply:It may have been an astrological event, in which case others would have seen it, but no one would necessarily feel the need to make anything of it. Slightly more to the point, though, people may very well have seen it. The only report of the Magi having to explain it is their explanation to the King, a man very possibly too removed from seasonal cycles and anything other than the duties of his court to need or to be able to go stargazing.
Reply:The "star" was actually Satan transforming himself into an angel of light, in order to have the Son of God put to death. Jehovah put a stop to Satan's evil plan by giving a divine warning to the astrologers not to return to Herod, thus saving the life of his only-begotten Son.
Reply:It was Jupiter, they followed it west ward from Iran to Jerusalem. Once they got there the planet moved south and then they followed it to Jesus. There is scientific fact on this.





Science has already proved most of the bible as fact other than Genesis, Revelation and a few other parts where the dates are off but the facts of what actually happened have already been proven.





Science at the present time has just showed how Moses parted the red sea and then closed it on the pursuing Egyptians.





It took them nine months to get from Iran to Israel, to avoid going through the desert where there was no water they went up into turkey then dropped down into Israel.





Planets do move across the sky faster than stars plus Jupiter actually from their point of view stopped and went the other way.





I'm trying to remember the dates. I believe science feels Jesus was born around April or May I don't remember the exact date because I learned this about a years ago.





But there are two dates one in April, May and the other is November, one was the birth of Christ and the other is when the wise men showed up.





I think Jesus was born in April or May but the wise men had already started going to Israel before he was born and didn't get there til November, I think that's right.
Reply:If they followed the "star", that would indicate that it was moving, changing position relative to the other stars they could see. That would suggest that it was either a planet, or a comet.
Reply:It was a UFO


Jesus birthday was 17 April in the year 0006, and the star of Bethlehem was the planet Saturn!?

I recently watched a spcial program that came up with that information based a a computer study. the year was off by 6 years and the only very bright star in the heavens at that time was the planet Saturn. Anybody else have anything to add to that statement, it did sound logical the way it was computed.

Jesus birthday was 17 April in the year 0006, and the star of Bethlehem was the planet Saturn!?
wouldn't it be easier to research when the romans had their census?
Reply:And you believe all lies you see on TV!!!!!!!!!
Reply:I have no idea when Jesus was born. But personally, I think Jesus was born sometime in early autumn (September-October) because the Bible says that the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, which the winter would have been too cold for. The Bible also says that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, which also would make sense considering that Caesar Augustus ordered a census (referred to by Luke), and a census would most likely occur after the harvest season, around September-October.


Along those same lines, it also comes down to this: Do you think that the almighty God, the Alpha and the Omega, Creator of all things, the one being not bound by time or logic or any of our physical parameters, do you think that he could be figured out by a computer program, or common sense, or logical reasoning? I'm not saying He can't be understood; I'm just pointing out that there's alot about Him that we don't/can't understand.
Reply:You may be right. We just celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. Im not sure why though.
Reply:The bible is not to be interputed literally, It is mostly made up of psalms(poems) and letters, Also back then they had a differnt calender year then now in the present.


Jesus birthday was 17 April in the year 0006, and the star of Bethlehem was the planet Saturn!?

I recently watched a spcial program that came up with that information based a a computer study. the year was off by 6 years and the only very bright star in the heavens at that time was the planet Saturn. Anybody else have anything to add to that statement, it did sound logical the way it was computed.

