179 lines
9.0 KiB
Plaintext
179 lines
9.0 KiB
Plaintext
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Perhaps the most asked question concerning the birth of Christ
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is an astrological event described in the New Testament. The Star
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of Bethlehem has been questioned and researched by many
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science and astrological groups with widely differing opinions. We
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might even say we may never know.
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Here is an opinion held by many as the to explanation for the
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Star of Bethlehem. Though what is contained herein does not in any
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way mean it's the actual truth, it is what scientist have that
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fits the facts.
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--------------------
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During the reign of the Romans, a calendar was used based upon
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the founding of the city of Rome. The Romans defined this year as
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year 1 A.U.C, or "ab urbe condita" which means "from the founding
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of the city". The Romans did not have the concept of zeros at the
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time Rome was founded. (It was to be thought of by the Arabs much
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later).
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The calendar was changed more than 500 years after Christ had
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been killed, and the new calendar was based upon his birth.
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Dionysius Exiguus changed the calendar in the year 533 A.D. He had
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researched his records to determine the year of Christ's birth and
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had found a statement made by Clement of Alexandria which said
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that Christ was born during the 28'th year of the rein of Augustus
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Caesar. Augustus was proclaimed Emperor in the year of 726 A.U.C.
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so he added 28 years to it giving the year 754 A.U.C. as the birth
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year of Christ. This year he called 1 A.D.
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Dionysius was unaware that Augustus had ruled under the name of
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Octavian for four years before the title of Augustus was given to
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him by the Roman Senate. For this reason, we would need to
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subtract four years from his calendar to find the correct birth
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year. This would turn out to be 4 B.C., or the year 750 A.U.C.
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This is fine if you want to rely on historical records (which
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even at that time were hundreds of years old) to be free of error.
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These records were rewritten by hand as they aged and decomposed.
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The New Testament in Matthew says that Christ was born in the
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days of Herod. Josephus who lived in the first century said that
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Herod died a few days after an eclipse of the moon visible in
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Jerico a few days before the Passover. This date can be calculated
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with a good deal of accuracy to an eclipse on March 13, 4 B.C.
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Passover was on April 12th. Herod, then, died somewhere around
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the first of April, 4 B.C.
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Remember that Christ's parents were required to pay their taxes
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in the city of Bethlehem. There are three major tax collections
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recorded on the walls of temples in Ankara, Turkey. They were 28
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B.C., which is too early for our tax collection year, 8 B.C., and
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14 A.D, which is too late. This leaves us with the major tax
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collection year of 8 B.C. This lands us close to the 4 B.C. that
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agrees with our other information.
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The month and day can not be inferred from any information we
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can piece together at the moment, yet we do know that early
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Christians celebrated the birth of Christ on December 25th
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because that day was a holiday for the Romans who used to feed the
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Early Christians to lions, (December 25th was the Winter Solstice
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during that time, when the daylight hours start to grow longer. It
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was considered to be the "birthday of the new year").
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If you would like to narrow the month down a little, you might
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look again at the Bible at Luke which states that the shepherds
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were guarding their flocks by night. It was the practice of the
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time to guard flocks during the time of year that the lambs were
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giving birth.
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So there we have it. We might be looking at the spring of 6 A.D
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or 7 A.D., (A year or two before the taxes were due). We must then
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discover an astrological event that occured sometime around these
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years. Fireballs, comets, and eclipes were all known to the
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peoples of Earth, in the East and in the West. For this reason, we
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can exclude these type of astrological events. There would have
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been wise men wandering everywhere if, each time a comet was seen
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in the skies, it signified a momentous birth. However, we can
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assume that the "Three Wise Men" were astrologers. Who else
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would be able to detect an event in the heavens that described the
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location of the King of the Jews?
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Astronomers have determined the planetary positions for the
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suspect years and the results are quite interesting. Calculations
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show that on May 27th, 7 B.C., Jupiter passed within one degree
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North of Saturn, falling into the same celestial longitude, and was
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therefore in conjunction. This happens once in about 20 years.
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Yet this particular conjunction occured in the constellation of
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Pisces. In those days, Pisces was thought of as the "Hebrew Sign".
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Saturn was also thought of as the "Hebrew Wanderer". This made the
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conjunction very important for the Jewish people. The Magi might
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have read this conjunction as a sign that a great man was to
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be born to the Jews.
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Stellar events were not over with yet, though, more important
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movements in the skies further enforced this belief. After passing
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Saturn, Jupiter began to slow down, and on the 15th of July, it
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stopped. Then it began to back up and passed Saturn for a third
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time! (Backwards motion as seen from the Earth is known as
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Retrograde Motion). The second passing had taken place on the
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5th of October.
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Twice! This was indeed a great man being born.
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Retrograde mostion ended and Jupiter began to process forward
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again on November 10th. Once again Jupiter passed Saturn on
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December 1st. Three passes of Saturn in one year, and all in Pisces!
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Further, in Febuary of 6 B.C., Mars came into the picture and
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joined the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Three planets in
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Pisces the Hebrew sign, and three passes of Jupiter, (are these
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three planets and three passes the reason for describing three wise
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men?), all within the same year! Let's go find this great Jew!
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The first conjunction of 27th of May, 7 B.C., would have been
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visible from the East in the morning. The second conjunction of
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October 5th would have been visible in the South at midnight.
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The third conjunction of December 1st, 6 B.C. would have been
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visible in the West before sunset. It is said that the Star of
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Bethlehem moved to stand over the spot where the King of the Jews
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was to be born. Taking into account the previous three items
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of additional information, we might say that the "Star" moved
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from the East to the West.
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For clarification, the word "Star" may mean any astronomical
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object, being one item or many. This is much the same as
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describing fish. You may say, "See the fish?" and mean one or
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several. "Star" can also be used to describe a conjunction of
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stars or an Occultation of astronomical objects.
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You can ignore all of these facts as conjecture and guess work,
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because that's what they really are. We do know that the three
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conjunctions did take place, and in Pisces. Whether this is enough
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to cause astrologers to look for Jesus is unknown. In the end, it
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is you, reader, who has to weigh the facts and believe what you
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will believe.
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--------------------
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Written by Fredric L. Rice. Released August 1985.
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ed. by D. Forcier, Dec 85.
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Original reference material may be found at Griffith Observatory,
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located at 2800 East Observatory Road, Los Angeles, California.
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90027. Request back issue of Griffith Observer, December 1890,
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page 9, for Ronald A. Oriti, "The Star of Bethlehem". Direct
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requests to Dr. Edwin C. Krupp and staff. You may aquire
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subscriptions to the Griffith Observer through the same address.
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It provides a great quantity of understandable information
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concerning astronomy, (And is well worth the price!)
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--------------------
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Additional Reading:
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1) If interested, read the Bible. Matthew and Luke offer the best
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information available to the common questioner of the Star of
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Bethlehem. Additional interesting information can be found
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by looking up the fall of the city of Jerico.
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--------------------
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Additional information:
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There are computer programs being marketed that will describe
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the attributes of planetary objects for the astrologer. Though
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I must admit, I wouldn't spend a cent on an astrology package,
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these would offer accurate positionings. There are Public
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domain software packages that do the same thing, yet at a less
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than highly accurate result.
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If you would like to write your own programs for figuring
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planetary positions, the library will contain books with the
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required formula and tables. There are also several books in
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print that offer the astronomer and astrologer BASIC programs,
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though again I wouldn't spend a cent on them!
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