R
runningdude
Guest
I am posting this here, because the “Family Life” section is where I spent most of my time on the forums. Helping people struggling with relationships between themselves, God, and their loved ones is where I got the most satisfaction.
Given the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter tomorrow, I thought I would share some thoughts. I saw a documentary as a teen, scarily many years ago, that gave a pretty convincing argument for this or a similar alignment being the natural phenomenon that caused the miraculous Star of Bethlehem.
The documentary used off-the-shelf astronomy software to calculate the observed positions of the various planets and stars roughly 2000 years ago. They cross referenced dates of major Jewish celebrations and lunar eclipses referenced in the Nativity narratives, to find an alignment of celestial bodies that could plausible cause the star to suddenly appear. The also looked at the celestial events during Christ’s passion, when our lord was know to be 33 years old. They found a strong candidate in roughly 4 AD, when modern scholars believe the birth of Jesus occurred based on the events referenced in the Gospels.
Let us pause for a moment, and consider the implications.
God the Father, through the Son, built a carefully tuned universe. The stars move about the sky like clockwork, and man has been able to track them for at least 5000 years.
God created the universe 14 Billion years. 1 Million years ago, God created Adam and Eve, the primordial humans, who gave birth to our entire race. 2000 years ago, God sent his only begotten son to save us.
14 Billion years before God created man, he set the universe in motion. Almost unimaginably long before God knew if his creation would betray him by eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil, he set in motion a plan to save his people.
When Gabriel appeared to Mary, the entirety of the universe rested on her shoulders. The stars aligned for that moment. Philosophers in the East tracked the stars for centuries, waiting for it to appear, and started followed it when it came.
Mary said, “Let it be done…” and heavens rejoiced, eons in the making. The three Kings arrived to find the bless mother and child, not an empty manger. The shepherds left not there flock for naught.
Mary could have said, “No”. The world went on before her, and would go on without her.
But our Mother said, “Yes”, and a shot in the dark made 14 Billion years ago found its place.
Given the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter tomorrow, I thought I would share some thoughts. I saw a documentary as a teen, scarily many years ago, that gave a pretty convincing argument for this or a similar alignment being the natural phenomenon that caused the miraculous Star of Bethlehem.
The documentary used off-the-shelf astronomy software to calculate the observed positions of the various planets and stars roughly 2000 years ago. They cross referenced dates of major Jewish celebrations and lunar eclipses referenced in the Nativity narratives, to find an alignment of celestial bodies that could plausible cause the star to suddenly appear. The also looked at the celestial events during Christ’s passion, when our lord was know to be 33 years old. They found a strong candidate in roughly 4 AD, when modern scholars believe the birth of Jesus occurred based on the events referenced in the Gospels.
Let us pause for a moment, and consider the implications.
God the Father, through the Son, built a carefully tuned universe. The stars move about the sky like clockwork, and man has been able to track them for at least 5000 years.
God created the universe 14 Billion years. 1 Million years ago, God created Adam and Eve, the primordial humans, who gave birth to our entire race. 2000 years ago, God sent his only begotten son to save us.
14 Billion years before God created man, he set the universe in motion. Almost unimaginably long before God knew if his creation would betray him by eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil, he set in motion a plan to save his people.
When Gabriel appeared to Mary, the entirety of the universe rested on her shoulders. The stars aligned for that moment. Philosophers in the East tracked the stars for centuries, waiting for it to appear, and started followed it when it came.
Mary said, “Let it be done…” and heavens rejoiced, eons in the making. The three Kings arrived to find the bless mother and child, not an empty manger. The shepherds left not there flock for naught.
Mary could have said, “No”. The world went on before her, and would go on without her.
But our Mother said, “Yes”, and a shot in the dark made 14 Billion years ago found its place.