Jesus birthday was 17 April in the year 0006, and the star of Bethlehem was the planet Saturn!?
I believe you are correct because in the bible, I can't remember exactley where but it says in what month Mary concieved and 9 mnths later is April. Jehova witnesses believe this also. I'm not Jehova witness I'm just saying. Nothing against them, their believes may be what we all should be believing.
Reply:I think jesus is from ur-anus.
Reply:Historians and Biblical Scholars place the birth of Christ around 4 B.C. Saturn is a planet not a star. Stars twinkle and planets do not. "Stars" as depicted in the Holy Bible, are mere Angels not suns in outer space. Christ did exist in the human form, as Roman historians of Jesus's time wrote about Him; as well as, Jewish Historians [Josephus]. He was a real being, called Emanuel [God in the flesh dwelling among men] . When people like in this program attribute what they perceive as their little pet project and attach it as fact, to give their views credence cause confusion and doubt. It may of sounded logical but when it is compared to already substantiated facts, it fails the test.
Reply:I am not religious, so I don't care when Jesus was born. I, however, participate in gift-giving and family holiday reunions. The day assigned to Christmas may or may not be accurate, but the established tradition is here to stay. I see the time and energy spent towards trying to discover the exact date of a probable myth as a total waste. Just "do as the Romans do" and relax. Merry Christmas!
Reply:People are always trying to explain away biblical events. They also say Jesus walked on water when the lake was frozen.
Reply:Yes i do sir, but after reading the answers you allready have, i realize, no one would believe it.
Reply:No one knows exactly when Jesus was born so this is just a load of crap but hey if you buy it I got a bridge for sale real cheap in Arizona.


What is the bright object that looks like the star of bethlehem in the evening/night skies at the moment?

Its brighter than anything Ive observed recently, about 3-4 times that of any nearby star in the skies.

What is the bright object that looks like the star of bethlehem in the evening/night skies at the moment?
Venus. It is currently near the maximum distance that it can appear to be from the Sun. That is why it is so noticeable right now.
Reply:Definitely Venus.
Reply:If you are looking after sunset than it the object is in the low western sky, then it is Venus.
Reply:It can be sirius as sirius is the brightest object in the night sky.Its a star with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.47. It is located in the constellation Canis Major.
Reply:its probably the planet Venus
Reply:Venus is just above the horizon in the western sky.
Reply:Venus.

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Bethlehem star?

The Bible mentions that it travelled and then stopped for the Magi. How would that work since stars don't do that kind of thing?





Was it from God or Satan? I have heard both.





Something of that magnitude and magnificence would be hard for the rest of the world to miss, so why was it not recorded in secular history?

Bethlehem star?
The star you are referring to was believed to be a conjunction. The Magi were astrologers, and saw an astrological significance of the conjunction.








"A triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 B.C. and has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the star of Bethlehem. Even making the display more impressive was a massing (a massing is when several planets move into close proximity in the sky) of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn that immediately followed the conjunction. The conjunctions and massing also occurred in the constellation of Pisces which was often identified with the Jews."





Neat huh? A little research goes a long way.





Keep on thumpin!
Reply:Read the first chapter of the old testament book of Ezekiel and you'll know much more about the "star" of Bethlehem.
Reply:from God...not many books in those days but the ark story was written esveral places
Reply:Just like the bible points to Jesus everywhere you look at the





The Rock in the wilderness





The blood on the doorposts





The manna





many others





God made a star to point to his son. A special happening needed a special star
Reply:There are many accounts in the Bible, which employ a literary device used by Jewish Old and New Testament writers called Midrash. Midrash is the substantive of the Hebrew word darash which means to search, to investigate, to study and, also, to expound on the fruits of the research. The aim of Midrash is to draw from Scripture a lesson for the present.





Midrash could also be defined as a "reflection on Scripture in the light of the actual situation of God's people and of the developments of God's action on its history." It proposes to explain the meaning of Scripture in the light of the later historical experience of God's people. This kind of interpretation often opened the door to embellishments of the sacred accounts, anachronisms, and a freedom in handling and maneuvering the data of tradition that were at times a little too candid and certainly very imaginative.





For more information about Midrash please go to this link.://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia...
Reply:It was no ordinary star. Most probably a cluster of angels.





"That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant."


Does anyone know when the star of Bethlehem was seen?

i heard that Dec. 25 is not christ's actual birthday, and that the star was actually around what is known as easter---can anyone confirm this?

