In keeping with the Christmas theme, I thought a good topic for today would be the Star of Bethlehem — was the star a real star, or was it some kind of a miraculous vision?
This is one of those stories that will never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction. This falls into the category that I put everything about religion in — It’s almost impossible to scientifically prove (or disprove) religions and their beliefs. Pretty much nothing about religion makes logical sense — you either have faith, or you don’t.
As far as the Star of Bethlehem, every backyard astronomer, or anyone that has looked at the sky for a while knows that you can’t get to a destination by following something in the sky. Because the Earth rotates, the position of the stars and planets change positions pretty quickly. From the Earth, everything in the sky rises from the east — and “sets” in the west. So no astronomical body can come to rest in one spot — over Bethlehem, or anywhere else.
So — what was that Star that, according to Matthew, “Went before them, and stood above where the Christ child lay.” Something I discovered during my extensive research for this subject is that Luke, who is apparently regarded as the most historically accurate of the gospels, never mentions there being any star.
Everything we know about astronomy and science points us in the direction of there being no actual star. But as I said, this isn’t an argument you can win with scientific facts — it’s back to faith again. If you believe the Magi were led by an actual star — why not a star only the Wise Men could see?
Of course nothing on science is ever closed. Maybe someday we’ll know what the Star of Bethlehem really was…. maybe it was entirely a matter faith… or maybe it was simply a miracle.
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