Re: [asa] Star of Bethlehem presentation?

Hi all,

I really don't get Bernie's problem here - frankly, a little common
sense would resolve this "how did they find the right house" question;

First, the population of Bethlehem at the time of Christ was around 300
to 1000 people (below) and if we assume 4 people per household this
gives 75 to 250 houses. And note that even with the increase in
population due to the census, we STILL have the same number of houses -
so the magi have a village of less than 250 houses to search.

<cite>
...demographic clues from first century Palestine reveal that Bethlehem
was a small village, with a population between three hundred and a
thousand. Experts estimate that, at any given time, the number of babies
under the age of two would be only between seven and twenty...
</cite>

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/herod.shtml

Second, the Lukan narrative makes pretty clear that there was more going
on than simply a star in the sky. In Luke's narrative, we find a group
of country shepherds being given specific instructions as to the
location of the holy family, and they consequently had no problem
finding the house (Luke 2:8-20).

Putting 2 and 2 together...

There was no reason for the shepherds to keep quiet about their reason
for coming to Bethlehem, and it seems obvious that in village as small
as Bethlehem at least some of the residents would learn what was going
on. And given the way rumours travel in small towns - especially rumours
about events of such importance - it is obvious that somebody in
Bethlehem knew enough to point the magi in the right direction. All the
magi had to do was ask around when they got to town - there was no
reason for THEM to keep quiet either.

With 250 houses to check how long do we think it would take for the magi
to find somebody who knew something and could point them in the right
direction?

I reckon the "problem" is about as difficult as going to the town of
White, South Dakota, start knocking on doors asking for Bill Powers
(Bill used to put his town in his sig!) - you'd find him eventually.

Blessings,
Murray

Dehler, Bernie wrote:
> Merv said:
> " Well, I guess I won't waste any time then trying to get you to read what
> you have already decided ahead of time is nonsense. So I will only
> include this link to Larson's site:
> http://www.bethlehemstar.net/stage/stage.htm, just in case you have a
> change of heart and decide to brave the pain of intellectual growth. "
>
> Nice goose chase, but there was nothing at that link that said how the specific shelter was identified. And I read the other pages too- nothing. Waste of time, as I thought. As typical, a proposal which seems to have answers, but after drilling down, finding there is nothing there.
>
> ...Bernie
> (Friend of the ASA)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Merv Bitikofer [mailto:mrb22667@kansas.net]
> Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:16 PM
> To: Dehler, Bernie; asa
> Subject: Re: [asa] Star of Bethlehem presentation?
>
> Dehler, Bernie wrote:
>
>> I don't want to waste my time reading what I consider to be nonsense. If a follower of it likes it, they should be able to concisely answer the basic question if they knew. It would be painful for me to read it, like it is painful for an evolutionist to read Ken Ham. I did scan the excerpt and it didn't mention anything about how the Christ-child was located in the city/town.
>>
>> ...Bernie
>>
>>
> Well, I guess I won't waste any time then trying to get you to read what
> you have already decided ahead of time is nonsense. So I will only
> include this link to Larson's site:
> http://www.bethlehemstar.net/stage/stage.htm, just in case you have a
> change of heart and decide to brave the pain of intellectual growth. I
> think you could find nearly all your questions answered in that and the
> subsequent pages --that is, if you actually were looking for truth or
> answers. In any case, I will do you the favor of refusing to do your
> homework for you, and let you tough it out from here as you may choose.
>
> --Merv
> One final disclaimer -- I don't want to come across that I endorse
> everything that Larson says, though I don't have any particular point of
> contention that I can recall as I say this. He does have some
> interesting & supported speculations about passages in Revelation and
> how the stars relate to prophecies there. Some of it may be a little
> too suspiciously like strongly motivated concordism, and I would want
> to study it a bit more before whole-heartedly subscribing; but be that
> as it may, I try not to indulge too much in the fantasy, Bernie, that
> every explanation of historical phenomena is either perfect &
> scientifically complete, or else is complete nonsense; all the while
> desperately pretending there isn't anything in between.
>
>
>
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Received on Mon Nov 23 01:44:32 2009