Does anyone know when the star of Bethlehem was seen?
I've heard that too. The reason we celebrate his birthday on December 25 is to coincide with the druid's celebration of the winter solstice. The Christians who were trying to convert people way back when, tried to tie in Christian holidays to pagan ones to make them more willing to celebrate the Christian ones and not give up their old holidays
Reply:the Catholics think it is 25th of Dec. most other scholars believe he was born in summer.
Reply:The Wise Men in the Bible came around the time that Jesus was 2 years-old. That is why Herod killed all the young boys in Bethlehem when the Wise Men didn't return to him to tell who and where the child was. As for Dec. 25th, they did not know the exact date of Jesus's birth.
Reply:No, his birthday was not Dec 25th. Why? Because: (a) that part of the world is, and was, cold and rainy during December; so the shepherds who were out in the field with their flocks the night Jesus was born would NOT have been there at THAT time (Luke 2: 8,9); (b) the Jews were a stiff-necked, rebellious people who hated the Roman yoke; so they would have rebelled if the order to travel to their own city to get registered came during winter (Luke 2: 1-4). There's more to it than that, but I don't want to take up too much space on that subject.


As to the star: it appeared about 2 years after Jesus was born, because (a) it led the Magi--astrologers, not believers--to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem--where Jesus was born (Luke 2:15). In Jerusalem they inquired of Herod (why? I don't know, the Bible doesn't say) and he asked them to look for Jesus, supposedly to worship him but really to destroy him; which shows the star was not sent by God, but Satan. (b) When they found him he was in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. (c)They left and were warned by an angel not to go back to Herod. When he found out about this he ordered all babies within a specific area under two years of age to be killed (Matthew 2: 16). Why two years, if Jesus had just been born? True, he order all babies in and around Bethleham to be killed, but he obviously didn't kow that Jesus' family had moved.
Reply:It was actually recorded first by Bruce Willis while trying to blow up an asteroid heading on a collision course for the planet earth .
Reply:No one can be sure. It was 2000 years ago. A date was picked.


People waste their time arguing on this and other points instead of concentrating on the good news.
Reply:It's a fable, a legend.


No such star has ever been reported. Ever.


Just do some astronomical research and see for yourself.


And try not to confuse reality with mythology ok?
Reply:dec 25th was a pagan holiday and the church didnt like that so they told everyone it was jesus' birthday and christians dont seem to care they just say if you praise jesus it doesnt matter but if you call poop a flower does that make it any better, christians praise poop
Reply:The wisemen came from the east following the star. therefore it was as much as 3 years before they came to bethleham


Where was the star of Bethlehem, in which part of the skies? Is there an astrological record?

3 wise men from different nations all came together as they followed this star-however if one was from the east and another from the west or north or south, they would not have merged-so I presume that they came from the same general direction

Where was the star of Bethlehem, in which part of the skies? Is there an astrological record?
Try google next time:





------------------


...Because the magi told Herod that they saw the star "at its rising," many readers have concluded that it was an astronomical object. Although there is no basis for the often repeated claim that the Greek text specifies a predawn, or heliacal, rising it would be odd if professional stargazers felt the need to mention an ordinary nightly rising.





According to Origen, the star was in "the nature of those celestial bodies which appear at times, such as comets, or those meteors which resemble beams of wood, or beards, or wine jars."





In 1614, German astronomer Johannes Kepler determined that a series of three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 BC and linked this event to the Star of Bethlehem. Although conjunctions were important in astrology, Kepler was not thinking in astrological terms. He argued that a planetary conjunction could create a nova, which he linked to the Star of Bethlehem. Modern calculations show that there was always a large gap between the two planets, so these conjunctions were not impressive. An ancient almanac has been found in Babylon which covers the events of this period, but it makes no specific reference to the conjunctions.





Chinese and Korean stargazers observed an object thought to be a nova or a comet around 5 BC. This object was observed for over seventy days with no movement recorded. Ancient writers described comets as "hanging over" specific cities, just as the Star of Bethlehem was said to have "stood over" the "place" where Jesus was (presumably the town of Bethlehem). This phrase was not used to describe other astronomical objects, so perhaps the tail of a comet was thought to point to a specific terrestrial location....





