RE: Massacre of the Innocents
July 17, 2018 at 11:14 am
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2018 at 11:30 am by sdelsolray.)
(July 16, 2018 at 1:43 am)Godscreated Wrote: It pointed out a specific town not a building read the Bible and you can find such simple answers. The star set past the horizon where the town was. At a certain time of year i can watch the sun set exactly where the city I grew up in is. Stars do the same, this particular star was a planet in retrograde.
GC
You not only need an education in astronomy but you also need one in geography.
The Magi first travelled "from the East" to Jerusalem. Any star or the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (including these planets in apparent retrograde motion) would rise in the East and appear to travel across the sky during the night and set in the West. Thus, the "star" would not set "past the horizon where the town was" (your words). It would set behind the Magi as they travelled East towards Jerusalem.
After arriving in Jerusalem they continued to follow the same star which (according to the story) led them to Bethlehem. However, Bethlehem is basically about 10 miles due South of Jerusalem. Again, that star would set in the West, not the South.
As to the two inferior plants relative to the Earth, Mercury and Venus, they will either appear in the West at sundown and set shortly after that, or appear in the East shortly before sunrise and disappear from view when the sun rises. So, it is possible that either Mercury or Venus could have acted as a guide for the Magi on their journey East to Jerusalem, but only in the early morning before dawn. Neither planet would guide anyone traveling South.
But don't be sad. Fictional stories often do not follow reality.
(July 16, 2018 at 2:02 am)Godscreated Wrote: Your trying to say a very specific place and I'm saying that it was the city where the Christ child was born. The Bible doesn't say the star stopped over the stable, it says the place. A planet in retrograde will stop at a specific point in the sky and from a persons perspective at the time and place they are it would look as it it stopped over a certain place. I've challenged you to look at the DVD "The Star of Bethlehem," but stubborn you just can't do it. I read the book you sent me when I first came to this site, I took your challenge. The star and the planet both had names and yes at that time with significant meaning to who the Christ child was to be, imagine that.
The Bible did not say the star appeared directly over head and that would not be a necessity. The star was a planet in retrograde that's why it appeared to stop.
GC
A planet demonstrating apparent retrograde motion will not stop in the sky. It will appear to move across the sky from East to West due to the Earth's rotation, just like any star does.
Planets appear to change there location in the night sky relative to stars (i) because of their own orbits around the sun and (ii) (in the case of apparent retrograde motion) because of the parallax effect of the Earth's orbit around the sun relative to the particular plant's orbit around the sun. Such apparent retrograde motion takes weeks to months to cycle.
How long did it take the Magi to walk 10 miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem? Why did they travel at night and not during the day?
(July 17, 2018 at 1:19 am)Godscreated Wrote: The star (planet) was over the city because God knew exactly where they would be when the planet stopped. You're trying to place things in a light that did not exist, they were where they were and no other place, these people knew more about the movement of the stars than most people today do. You call them dummies yet they were at the top of the knowledge of the day.
GC
The planet did not stop. Yes, many folks back then certainly knew more about stellar and planetary apparent motions than you do. Of course, writers of fiction do not necessarily have to comport with reality.
