Was the star of Bethlehem a real astronomical event?

[CoxRox]

Hi, C-R, and thanks again for the documents. I have been going through them, though I haven't had the emotional strength of late to devote as much time to them as I would have liked. I did try to find out more about Mosley though, I'd never heard of him before this and I was a little uneasy about some of his conclusions. The only references I've been able to unearth about him have been about this Beth Star 'theory' which seems to have shifted many books for him. There are a couple of articles I thought were interesting enough to present for general dissection: this summary of a TV debate or documentary from 1994, which makes some bold claims about Herod among other things; and an article addressing "Common Errors in "Star of Bethlehem" Planetarium Shows" with similar claims.

I got the impression from reading Mr Mosley's booklet, that he is not presenting these 'events' of 3/2 BC, as proof for the biblical 'star', as Larson does. These 'event's as shown in the planetaria shows, make interesting viewing from an astronomical perspective, but of course, for those who belive there was a 'star' in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, then, it is interesting to consider that these events could well be 'it'.

I'm going to email you something else which is more private, which may be of interest to you.

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I don't understand Cox. You're obviously searching for something magical, so why not astrology? Why is this kind of magic to be avoided as childish and ignorant, but the divine kind of magic to be searched for? What are the prerequisites for the type of magic you want to find? If you can't accept astrology then maybe you've set the bar far too high for god? Astrology at least refers to things that exist in it's explanation of things that don't. Not so much for the divine.

I think there is something to this 'message in the stars', but I do not see it as magical. Larson likens the signs in the stars e.g the constellation of leo representing the Jewish nation, or rather the tribe of Judah, as like a thermometer: a thermometer can tell you if it's hot or cold, but it can't affect the temperature. So too with these 'signs' in the heavens. It's not astrology that we are familiar with today e.g reading your horoscope to see how the planets etc are affecting your life. Stars etc don't affect us of course. I'm not decided about Larson's claims of 'poetry in the stars' but there does seem to be something to this. As I don't feel comfortable about it, I won't pursue it any further.

So, no, I'm not searching for something magical. The power that created the universe and the stars is supernatural I believe.