Anglican Leader Makes Controversial Statement.

[Fiannan]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...2-12377,00.html

THE leader of the world's Anglicans has described the Christmas story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and has said not all followers must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has picked apart elements of the Christmas story, including how a star rose high in the sky and stood still to guide the wise men to Jesus's birth place.

Stars simply don't behave like that, he told the BBC during an interview.

Muslims believe in the virgin birth -- I guess that makes them more Christian than what the Anglicans are evolving into.

[a-train]

I'm not certain that the view of the Archbishop is any different than ours with regard to the wise men or the star. With reference to the star, His statement could be to the effect that it could have been a comet or some other celestial phenomenon other than what we currently define as a star and not a disavowal of the testament of the Gospels.

On the subject of the virgin birth, I could not say what their position is, but it is one thing to say that converts are not constrained to profess it and another to denounce it.

Seeing the conclusions jumped to by the public as the LDS faith is presented by the media I hope to not jump to similar conclusions about others.

-a-train

[Traveler]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...2-12377,00.html

THE leader of the world's Anglicans has described the Christmas story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and has said not all followers must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has picked apart elements of the Christmas story, including how a star rose high in the sky and stood still to guide the wise men to Jesus's birth place.

Stars simply don't behave like that, he told the BBC during an interview.

Muslims believe in the virgin birth -- I guess that makes them more Christian than what the Anglicans are evolving into.

There are stars that will do what normal stars will not - they are called "Super Nova's" in our time and if a star super nova’ed within 600 light years of earth it would be quite bright and visible during the day - it's initial radiation could cause the ozone to fluoresce causing day like light (with no shadow) even after the sun had set.

The Traveler

[Moksha]

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has picked apart elements of the Christmas story, including how a star rose high in the sky and stood still to guide the wise men to Jesus's birth place.

Stars simply don't behave like that, he told the BBC during an interview.

There are stars that will do what normal stars will not - they are called "Super Nova's" in our time and if a star super nova’ed within 600 light years of earth it would be quite bright and visible during the day - it's initial radiation could cause the ozone to fluoresce causing day like light (with no shadow) even after the sun had set.

The Traveler

Stars do not move to keep pace with Earth's rotation or orbit around the Sun.

[CrimsonKairos]

This excellent article is a must-read if understanding "the Star of Bethlehem" is your goal. :)

No, I didn't write it.

[sixpacktr]

Mankind will always try to make a reason for the miraculous. The fact of the matter is, we just don't know what the star was. But the BOM also testifies of a star, so I believe that there was something like that. The BOM also talks of the night being as bright as the daytime the day before Christ's birth.

If God's son came into the world via a virgin birth, how hard can it be for him to do a star? The conditions surrounding the birth of our Lord were all miraculous.

Faith. Becoming childlike in our trust in the Lord, and accepting his word thru the scriptures, instead of always trying to create a reason that makes sense to us so that we don't have to have faith.

One day we'll know the mechanism our HF used to do these things. Until then, I'm content with the testimony of the scriptures.

[Elphaba]

There are stars that will do what normal stars will not - they are called "Super Nova's" in our time

Why do you say a Super Nova is not "normal"? What is a "normal star"?

This is nothing "abnormal" about Super Novas, and it is misleading to say so.

Elphaba

[Maedoc]

<div class='quotemain'>There are stars that will do what normal stars will not - they are called "Super Nova's" in our time

Why do you say a Super Nova is not "normal"? What is a "normal star"?

This is nothing "abnormal" about Super Novas, and it is misleading to say so.

Elphaba

I agree. But as such, I believe that God works with actual principles to work his miracles, as opposed to some mysterious use of magic. He knows the properties of everything so well he can manipulate things to his will, and still be scientifically sound.

[Traveler]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...2-12377,00.html

THE leader of the world's Anglicans has described the Christmas story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and has said not all followers must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has picked apart elements of the Christmas story, including how a star rose high in the sky and stood still to guide the wise men to Jesus's birth place.

Stars simply don't behave like that, he told the BBC during an interview.

Muslims believe in the virgin birth -- I guess that makes them more Christian than what the Anglicans are evolving into.

One of the problems is that so little is known in scripture about the Birth of Christ that the story has been filled in with a lot of fables.

For example: The scriptures do not say that Jesus was born within a day after Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem. There was no discussion between Joseph and any Inn keeper. And Jesus was not born in a stable. We do not know who was present at the birth – we do not know if the other children of Joseph were there. There are other ancient accounts that would indicate a possibility that there was much more to the story of the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist than what is included in the few verses of this most important event.

The Traveler

[prisonchaplain]

Muslims believe in the virgin birth -- I guess that makes them more Christian than what the Anglicans are evolving into.

I'm glad to see that your view of Islam is becoming more nuanced, anyway.

[rayhale]

The star of Bethlehem was a sign to the wise men. We don’t know much about it. As soon as the wise men saw the star, they may have already known where to go, in the Old Testament it prophecies where the Savior would be born.

[MormonGirl02]

Just more evidence that the Great Apostasy really happened and that the Anglican Church was one of the churches that are in the apostasy. I hope that made sense.

[Snow]

THE leader of the world's Anglicans has described the Christmas story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and has said not all followers must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has picked apart elements of the Christmas story, including how a star rose high in the sky and stood still to guide the wise men to Jesus's birth place.

Stars simply don't behave like that, he told the BBC during an interview.

Since the bible says nothing about THREE wise men, such a story would be nothing but a legend.