THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM ---- "Shoulder To Shoulder" Supplement ---- 12/21/99
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
"Shoulder To Shoulder" Supplement ---- 12/21/99
Title: "The Star of Bethlehem ---- Shedding More Light"
Dear Co-Laborer in Christ:
I try very hard to avoid unnecessary letters. If you were a subscriber
during the early stages of this ministry you remember that I questioned
whether to write daily, weekly, or monthly. I opted for weekly because
monthly seemed too infrequent and daily was going to be over-burdensome
for both you and me.
However, when a really special thought or article comes along that has
immediate pertinence, I feel obligated to write to you. The following
article which I picked up from the "Religion Today News Summary", a daily
international religious news e-mail service to which I am subscribed, is
so timely that to wait until Monday, two days after Christmas, was just
too late.
If you have a newsletter or bulletin yet to go out, or if you have
special services between now and Friday, you might like to share this.
So ---- even though I said I wouldn't be writing you again until Monday,
here's a great little bit of scientific validation to the reality of the
Christmas Star. Hope you enjoy.
Bob
++++++++++++++
The Star of Bethlehem is being seen in a new light. The light seen by the
Magi was a gathering of planets and stars, Michael Molnar, a former
Rutgers University astronomer-physicist, says in his book, The Star of
Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi.
The celestial bodies were grouped around Jupiter when it was in the east
and eclipsed by the moon, he said. Other scientists have proposed similar
theories. A widely accepted view has been astronomer Johannes Kepler's
1603 conclusion that the star was a conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn in the constellation of Pisces, the fish.
"...Wise men have been following the wrong constellation for centuries in
their explanations of the heavenly phenomenon", Molnar says. "The light
that led the Magi to the Christ child in Judea shone from the
constellation Aries, the ram", he says. That realization "came like a
flash out of the blue" when he purchased an ancient Syrian coin that
contained the sign of the constellation Aries, which first appeared on
money in 6 A.D., he told The Associated Press.
...In those days, it was accepted that the heavens predicted the future.
Molnar realized that astrologers would have been familiar with Jewish
prophecies that a king would be born in Judea. "People were indeed
watching the skies for the advent of the Messiah" and would have looked
to Aries for signals predicting His birth, he said.
...Molnar began stargazing by computer to see what happened in Aries to
capture the attention of the Magi. Tradition had it that at the time of
Jesus' birth there was an eclipse of Jupiter by the moon. Since the event
must have taken place "in the east," as Matthew 2:2 states, Molnar used a
computer program to chart an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries.
The computer showed that one occurred April 17, 6 B.C. This eclipse
"wasn't a big exploding apparition in the sky," he said, but to people of
that day it was "earthshaking, signifying that whomever was born in Judea
that day would be a great king."
...Ancient pagan texts seem to back Molnar's discovery. One Roman
astrologer described conditions of April 17,
6 B.C., saying that the sun, moon, and several planets were "in
especially favorable positions" -- as fitting the birth of a "divine and
immortal" person.
...But it may be necessary to rewrite a few Christmas carols. The Magi
probably were not Babylonian astrologers, but well-educated Hellenistic
astronomers, "truly wise men," Molnar says, and they would not have
followed an actual light across the sky. Instead they would have headed
for Judea, he said, knowing that the great event had occurred there.
...Molnar's theory is gaining acclaim from astronomy scholars. Several
Ivy League professors have noted his work as "original" and "important,"
making other theories "irrelevant." Christians from many denominations
have expressed appreciation for his scholarship, thanking him for finding
a historical basis for the star of Bethlehem.
+++++++++++++++
Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: [email protected]
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