{"id":22872,"date":"2015-12-23T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=22872"},"modified":"2015-12-22T16:24:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T21:24:27","slug":"another-explanation-for-the-bethlehem-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/12\/another-explanation-for-the-bethlehem-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Another explanation for the Bethlehem star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Bible scholar Colin R. Nicholl <\/a>argues that the Star of Bethlehem was really a comet, a moving celestial object that was considered a type of star in ancient astronomy.<\/p>\n

From What Kind of Astronomical Marvel was the Star of \u2026 | Christianity Today<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What evidence is there that the star was a comet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The star appeared suddenly and was visible for over a year, something that makes sense only if it were a supernova or a great comet. That the star surprised the Magi with its impressive \u201crising\u201d points strongly to it being a comet: Of all the celestial bodies, only comets behave in this manner. (Rising refers to the period when a celestial body re-emerges on the horizon after being hidden by the Sun.)<\/p>\n

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Then you take into account the star\u2019s movement, in the space of a couple of months, from the eastern morning sky to the southern evening sky, where they see it when they\u2019re traveling from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. That kind of movement is only possible for an object in the inner solar system, meaning that the star had to be a comet.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p>\n