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\u201cA Comet, Christ\u2019s Birth, and Josephus\u2019s Lunar Eclipse,\u201d<\/span><\/a> written by Charles Dike<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>A comet seen by the Chinese in 5\u00a0bc<\/span>\u00a0has been considered by some authors as a\u00a0possibility for the Star of Bethlehem. This article starts with that premise and argues that Book of Mormon evidences reinforce that likelihood. The comet path can account for all events surrounding the Star of Bethlehem. Based on typologies in the scriptures, eyewitness reports, and the comet\u2019s timing, the date of Christ\u2019s birth can be determined. A proposal can then be made as to when and why the wise men began travelling to Jerusalem. The comet left a\u00a0trail of debris the wise men saw on the night they located the house where Jesus was. The wise men and Joseph and Mary left Judea in mid-June of 5\u00a0bc<\/span>\u00a0and the slaughter of the innocents occurred later in that month. Using Josephus\u2019s \u201cAntiquities,\u201d this article then argues strongly that Herod\u2019s death occurred sometime after a\u00a0lunar eclipse on September\u00a015, 5\u00a0bc<\/span>\u00a0and before the next Passover. This serves also to support his death in the spring of 4\u00a0bc<\/span>, contrary to some scholars who opt for a\u00a01\u00a0bc<\/span>\u00a0death. This study reaffirms the reality of the Star of Bethlehem.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: A Proposed Morning Star,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cA Comet, Christ\u2019s Birth, and Josephus\u2019s Lunar Eclipse<\/a>\u201d by Charles Dike in Volume 52 of\u00a0Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. An introduction to the Interpreting\u00a0Interpreter<\/em>\u00a0series is available at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Dike describes how, under the right circumstances, a comet recorded in 5 BC could have produced both the night without darkness and the Star of Bethlehem, allowing him to propose a detailed timeline for the events surrounding Christ\u2019s birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As I write, by the way, I note that there are only 134 shopping days left until Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I suspect that most of my readers here, like me, can discuss the fate of the public statues of Confederate leaders and generals with some degree of disinterest, because we have no dog in the fight. \u00a0We aren\u2019t historically linked to the Confederacy. \u00a0In my case, so far as I\u2019m aware, none of my ancestors owned slaves or advocated slavery.\u00a0 My maternal ancestors came to Utah either directly from England and Scotland or indirectly, without passing through the South, from hyper-Yankee Massachusetts.\u00a0 \u00a0My paternal ancestors didn\u2019t leave Scandinavia until well after the American Civil War had ended and the slaves had been freed.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But the fight has, for some time, begun to spill over from mere debate about the legacy of the former Confederate States of America. \u00a0Here\u2019s a calm and judicious discussion of that topic with which I have some considerable sympathy (if not altogether complete agreement):<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Legacy of White Supremacy: Why Confederate Monuments Should Come Down\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But there are manifest indications that not everybody is going to be calm and judicious, and that the debate is likely to expand beyond Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLatest Victim Of Statue Hysteria: Catholic Saints\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf Lee goes, will Washington and Jefferson follow?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCNN\u2019s Angela Rye: Statues of Washington, Jefferson and Lee \u2018All Need to Come Down\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018HAMILTON\u2019 STAR: \u00a0<\/span>Maybe Washington, Jefferson Statues\u00a0<\/span>SHOULD COME DOWN\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Believing Latter-day Saints, however, should not feel complacently secure from such storms. \u00a0Or, to vary the metaphor, they should realize that the acids eating away at the statues of eminent Confederates will, probably sooner rather than later, be lapping at the feet of the historical human beings whom we believe to have been called by God to lead his Church. \u00a0And, just as at least a few agitators are probably seeking, by means of the recent controversies over monumental sculptures, to devalue the achievements and virtues and even demonize the legacy of the American Republic, a few will almost certainly be attempting the same transmogrification of the Restored Church.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Consider this piece that appeared quite a while back:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Forthcoming Mormon Memory Wars\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Notice its language about\u00a0Brigham Young, for example, with my emphasis: \u00a0\u201cYoung ruled<\/em> the LDS church<\/a> for 30 years.\u201d \u00a0And what was the historical impact of \u201chis reign<\/em>\u201c? \u00a0Why, what else but \u201cracism, fostering a culture of violence towards others, and polygamy and misogyny\u201d? \u00a0And note the cool and detached language of this sentence, couched in the passive voice: \u00a0\u201cA petition has also recently been launched to rename Brigham Young University.\u201d \u00a0The author didn\u2019t note that, as a matter of coincidental fact, he himself is the author and prime mover of that petition.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Latter-day Saints should be aware of, and prepared for, the onslaught that is likely to come.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As a religious and political conservative, I\u2019ve watched not dispassionately but with some indignation the long-evident but increasing tendency for people on the left to suggest that conservatives are not only wrong but, to some greater or lesser degree, morally depraved. \u00a0And, to the extent that the same thing has happened on the right, I\u2019ve opposed it. \u00a0Sometimes in the face of rather spirited attack. \u00a0(See, for example, my defense of Harry Reid<\/a>, with whom I had many major political disagreements.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I intend to resist attempts to extend this project of demonization back into history. \u00a0I freely confess that the American Founders and the founders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> alike were and are human. \u00a0But I also believe them to have been good men, on the whole and for their cultural milieu, and I won\u2019t stand idly by while they\u2019re defamed and marginalized.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I want my stance\u00a0on record now for the days that are inevitably to come.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I have recently been dumpster diving for horrors in the apparently inexhaustible Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u00a9.\u00a0 Today, I came up with a sextet of horrors that, I think, will leave you shivering with fright and quivering with indignation.\u00a0 Which is what you really want, isn\u2019t<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Amos C. Brown Fellowship to Ghana Concludes: Students say it was a life-changing cultural encounter\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJustServe by the Numbers:\u00a0In 2021, 2,500 new organizations registered with JustServe, which connects volunteers with organizations needing help\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNew Wells in Kurdistan to Provide Water to 15,000 People:\u00a0Life-saving project is a collaboration between the government and Latter-day Saint Charities\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy spirituality helps the medicine go down: New research in JAMA suggests that serious illness and public health outcomes both benefits from linking spirituality to medicine.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n