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Was the Star that Guided the Magi a Natural or Supernatural Occurrence?
Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 12-27-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

Posted on 12/28/2017 7:52:38 AM PST by Salvation

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1 posted on 12/28/2017 7:52:39 AM PST by Salvation
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To: nickcarraway; NYer; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; ArrogantBustard; Catholicguy; RobbyS; marshmallow; ...

Monsignor Pope Ping!


2 posted on 12/28/2017 7:53:52 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

Thank-you and God Bless.


3 posted on 12/28/2017 7:54:55 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5W)
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To: Salvation

It can be both.................


4 posted on 12/28/2017 7:54:58 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Salvation

First documented UFO?


5 posted on 12/28/2017 7:56:45 AM PST by usual suspect
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To: Red Badger

“It can be both.................”

Yes, and I would add he question ‘What’s the difference between supernatural and natural?’. The inference is that ‘natural’ things don’t have their basis in God’s intervention. I would argue that point.


6 posted on 12/28/2017 7:57:51 AM PST by neverevergiveup
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To: Salvation

Yes. Yes it was.


7 posted on 12/28/2017 8:02:41 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: Red Badger
"It can be both................."

Correct, even if it was a natural phenomenon it was used by God in a supernatural way which he planned from the beginning of time.

8 posted on 12/28/2017 8:03:13 AM PST by circlecity
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To: Salvation

Luke 2:13 A multitude of heavenly hosts could easily mimic a star. Also appear and disappear and guide.


9 posted on 12/28/2017 8:03:29 AM PST by BipolarBob (At one time I held the world record as the worlds youngest person on the planet.)
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To: Salvation

There is no such thing as “Supernatural”.

Humans claim that only what they understand is “natural” and then when it defies their understanding call it “supernatural”. But G-d’s NATURE and the nature of G-d’s creation - the universe - does not require human understanding in order for anything within it to be quite natural, quite natural to G-d and His universe.


10 posted on 12/28/2017 8:03:45 AM PST by Wuli
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To: neverevergiveup

With the entire universe at His beck and call, He can use anything He wishes for whatever purpose..................


11 posted on 12/28/2017 8:04:14 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Salvation

June 12, 2 BC, Conjunction of Jupiter (king) and Venus (Peace) at sunrise. God can set stuff up. Doesn’t take anything away from Jesus to have him born in the spring, but shepherd would not be standing in the snows of Judea in December, which was Christianity converting the Roman pagan midwinter festival to unify. Shepherd do stand over flocks in the late spring


12 posted on 12/28/2017 8:07:55 AM PST by BigEdLB (To Dimwitocrats: We won. You lost. Get used to it.)
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To: Salvation

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 


13 posted on 12/28/2017 8:34:45 AM PST by the_daug
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To: Salvation
An interesting article.

However, I thought this was very interesting.

St. Thomas goes on to cite a few other teachings from the Fathers and then includes his own opinion:

These are not teachings...these are all opinions.

14 posted on 12/28/2017 8:35:48 AM PST by ealgeone
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To: Salvation
This is a really good documentary on the science behind the Star. The Star of Bethlehem
15 posted on 12/28/2017 8:38:54 AM PST by Phillyred
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To: Red Badger

His Purpose...

Jonah’s Fish...for example.


16 posted on 12/28/2017 8:49:57 AM PST by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: Big Red Badger

Exactly.

Probably a whale shark..............


17 posted on 12/28/2017 8:51:55 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Salvation

It was astrological.


18 posted on 12/28/2017 8:56:51 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Salvation

Supernatural...the star stayed fixed during the night for about 2 years and never moved despite the normal progression of the stars during the night and with the seasons. That is what got the wisemen interested who knew the progressions of the heavens per their knowledge of astronomy and astrology. At some point it must have peaked their interest the same way perhaps Moses(who saw many burning bushes in that hot desert clime) took a second look at a burning bush and realized it was not being consumed.

The wisemen at some point realized that they were observing a most stupendous sky event...a fixed unmoving point of light that stayed in place throughout the night and never moved with the seasons or moved as the known “wanderer” planets moved. It was in place for at least 2 years because that was the age Herod used when issuing the edict to kill the infants 2 years or under. (The Magi had told Herod and the chief priests “at what time the star first appeared” and the chief priests told the magi and Herod about the prophecies of the birth place of Messiah0.
Now I think the star itself may not have been a superbright star like all the artists depict or else there would have been other mentions of it in history. But smart folk like these magi who knew the stars and where they would be at various times of the year would have noted it.

An interesting line occurs in the story that when the Magi went out of Jerusalem to find the “king”, that they “rejoiced” to see the star as it “went before them” and appeared in place directly over “the house where Mary and Jesus lived”. This wasn’t an ordinary star!

Submitted as “My personal opinion only”.


19 posted on 12/28/2017 9:16:43 AM PST by mdmathis6 (Men and Devils can't out-"alinsksy" God! He knows where "all the bodies are buried!")
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To: mdmathis6
the star stayed fixed during the night for about 2 years and never moved despite the normal progression of the stars during the night and with the seasons.

Geosynchronous orbit?

20 posted on 12/28/2017 9:24:46 AM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Liberalism, as with all else evil, can never create. It can only corrupt.)
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