Ascension of Christ

[smoothmoniker]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Makes you think that they would be able to figure out the date of his birth based on evidence of some celestial event that would have been observed on earth around that time.

Well, there are a few options to choose from. In 11 BCE, Halley's Comet rolled through, but that’s probably too early to be the indicator. In 7 BCE, there was a planetary conjunction of Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter. This seems a fairly likely dating for the actual birth. Chinese astrological records hold information about something that was probably either a nova or supernova around that time. It’s extremely difficult to align the dating of those records, but they probably place the event somewhere between 5 BCE and 20 CE. Unlike Comets and planetary orbits, Novas are obviously non-cyclical, so we can’t roll back the astrological clock and see what was going on at that time.

Then there’s always the possibility that they were referring to some non-natural, singular occurrence prepared by God to mark the coming of his son to the earth. It certainly wouldn’t be the most spectacular miracle in the book …


-sm

[jinx]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

Well, there are a few options to choose from. In 11 BCE, Halley's Comet rolled through, but that’s probably too early to be the indicator. In 7 BCE, there was a planetary conjunction of Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter. This seems a fairly likely dating for the actual birth. Chinese astrological records hold information about something that was probably either a nova or supernova around that time. It’s extremely difficult to align the dating of those records, but they probably place the event somewhere between 5 BCE and 20 CE. Unlike Comets and planetary orbits, Novas are obviously non-cyclical, so we can’t roll back the astrological clock and see what was going on at that time.

Then there’s always the possibility that they were referring to some non-natural, singular occurrence prepared by God to mark the coming of his son to the earth. It certainly wouldn’t be the most spectacular miracle in the book …


-sm

This is where I would apply the principal of parsimony.

[Troubleshooter]

As far as the birth date goes, Sidhe keeps telling me something about the census being taken in the spring or some such. I'll have to ask her this evening when she gets back.

There's a bit more to it but that's her thing, not mine.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

Then there’s always the possibility that they were referring to some non-natural, singular occurrence prepared by God to mark the coming of his son to the earth. It certainly wouldn’t be the most spectacular miracle in the book …


-sm

That didn't even occur to me. I don't mean that to be snide, either. Having read that story, the possibility seemed more plausible than 'magic' to me. Not that I had really made the connection between the star of Bethlehem and a real life stellar occurance. I always just thought of that as a story.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Having read that story, the possibility seemed more plausible than 'magic' to me. Not that I had really made the connection between the star of Bethlehem and a real life stellar occurance. I always just thought of that as a story.

The thing is, is that if you accept that the preterscientific (God, Jesus, Mohammed, Vishnu, etc) is possible, then it follows that other such occurrances (magic) are possible.

[Bullitt]

Yeah the cencus sounds familiar. If I recall correctly, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the cencus (i am butchering that word i know it) since that was the closest major city to Nazareth and vwala.

[smoothmoniker]

Originally Posted by Bullitt

… since that was the closest major city to Nazareth and vwala.

They had to go to Bethlehem because the census was organized by family lineage, and Joseph (and Mary, for that matter) was from the lineage of King David, whose hometown was Bethlehem.

From the time David took the throne until the first exportation of the Jews to Babylon, there were at least 13 recorded generations. From the time of the exportation until the time of the census, there were about another 13 generations. And all of those people from all of those family lines were all crammed back into Bethlehem for the census. It probably explains why there was “no room at the inn” for Mary – they were probably lucky to get a barn!

-sm