Another Star of Bethlehem candidate is Uranus, which was visible at various times. However, it probably moved too slowly to be recognized as a planet...
Reply:First of all, the bible does not say there were 3 wisemen. There could have been two or twenty two. Also, they were astrologers and magic practicers. Something that God detests. Since Satan wanted the child dead, is it possible that he placed this light in front of the wisemen to lead them to the child? After all, they had gone to Harod first and Herod wanted them to report back to him so he could kill the baby Jesus. Nobody else reports seeing the star. No astrological record exists.
Reply:It was a UFO.....not a star. Well... that is one of many theories.


A speculation about the star of Bethlehem??

The bible says that there was a bright star shining in the east when Jesus was born...perhaps they were actually witnessing haley's comet or another comet??? i know that in 1066, right before william the conqueror's invasion of england, they saw a "bright star" that they counted as an omen, but actually was Haley's comet. Any opinions on this?

A speculation about the star of Bethlehem??
Check this out.





http://askelm.com/video/real/xmas_star.s...
Reply:There has been a lot of research done on the Star of Bethlehem, but no one has successfully identified it. There is an article in the December 2007 issure of Sky %26amp; Telescope which says that biblical scholars have decided that the story is apocyphal, added into the gospel a century after Christ's birth, and quite inconsistent with known historical facts.
Reply:Well, they don't really know for sure if there was a comet, since nowhere in scripture or in history was written about a sort of comet or fast moving object in the sky around that time (from what I have heard).





But read this, and maybe it can help you out a little bit.
Reply:If the star appearance is so sudden, and the brightness goes up in short time, than it is probably a supernova happening years before, but due to the limit in the speed of light, the light reached Betlehem at the time.





Otherwise it might be a meteor.
Reply:For me,maybe thats not halleys comet.Maybe its Venus,because its the brightest object in the sky.If its a star,it is maybe the star Sirius and Sirius is the brightest star..

Teeth Implants

What created the mythical "Star of Bethlehem?"?

Experts believe it may have well been the alignment of Venus %26amp; Jupiter which would have looked like a massive star on June 17, 2BC right around the estimated date of the birth of Christ (2BC). Has anyone heard any other theories or speculations on what created this star? Is the star real or mythical?

What created the mythical "Star of Bethlehem?"?
"The three wise men" were astrologers. Important business back then. They had read somewhere that an important person would be born. So they ventured out. An alignment of planets would have been very significant to them. I have read that it was Jupiter and Saturn that aligned at around 4 bc (!) but I could be wrong. Either way. The wise men would have seen the "stars" move closer and closer togheter heading towards them for a while. As they "merged" they began looking around. And the first newborn they found was baby boy Jesus.
Reply:I am not a historian or dont plan to pretend to be but the only star I have heard of in that time is the north star,
Reply:Anonymous author c. 150 AD
Reply:It's a myth. Dreamed up by people penning (editing) the bible a 100 years after Jesus died.
Reply:No one knows and don't even knows when the birth took place. Catholic priests placed the birth close to the new year because Halloween and all saints day was around that time and they tried to discourage pagan holidays. Some speculate that it could have a comet in the sky at that time. Some even think it was all made up. Catholic priests destroyed all record and scrolls that didn't fit their propaganda and teachings. I seriously doubt any one will ever know for sure.
Reply:i think it was stolen from the Mithraists who believed it was a portent of the birth of Mithras about 600 bc


Need pattern for Star of Bethlehem quilt?

Pattern could also be called Lone Star, Morning Star, or Star of the East.

Need pattern for Star of Bethlehem quilt?
Keepsake quilting (online and catalog) has a variety...but rather than paying for a pattern I would suggest you go to the library and find a quilting book that has it in there. A few copies (pennies a piece) and voila.


Chances are, the fabric store you buy fabric at probably has that as well....better yet, a quilt store DEFINATELY would.


On your own, I'd search online for Lone Star quilting patterns (include 'free' in the search). There are a few sites out there that have free stuff, but it's usually not of high quality.


Good luck with this pattern, hope you don't swear too much.


(Note: you probably would have gotten more responses had you posted this under Hobbies and Games)
Reply:If you go to quilterscache.com, you'll find free patterns and directions for Morning Star. Hope this is the one you're looking for!


