Duane Engdahl - Star of Bethlehem Study

Star of Bethlehem Study — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Star of Bethlehem Study" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...15

Star of Bethlehem
Study

A Scholarly Interdisciplinary Scientific Study dedicated to those who believe knowledge is precious and should be gained wherever it can be found and shared with whoever is interested.

Duane Engdahl

ISBN 978-1-63575-545-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63575-546-6 (Digital)

Copyright 2017 by Duane Engdahl

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
296 Chestnut Street
Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

On the fourth day of creation God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons and God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:14).

Later after creating mankind, God warned mankind not to eat the fruit of good and evil. But mankind ignored the warning. God then said, Behold, mankind has become knowing of good and evil. So now, unless they put forth their hand, and take fruit from the Tree of Life, they will surely die (Genesis 3:22).

The Tree of Life that God was referring to is of course Christ the Redeemer, the Son of Mankind and Son of God, the Messiah, Lord through which mankind can obtain eternal salvation. Those who put forth their hand and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life are called Christians. They shall by Gods Word, receive eternal life with God Almighty in heaven; all others shall by Gods Word surely die.

About two billion people in the world call themselves Christians. For them, Jesus the Messiah is the central figure of their religious faith. The celebrity of Jesus is huge. He is the star of the Christian religion, and also the star of that monumental event we have come to call the Sign of the Messiah, or the Star of Bethlehem, or the Christmas Star. Whatever we might call it, this event was so significant that it changed everything for us about two millennia ago.

Theologians have studied the person and divinity of Jesus, so we will not rehash that here. Instead, we will concentrate our efforts on the event. Our objective will be to establish exactly when this event occurred and exactly what it looked like. In so doing, we will join history and religion and astronomy into an interdisciplinary study of this the most monumental event since creation, and we will do it all with a minimum of speculation.

Greetings: My name is Duane Engdahl and I am the investigator on this study and the author of this essay. If you are the curious kind like me, then you should find this subject interesting. Here we are going to go well beyond what is common knowledge to discover some stuff that has been hidden in the cracks between science/history/religion for very long time.

Please enjoy!

Introduction

Some people are so interested in science that they ignore or even demean religion. Others are so interested in religion that they do likewise to science. Then there are those who are so interested in history or current events that they overlook both science and religion. Many more are not interested in much of anything and are content to watch what others do, and then text their friends about it. Too bad for all of them! The most interesting people are those who are interested in almost everything.

If this essay was a scientific paper intended for scientists, a historical paper intended for historians, or a religious paper intended for theologians, then there would be no need to review definitions before we start, but this essay involves all three disciplines and is intended for everyone, so lets start on common ground.

Science is the study of physical things. A specialty in science is astronomy and it concentrates on the physical things outside of the realm of earth (moon, planets, stars, galaxies, comets, asteroids, etc.). In the simplest terms, science is the study of what and astronomy it the study of what is beyond our reach. So astronomers observe to confirm theories and develop theories to confirm visually through their telescopes. Here in this essay, we will be using modern astrophysics to simulate the night sky in the mid-east about two thousand years ago, so we can observe to confirm a theory on the Star of Bethlehem.

History is the study of people and places and events. In simplest terms, history is the study of who/where/when. Here in this essay we will be delving into some important people and events that happened in the Mideast during the period from 600 BC to AD 40, more specifically the period during the BCAD transition.

Religion is the study of that which is beyond our ability to comprehend. If religion is the study of that which we will never be able to comprehend, that begs the question, Why do we contemplate it in the first place? It seems to be our human nature to contemplate anything we dont knowit is called curiosity. So each of us either develops a personal religion, or seeks advice from others as to which religion we should adopt (or a little bit of both). Ones personal religion is a structure of beliefs made sensible by faith and we contemplate it without the benefit of physical examination or even observation. People who are religious simply believe by faith that there is more to life than the physical; they believe there must be a spiritual aspect in order to make sense of things. Essentially, they are contemplating the age old question of why we exist.

One event changed everything.

Chapter 1

The Event

In all of time, there is one event so significant that it changed the way we count time. Before this event, we counted time down to the time of the event (BC); afterwards we began to count time up from that event (AD). This singularly important event was the coming of the Messiah. Many have pontificated upon the divine purpose of the Messiah, so were not going to dwell on that here. Instead were going to investigate the sign which is called the Star of Bethlehem and try to determine exactly when it occurred and exactly what it looked like.

Did this monumental event happen on New Years Day of AD 1, or New Years Eve of 1 BC? Probably neither! Can we get close to finding the exact date of this event? Maybe! Can we see what the sign of the Messiah actually looked like? Maybe!

Not that any of this matters much. It would be ludicrous to propose adjusting the calendar or even correcting the date of Christmas. But to the curious, the actual date and appearance of this monumental sign does matter. So lets just do this investigation simply for the sake of satisfying our curiosity.

Before we start we need to review some terms for common understanding.

Some Chronology

BC is the term for counting time down to the birth of Messiah. It literally means Before Christ. Christ being the Greek translation for the Hebrew term Messiah. Some who want to discount the religious aspect of this term substitute the term BCE, which they say means Before Common Era or Before Current Era, but we will not do that here. Why? Because the author for one has no motivation to discount religion, nor does he want to fight over 1,500 years of time-keeping tradition, nor does he want to disrespect the inventor of that most important system of chronology ever developed. So for example in this essay, Ten years Before Christ will herein be properly indicated as 10 BC.

Next page

1234567...15

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Star of Bethlehem Study»

Look at similar books to Star of Bethlehem Study. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Sylvia Engdahl

The Planet-Girded Suns: Our Forebears Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets

Derek W. Engdahl

The Great Chasm: How to Stop Our Wealth from Separating Us from the Poor and God

Max Lucado

Because of Bethlehem Study Guide: Love is Born Hope is Here

Rev. Fr. Frederick Faber

Bethlehem

Bar-el Dan

The Very, Very Far North

Duane R. Clarridge

A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA

F. William Engdahl

Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance

Nicholl Colin

The great Christ comet : revealing the true Star of Bethlehem

Sylvia Engdahl

The Doors of the Universe

Sylvia Engdahl

Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains

Sylvia Engdahl

This Star Shall Abide

Dutch Charley Duane

Against the vigilantes: the recollections of Dutch Charley Duane

Discussion, reviews of the book Star of Bethlehem Study and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.