The Star of the Magi?

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/december/what-kind-of-astronomical-marvel-was-star-of-bethlehem.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=16245031&utm_content=405000095&utm_campaign=2013

[Aliensanctuary]

UFO would have been a better description of a light in the sky capable of hovering and changing direction. Trying to follow the path a real star or comet to the Temple in Jerusalem, then changing direction and hovering over a house in BethLehem is absurd. "Now, do we turn right or left? Never fear, the star/comet will show us the way."

Either the story is fiction, or, the light is from a craft of some kind from beyond this world. The only direction that can be traveled in following an actual star would be due east. Since all of the stars travel in that direction due to Earth's rotation, the wise men could have picked any one of them to follow and only one direction to travel.

Too bad the writer of the story wrote "star" instead of "UFO". The UFO may very well have lit the path of the travelers as they journeyed into the night.

[Unchained]

The suggestion that this star was some natural astronomical object, isn't a new one. Several suggestions has been made to explain this, such as planetary conjunctions, a supernova, and now, a comet.

There are some theological difficulties here, though… First and foremost, the Bible explicitly tell us to avoid attaching any significance to natural astronomical events:

“This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.” - Jeremiah 10:2.

The ancients were especially afraid of comets, which due to its shape (a comet resembles a sword) was interpreted as a sign of impending war or death. Secondly, the link between history, chronology and ancient astronomical events is a lot more shaky than most people realize. It's impossible to conclude that the Star of Bethlehem was a comet without making multiple assumptions. So, my personal opinion is that this theory is tenuous at best, misleading at worst. Explaining away the miracles in the Bible won't make it easier for seculars to believe, either...

Finally, Ellen White's take on this is very interesting. She denied that this star was a natural event, instead she claimed that what they saw were of a supernatural origin.

“The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens upon that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. As the light faded, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the sky. It was not a fixed star nor a planet, and the phenomenon excited the keenest interest. That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant. Yet they were impressed that the star was of special import to them. They consulted priests and philosophers, and searched the scrolls of the ancient records. The prophecy of Balaam had declared, “There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.” Numbers 24:17. Could this strange star have been sent as a harbinger of the Promised One? The magi had welcomed the light of heaven-sent truth; now it was shed upon them in brighter rays. Through dreams they were instructed to go in search of the newborn Prince. {DA 60.1}

 

[Aliensanctuary]

Quote

The only direction that can be traveled in following an actual star would be due east.

Blooper alert above. Should read,

"The only direction that can be traveled when following an actual star would be due west." Those who actually think that the light was a star or conjunction of planets are mistaken. 

[Gustave]

Best video description of what the Star was...

...Period.

 

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Star+of+Bethlehem+DVD+Larson&&view=detail&mid=45B66E4C6D48C2E87BF745B66E4C6D48C2E87BF7&FORM=VRDGAR

[SolaScriptura2016]

In the book of Matthew, it mentions the Wise Men seeing the Star two times (once that brought them to Jerusalem, and again that led them to Bethlehem. The amount of time to travel from the farthest reaches of Alexander's Empire to Jerusalem would have caused a natural phenomenon to have burned out and be done, yet Matthew specifically says that they saw it again.

[Green Cochoa]

That the star of Bethlehem could not have been any of the planets is made evident in the Book of Jude, where such stars are directly referenced and symbolically applied to people in a negative way.  As my dictionary says, "True stars were formerly known as the fixed stars, to distinguish them from the planets or wandering stars."  Jude speaks of those wandering stars thusly: "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever" (verse 13).  Obviously, Jesus' advent was not of such a character as this, a shameful thing to which "the blackness of darkness for ever" would be associated.  It is positively certain, therefore, that God would not mix symbols in so careless a manner as this, to make the Greatest Light ever to come to the world appear in the very same fashion as His inspired scriptures characterize as eternal darkness!

[Aliensanctuary]

On the map of Israel Bethlehem lies to the south of Jerusalem. Apparently comets, stars, or conjunctions of stars are able to make a left turn in the sky after hovering over Jerusalem, disappearing for a short time, then reappearing and traveling in a southerly direction.