RE: Was the star of Bethlehem a real astronomical event?
October 19, 2011 at 5:38 pm
(This post was last modified: October 19, 2011 at 6:09 pm by Cyberman.)
I'd just like to throw in a few things here before we all vanish completely down the rabbit hole. First off, Jupiter orbits the Sun every 11.86 years, and within that period it seems to turn retrograde - as all the outer planets must - every 400 days or so (398.9 to be precise). So basically once every 13 Earth months. Is this your miraculous sign, something that is so wonderfully amazing it's essentially an annual event? I'm sure you could find something just slightly less ambiguous if you tried, such as a lunar eclipse; there's at least two of them a year, surely someone could fudge something to fit.
Second, the retrograde phenomenon is purely an illusion caused by the Earth's faster orbital period, of no more significance than one car appearing to move backwards from the point of view of a second car passing it, or a railway platform appearing to move backwards when the train starts forward, as seen by a traveller aboard said train.
Third, there is a major problem with the 'Bethlehem Star' story. In order to cause a group of astrologers (as opposed to astronomers) to up sticks and set off blindly across the desert, the 'star' must have been regarded as especially significant, or at least unusual. However, the Magi of the story were not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only astrologers on the planet - nor would they have been the only ones in their hometown. Yet we're to believe that they were the only ones who noticed? Unlikely.
Finally, as has already been alluded, there is little that is original in the whole Christ-myth anyway.
Second, the retrograde phenomenon is purely an illusion caused by the Earth's faster orbital period, of no more significance than one car appearing to move backwards from the point of view of a second car passing it, or a railway platform appearing to move backwards when the train starts forward, as seen by a traveller aboard said train.
Third, there is a major problem with the 'Bethlehem Star' story. In order to cause a group of astrologers (as opposed to astronomers) to up sticks and set off blindly across the desert, the 'star' must have been regarded as especially significant, or at least unusual. However, the Magi of the story were not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only astrologers on the planet - nor would they have been the only ones in their hometown. Yet we're to believe that they were the only ones who noticed? Unlikely.
Finally, as has already been alluded, there is little that is original in the whole Christ-myth anyway.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