Star of Bethlehem............?

According to the Bible, there was a special star over the manger where Baby Jesus laid. (Matt. 2:2). Is there any evidence in the archives of history that this actually happened the way the Bible says?

Star of Bethlehem............?
The following is and article taken from a web site :


But perhaps no other planetary grouping can equal that of the two brightest planets Venus and Jupiter for the explanation that we seek. And if we take the only known account of the Star literally, as given in St. Matthew, then what we really need is the appearance of not just one, but two "stars." The first appearance would have been seen well in advance of the Magis arrival in Bethlehem, and the other at the end of their long journey.





Perhaps the signal for their star was to be a sign in the constellation of Leo, the Lion.





To the early Israelites, Leo was a constellation of great astrological significance and considered a sacred part of the sky. A very close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter would have been visible in the eastern dawn sky of the Middle East from about 3:45 to 5:20 a.m. on Aug. 12, 3 BC.





When they first emerged above the eastern horizon, the two planets were separated by only about two-fifths of the Moons apparent diameter or 12 minutes of arc. As a comparison, the separation of the stars Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the Big Dipper is also 12 minutes. Planets this close are very striking, if they don't differ too much in brightness.





Incidentally, St. Matthew wrote that the Magi stated in their meeting with King Herod: "We have seen his Star in the East and have come to worship him." It has never been clear if they saw the star in the eastern sky, or if they saw it from the East. The fact that the Aug. 12, 3 BC conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred in the eastern sky and may have also started the Magi on the journey (from the East) to Bethlehem means that both bases are covered with their statement -- reported by St. Matthew -- to King Herod.





Venus ultimately vanished into the glare of the Sun, but Jupiter and Leo remained in the night sky during the next ten months. During this time a number of additional planetary conjunctions took place, all of which would have been of great importance to the priest-astrologers of the time.





Encore





Then, during June of 2 BC, as Jupiter and the stars of Leo began to sink into the western evening twilight, Venus again returned to this same region of the sky for an even more spectacular encore.





The Magi certainly would have especially taken note that on the evening of June 17, when Jupiter and Venus appeared even closer together than they did in the dawn skies of the previous August. As the planets slowly descended toward the horizon they got closer and closer together.





Finally, at 8:30 p.m. local time they drew to within a mere 0.6 of an arc minute of each other while appearing to hover some 15 above the western horizon. To the Magi the two brightest planets must have appeared to coalesce into one and glowed before them like a dazzling beacon over Judea. Eyeglasses were many centuries in the future, so only people with perfect eyes would have seen the planets separated.





See for yourself





Astronomy can tell us that all these planetary conjunctions indeed occurred. In fact, users of the software package Starry Night Pro can go back in time and view all these planet configurations for themselves on their home computers and try to judge which of these might have appeared the most impressive to the Magi.





But whether anyone actually observed them, and if any of these sent the Magi on their historic journey, are all matters for conjecture.





And finally, was the Star of Bethlehem truly a miracle star? Indeed, a star of stars appearing just once in the history of man? Reaching a conclusion on this subject is not easy, for any natural theory for the Star of Bethlehem can only be at best, just an educated guess.





Perhaps this is a mystery that modern science can never truly unravel. Astronomy has taken us as far as it can go.
Reply:Hi





It was a UFO, Stars don't move, since the MAGI Were


following a " Star that Moved ". but of course who will believe


that, not me.
Reply:No; that's been a bit of a controversy for centuries. There's not even a good record of an unusual configuration or alignment of the stars (the mystics did pay attention to those things back then) in the vicinity of the time of Jesus' birth. Even with a computerized star chart that will allow you to go to any point in time, there's nothing special there, or within a decade either direction, and that's allowing for stars that couldn't even have been SEEN at that point in time. It's a nice story, but there's no evidence for it.
Reply:All spirits enter the physical world through the light. Jesus was sent by God, a star was born as a star is taken away for them who disobey God the Father.





Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" When Satan was sent he was the "morning star" but his crown (star) was taken from him.





