Dec 25 2008
Astronomers calculate Jesus born June 17, not December 25
No matter your religious stripe, history, biblical evidence, and science shows us that no part of the Jesus story adheres to him actually being born on December 25.
Recently, Austrailian astronomer Dave Reneke, editor of Sky and Space magazine used complex computer software to chart the precise positions of all celestial bodies as they would have appeared over the Holy Land some 2,000 years ago.
He did actually find a very bright star appeared over Bethlehem, but he pinpointed it to June 17, not December 25. Scientists generally believe this “Christmas star” was most likely a fantastic conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. As they were so close together, the result was an unusually bright “beacon of light.”
Reneke stated, “We have software that can recreate the night sky exactly as it was at any point in the last several thousand years. Venus and Jupiter became very close in the the year 2BC and they would have appeared to be one bright beacon of light.
We are not saying this was definitely the Christmas star - but it is the strongest explanation for it of any I have seen so far. Astronomy is such a precise science, we can plot exactly where the planets were, and it certainly seems this is the fabled Christmas star. There’s no other explanation that so closely matches the facts we have from the time.”
Source - Daily Mail - Cancel Christmas - Jesus was born June 17, says scientists December 8, 2008
So why celebrate his birthday December 25? It’s those damn pagans again! Yes, pagans celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, on December 21. Following that, December 25 is the first day when it was clear that days were getting longer and the sun returned for more of the day. Thus, if the Christians could install a new holiday it would be easier for them to convert the heathens.
While I’m all for any season that focuses on peace, love and kindness to others, if you are going to call someone your savior, shouldn’t you be want to be as accurate as possible? Then again, somehow Christians who proclaim to be followers of Jesus’ message of peace and love often then to be the ones leading the calls for war and destruction. Funny that.
This author was raised Catholic, and while is no longer a “believer,” does believe and practice the message of love and kindness to all beings. All he wants is people to back up their words with actions, and their theories with facts.
Merry Christmas.
Right, and all you have to do is assume that the Star of Bethlehem was a light that could be traced to a physical body that could then be calculated by software, which is programmed by people who generally already think they’re God.
On the plus side, at least they’re finally admitting He existed, which quite a few people keep trying to DENY with various “studies” and “calculations.”
On the “Jesus’ message of peace” bit…you guys never give up do you? Wars have been fought since the beginning of time over lots of things, including religion, but it’s always the Christians who are somehow evil hypocrites because some of us don’t take everything lying down. Being blown up by followers of the “religion of peace” is an excellent example.
And I bet if you, how “practice the message of love and kindness to all beings” would find your convictions a little harder to espouse if someone attacked you or your family..or God forbid…your dog.
I certainly do not see Christianity as the only religion that has incited wars and violence - but it is definitely at the top of the list. I do not defend anyone who uses any religion as a justification for violence.
Of all religions, I fall closest to Buddhism, as the Dalai Lama himself has said that all Buddhist scriptures must be analyzed with reason and logic, and those that cannot stand up to such a going over, must be rejected as literal. The great majority of Christians I have met believe the Bible is actually the true word of God and interpret it literally, which is very dangerous if you actually take the time to read the entire thing and not cherry pick from it.
The Dalai Lama regularly and forcefully speaks out against violence and war, that is much closer to Jesus’ message than what comes out of the mouth of the Pope. He could have rallied his millions of followers to stop the unjust and murderous wars the U.S. has undertaken, but he has not.
Ah, now we have “unjust” added to the mix of the “America is evil” for daring to defend itself. By the way, you do know that wars are always murderous, not just the “unjust” ones the U.S. has fought, right?
Please define a “just” and non-murderous war that you approve of. Since you feel America fights “unjust” wars, you obviously have an idea in mind of what you consider to be a “just” war.
http://poorrepublican.today.com/
Actually, I prefer the Christian Just War theory, notably discussed by St. Thomas Aquinas, among others.
This has six criteria -
1. War should only be fought in self-defense;
2. War should only be the last resort after every other option is exhausted
3. War can only be undertaken by a legitimate authority
4. All military responses must be proportional to the threat;
5. There must be a reasonable chance of success
6. All parties concerned must be publicly notified
Just to take one of those points, in the United States, legitimate authority to go to war rests with a declaration of war by Congress. Since the U.S. has not declared war since WWII, every war since then (call it what you want, “police action”=war) has been illegal and cannot be considered just. The Iraq war fails to meet nearly all of those qualifications.