Posted on 12/25/2015 2:41:05 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
Proof of when the Star of Bethlehem happened and how...
Whatever path they have to follow, to finally get to HIM, will work!
Heck; I look at mine EVERY day!
At least we (Wesleyan) are not arrogant enough to say that OUR way is the ONLY way!
A year and a half in Bangkok (as ‘Nam activity was ramping up) as a baby Christian, among mostly Buddhists, was interesting.
Jesus' message was EVEN simpler: Love God and love each other. THAT is the essence of Jesus' message that all humans can follow regardless of faith or culture.
One doesn't even need to pore over Scripture or cite it to all/anyone. One simply needs to LIVE it.
Buddhists have no god as we know it.
The Buddha was Sidhartha Gautama and he was "enlightened," not God. People there MADE him a deity despite his continual protestations.
Most Buddhists also have other gods to worship. The Japanese, for example, are into hero/culture worship. They had no "God" as we know either.
The Chinese had a PANTHEON of gods: garden god, kitchen god, etc., a god for everything, everywhere and all the time.
I imagine the concept (reality for me) of ONE God might be just too alien for them.
We visited Thailand back in the early-mid 1980's. We loved it. I would go back there in a New York minute. Thai food is one of my VERY favorite foods. The yummiest dessert is mango and sticky rice. :o)!!
The Holy Spirit of The God speaks, and is faithfully translated so we can understand Him, and His words are in the Holy Scriptures. The only thing I need above The Bible is the Jesus described in it, and the demonstrated knowledge that He planned to rescue me before the foundation of this world, showed Himself to me through those Scriptures, and accepted my final and never-ending allegiance to Him because of His faithfulness, ratifying it through the constant rebuilding of my forlorn life through the power of His Spirit.
If the Bible says in the Koine that men from Padanaram of the region of Anatolia (now eastern Turkey) perceived the Radiant Glory of the Lord hovering above His location and followed it, until about two years after His Birth they came to the place where its aura was focused, I believe it.
If its source, nature, and identification with the Messiah is not in the Holy Word, it is of little interest to me except to wonder at the speculative foolishness that drives unwise men to place their confidence in theories falsely called "Science" (1 Tim. 6:20).
And that is because God has given me not only the gift of faith in the Light of the World, Jesus Messiah; but also an education for which I have the documents proving professional expertise in the physical sciences, the dissertation being in the spectroscopy of purified materials, which was later employed in solar materials research.
Because of that, I know that like Daniel (Dan. 8:26, 12:4) and Beloved Theologian John (Rev. 10:4) many things have been shut up and sealed from prying eyes until the time when these secrets should be revealed to His Own (Deut. 29:29, Dan. 2:22).
Why should these people dabble in such matters when the Light of The Holy One has not filled and illuminated their hearts, when the incense of The Holiest Of All is not lingering in their nostrils, when the Voice of the Lord, reaching out from His Word, has not thundered in their ears, when the True Bread from Heaven has never passed their lips, nor the Blood of the Lamb of God not covered and washed away their sins?
Who is it that gives their attention to the non-essential issues like the star prophesied by Balaam, but ignore the weightier matters of salvation and sanctification, eh (Mt. 23:23)?
The Blinded Ones, I surmise:
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them" (2Co 4:3-4 AV).
Pray for them, whose otherwise only future radiance will be from the visible flames and invisible deep black body radiation of the Lake of Fire.
I think you've got a little quandary there, CM. What do you think about the situation where a loving Jesus has to judge people who have rejected Him and The Father, and send them to remorseful torment and agony for ever? Ignore it?
Ah! A snippet of your leanings, read by a Methodist PK, now enjoying eternal security (Jn. 10:27-29).
"My hope ius built on nothing less than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness . . ." Is there another way? Am I missing something?
(With much felicitous regard for many happy returns to you from this season of remembrance . . .)
Well we can’t get stuck up either. That doesn’t help the situation any better.
Something that was identified in the bible as a “star” behaved in the documented manner, as a sign. That I can and do believe.
Can we nail down today just what that “star” was. I think our chances of doing so will increase if we pay attention first to what it served as a sign unto. Now we’re approaching it with the right attitude, the right priorities, and the Lord may well show us something more detailed about this “star” once it no longer is distracting us from what the “star” signified.
Thank you, imam!
You have given an able exposition of the Muslim approach to religion and science. Namely: There is need for ONLY ONE BOOK. No independent thought, no information from any other source, and lots of consigning people to Hell for asking questions.
When do you plan to behead the people who made this video?
Arminian and Calvinist viewpoints both capture important aspects of spiritual reality, and yet neither one can capture the whole.
God infallibly destines AND presents a choice, and both are real. The Arminian/Calvinist divide, I believe, results from assuming that the connection has to be established in the time line that we know. It can’t be, because paradox would now become frank contradiction. Choice and destiny are both rooted in something larger, would be the only sane conclusion that I could embrace. And the bible is copacetic with that thesis.
Severe non sequitur
No, it isn’t.
There have been several posts on this thread that have demonstrated pathology.
What the video shows is that, with modern software and Kepler’s equations, we can now verify that the phenomena described in the Scripture did actually occur as described.
The reaction of a Christian should be: Good! Here is some scientific confirmation that the Scriptures are reporting actual events, and not merely engaging in charming symbolism. The main modern attack on the Scriptures is that they report only flights of fancy, and not observed phenomena and events.
Several posters have reacted by saying: I sneer at all those who, unlike me, pay attention to anything but the inspired Word of God. In fact, all those who even seek independent confirmation of anything that is reported in the Word of God are going to burn forever in a lake of fire.
I put it to you that this is first of all, spiritual pathology and vainglory—”My faith is pure and yours is filthy and polluted.” It is a troglodytic approach to science and, indeed, all rationality. In a word: Muslim.
Please furnish evidence of any such thing.
What they may be saying, and you may be missing (are you defending your own pride?) is that we shouldn’t go in there pride-first or else we will get misled to the ill in some manner.
Read the posts on this page.
More like truck stop/fairgrounds/flea market... It would be a flat field of some size, where the caravan operators would take the burdens off their animals, set up their tents, sell goods to shop owners, etc. But it would also be where the overflow of people would go during town festivals, necessarily close to town with a good water source...
So it would be KIND of a stable.
What you seek is an artifact of nearly every nativity scene you have ever seen - a roughly made temporary building with three sides and a straw roof - What you see before you is a sukkah - the structure every Hebrew family is to build and live in during Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles...
And what is the landscape around Bethlehem like?
http://www.palden.co.uk/pop/bethlehem-photos.html
That there is some fine insultin'; I tell you!
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