And now he is in a place where there is no light, and darkness can not escape, a collasped star (black hole)
Reply:I've tried asking this question before, but have not had a lot of success with it.





The best I've heard is a comet that was observed around 3 CE by the Chinese.





Edit:


I would expect an event that attracted a number of wise men to travel for up to 2 years to have generated more evidence in the form of other cultures observing it.
Reply:I've never heard of a secular account that list this bright star. But there are historical writings that tell about Jesus. Even so, as Christians, we have faith based on what the Bible says, not what we can verify through secular history.
Reply:yes actually. I can not give you an link, but I know that several years ago, some astronomers were able to calculate back words the alignment of the planets in our system Just as they can calculate the advancements of these so that we can send rockets to them. they where able to find out that in about 4 or 3 or 5 BC I don't remember which, many of our major planets lined up in order and they stayed that way for about 4 months, From earth it would have appeared to have been a very bright star.
Reply:Others saw it if God let them.
Reply:yes there is. but i think they thought it was an unusually


bright, venus.
Reply:The star was not there for only one night.


The wise men followed it for many months to get to baby Jesus.


Jesus may have been one year old by the time they reached Him.


Do you really believe that we would be told of any evidence. Satan, the ruler of earth, would not let it be told.
Reply:there was supposed to be an alignment of planets at that time....that caused jupiter to shine especially bright....also the position of the planets created 2 trines which overlapped to form a star of david


Was the "Star of Bethlehem" really a star?

Just curious because if you follow a star, it never gets any closer...you can't really follow an actual star to a place on the ground. So what was it?

Was the "Star of Bethlehem" really a star?
It was actually a UFO.
Reply:that star was God-lead.
Reply:I read on the encyclopedia that it was recorded by chinese astronomers 5 B.C as a comet that stays there for 70 days in the eastern part !!!!
Reply:An Astronomy professor once told me that it was a retro-grade orbit of a planet. Retro-grade orbits are when a planet is in a point in its orbit that we are moving in different directions, so that it appears to be moving backwards in the sky. "Following the star" according to him, meant traveling until the orbits re-alligned so that the planet seemed to be moving in the right direction again. For Persians, who were Zorastrists and therefore expert astronomers, such a orbital shift would have been able to have been foreseen as coming, because it is as sure as clockwork and mathmatics.
Reply:Doubtful. It's much more likely that... if it happened at all... it was a comet. And even then, that's highly unlikely. Much larger chance that... if any of it happened, it was simply a trick of the light.
Reply:I saw a special on TV about this one time and I wish I could remember more of it. Here's what I do remember: the star WAS a real star. The Three Wise Men were wealthy kings who had astronomers who told them of the star's significance. It marked a monumental event. They "followed" it based on the guidance of those astronomers to discover the newborn King Jesus. The star is documented historically as well as Biblically.
Reply:I recently saw a special on the Discovery Channel about the Star of Bethlehem. They used a computer to tell us what stars were out at that time, and the found that the planets were in alignment and the star was actually the Planet Jupiter at the brightest it has ever been. Not bad for the birth of the savior.
Reply:yes
Reply:It was Star Jones.
Reply:a star could be an angel
Reply:Actually, they think that a star went supernova around the time that Jesus was supposed to have been born. Anyway, though, about 'following stars'.... y'know how people say that you should look for the North Star when you get lost in the woods? Because of the Earth's rotation, there is the illusion of stars moving throughout the sky at night. So, you can 'follow' the general direction of a star's course. That definitely doesn't mean that you can follow the average star to a specific building, though.





I have no idea what it was. I have no idea whether it even existed.
Reply:It was a UFO.
Reply:More than likely, since the wise men are described as magi, they weren't following an actual object but were instead following a conjunction of Mars and Jupiter to a spot that had been calculated by careful observation to be directly under the conjunction at the closest point of the conjunction's timing.

fabric boot

What was the Star of Bethlehem?

As research, I wish to know the theories about the star that supposedly led the wise men to Christ. I myself am a little dubious that the celestial body was actually there, but I am hardly an expert. Any info about the star's historical significance, as well as theories of what it might have been, would be appreciated.

What was the Star of Bethlehem?
The show started on the morning of June 12 in 3 B.C., when Venus could be sighted very close to Saturn in the eastern sky. Then there was a spectacular pairing of Venus and Jupiter on Aug. 12 in the constellation Leo, which ancient astrologers associated with the destiny of the Jews.





Between September of 3 B.C. and June of 2 B.C., Jupiter passed by the star Regulus in Leo, reversed itself and passed it again, then turned back and passed the star a third time. This was another remarkable event, since astrologers considered Jupiter the kingly planet and regarded Regulus as the “king star.”





The crowning touch came on June 17, when Jupiter seemed to approach so close to Venus that, without binoculars, they would have looked like a single star.
Reply:It is thought to have been a nova or supernova. There are several other possibilities, but that is the most likely explanation.


Wikipedia, a good starting point, has interesting material about the phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Bet...
Reply:try the sites below
Reply:Hi....





The Star of Bethlehem was the 'Virgin' Star....





Which was 'Sophis' or also known in Ancient Egyptian History as the Star of the 'Virgin' Goddess Isis!!





.
Reply:The Biblical Greek never mentions any "wise men". They are called Magi (Persian astologers), so the "star" could simply be in their astrological charts.
Reply:Biblical nonsense.





Nothing more.
Reply:Both the description and the available early artwork suggest a comet.
Reply:The star was a miraculous sign given by God to mark the birth of the Christ (meaning Messiah).
Reply:Has anyone read the now out-of-print story "The Star", which toils with that question? I'll email it to anyone:





briannaruby@gmail.com
Reply:It was a plot device.


Was the star over Bethlehem really a UFO?

Was Jesus delivered via a UFO into a stable at Bethlehem and the whole event labeled a miracle/virgin birth by news reporters?

Was the star over Bethlehem really a UFO?
whether it was an UFO or not the important thing is that God put it there for a reason.
Reply:Sure, I will believe that sooner than I will believe shepherds in the field in winter.
Reply:NO!





God loves you.....God bless
Reply:Nope. It just never happened.
Reply:no, it was a distant solar system (star/sun) that had gone super nova millions of years ago.
Reply:HAHAHAHAHA do u really belive that? no, he was born just like any other baby in this world. and YES he was born!








lol im sorry i shouldnt be laughing but i have just never heard of ANYTHING like that. if he was brought to earth by a UFO (he wasnt) then how did he get onto it? did the aliens just "make" him out of thin air?
Reply:no, it was a comet, a meteor, or a supernova
Reply:Well there certainly is no historical roman record of Augustus Caeser ordering the execution of all young male children--no Jewish record--no records at all. Wonder what else about Mitrhas errr I mean the Jesus plagarism was taken from earlier cultures?
Reply:Robot Chicken explained it. Let me find a link...





http://video.tvguide.com/playvideo.ashx?...
Reply:Yeah why not?
Reply:According to Chinese astronomy histories, at the time of Christ's birth there was a supernova flaring in their western sky, it could even be seen during the day. Probablities are that this is what they saw.





And Tylertxa, your facts are innacurrate. There is no claim anywhere that Caesar Augustus had the children killed. You are confusing him with King Herod. The Bible purports that it was Herod who had this done, and only in Bethlehem.
Reply:Actually it was a group of angels.
Reply:Nope


The star of Bethlehem was a triple conjunction of stars in the constellation of the Jews. It was so unusual that is what draw the wise men to seek it out.
Reply:No, it was a conjunction of Jupiter %26amp; Saturn, the bible hits on precise timing as even the Persian records show that there was a conjunction between 5-7 b.c.





But it is hard to explain that a celestial object would move from the direction from north to south direction from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Its a mystery.
Reply:No it was a star witnessed by others who followed it. It was a angel of light! Shepherds maji and others witnessed it, Why would they lie!
Reply:I dont know, I wasn't there, but you may as well believe what you like, as far as I know when reaserch was done on the history of comets, one could be placed over that part of the earth all those years ago! so maybe the wise men followed a comet, but i guess we'll never really know what happened that night!?????????????