Whats The Inverted Pagan Star.

[Gaea]

I Thought Jesus The Christ Was Represented By The Star Of betherlihem Not By Any Other.

Over The Years i Have noticed That The Star On The Nauvoo And Saltlake Temple Also Exist In Well Known Buildings, Such As the Empire Estate Building And Other Places.

No, Heres the Issue. The example Is Of Topic But nessisary.

With The Book Of Lehi, The Book Was Not To be Re-Published Because Those That Staole It Could Have used It Against The Church And made Is Look Bad..

With The Inverted Pagan Star, The Same Things Exist. If The Inverted Star Is to Represent Jesus The Christ Then, How Come The Satanic Star Existed Before The Church Was Founded.

Where Did This Supposed Star Of Jesus Christ Originate From. Was It Last And Then Found. But Why Use It If you Know People Will Use It The Way They would Have Used the Stolen Book Of Lehi.

So, Lets Say The Star Of Jesus The Christ Was Lost Then Found. but Is It likely That Satanists Used It As A Negative Symbol Even Before Joseph Smiths Father Was Born.

Why Would A Symbol Need to Be Used To Strenghten Faith Anyway.

[rameumptom]

Back in Joseph Smith's day, the inverted star was a common star to denote Jesus Christ. The 5th star point suggests the tail of a star, just like you'll often see such a star in Christmas movies about Jesus' birth. It is also found in several old Catholic cathedrals, and is on the U.S. Medal of Honor.

Only in the past century or so has the inverted star been used by Satanists. It was NOT used by Satanists prior to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young's time. Since the Catholics and the US government have not seen the need to change their cathedrals and medals, we shouldn't either.

http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/Stars.pdf

[Flyonthewall]

Symbols can be "hi-jacked" to mean anything. Did you know that the swastika was a religious symbol long before the Nazi's got a hold of it?

Even Christianity took what began as a method of slow agonizing death, and used it to symbolize Christianity.

I'm not an expert on symbology so here is a link to the FAIRlds site that discusses this.

http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/Stars.pdf

Edited: Drat! Rameumptom posted the link first!

[WillowTheWhisp]

I was under the impression that when used on temples the star represents the Telestial Kingdom, along with the moon for the Terrestrial and the Sun for the Celestial.

[Elgama]

Pagan does not automatically mean something is bad or Satanic the Star in Paganism is not evil and does not become a Satanist sign unless it has a goats head within it at which point it is called the Sigl of Baphomet

In Paganism as I understand it the inverted star is just the pentagram or star of David upside down and it represents different things to each group but usually The Earth or an element which is why it is perfect to represent the Telestial Kingdom its not evil its just a symbol. Like someone else said the Swastika is actually a Hindu peace symbol.

-Charley

[Adeipho]

a star is one of the earliest symbols for "man" and a star upright might signify a living man, and an upside down one could mean a dead man. It later came to symbolize the five wounds of Christ ....gotta run will finish later

[rameumptom]

I was under the impression that when used on temples the star represents the Telestial Kingdom, along with the moon for the Terrestrial and the Sun for the Celestial.

Actually, they are representative of the Woman (Church) as described in Revelation 12:1.

This is the reason you see the stars at top, Sun below and then the moon at the base of the temple: because it primarily represents the woman and how she is described.

Only in a secondary way do the stars, moon and sun symbolize the kingdoms of heaven.

[Moksha]

Pagan does not automatically mean something is bad or Satanic the Star in Paganism is not evil and does not become a Satanist sign unless it has a goats head within it at which point it is called the Sigl of Baphomet

-Charley

Our friend, the loony Jack Chick has provided this illustration:

[WillowTheWhisp]

Actually, they are representative of the Woman (Church) as described in Revelation 12:1.

This is the reason you see the stars at top, Sun below and then the moon at the base of the temple: because it primarily represents the woman and how she is described.

Only in a secondary way do the stars, moon and sun symbolize the kingdoms of heaven.

In that case what do the sun and moon represent? On our temple we have sun moon and stars around the sides but one sun and one star and different phases of the moon. None placed higher or lower than the others. Can you explain why that would be and what they represent?

[Latter Days Guy]

I Thought Jesus The Christ Was Represented By The Star Of betherlihem Not By Any Other.

Over The Years i Have noticed That The Star On The Nauvoo And Saltlake Temple Also Exist In Well Known Buildings, Such As the Empire Estate Building And Other Places.

No, Heres the Issue. The example Is Of Topic But nessisary.

With The Book Of Lehi, The Book Was Not To be Re-Published Because Those That Staole It Could Have used It Against The Church And made Is Look Bad..

With The Inverted Pagan Star, The Same Things Exist. If The Inverted Star Is to Represent Jesus The Christ Then, How Come The Satanic Star Existed Before The Church Was Founded.

Where Did This Supposed Star Of Jesus Christ Originate From. Was It Last And Then Found. But Why Use It If you Know People Will Use It The Way They would Have Used the Stolen Book Of Lehi.

So, Lets Say The Star Of Jesus The Christ Was Lost Then Found. but Is It likely That Satanists Used It As A Negative Symbol Even Before Joseph Smiths Father Was Born.

Why Would A Symbol Need to Be Used To Strenghten Faith Anyway.

Could you not capitalise practically EVERY first letter of every word in your posts, it's poor english and makes reading difficult:mad:

[COUNTRYBEAR]

Yes The Star On The Temple Represents The Telestial Kingdom, Pagans Are Not Satanists Beacuse They Do Not Believe In Satan Or Christ They Are Anamists.

[prisonchaplain]

Seeing an inverted star would have thrown me for a loop, had I not read this string. The common appearance of "swatstikas" on Korean Buddhist temples (actually, the Nazis distorted the symbol from Buddhism) initially surprised me too. The good news is that the star seems fairly easy to explain. The bad news is that many will see the star, be astonished, and never get an explanation.

[a-train]

Satan has never created anything. Everything he does is the pollution of the things of God. Why do so-called 'Satanists' sacrifice animals to him? Was this a practice invented by Satan? Of course not, animal sacrifice was from God. Satan's use of it is only the pollution of the things of God.

The goat was part of the true worship of the LORD and so was the star. Satan seeks the pollution of the tabernacle of man wherein the Spirit may dwell. He seeks the pollution of the earth, the pollution of the scriptures, the pollution of all the things of God. Not a shred of it came from him. Not one particle is his work.

Every jot and tittle of language came from God, Satan only seeks to pollute it. Some believe that the five pointed star belongs to him. This is false. Nothing belongs to him. Every star is God's. The Goat was created by the LORD, not Satan. The form of the Goat is God's creation.

The suns, moons, and stars on our temples do indeed represent the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial respectively. And as Ram said, these symbols are used in the image of the Church of the Firstborn. She is clothed with celestial glory, with the terrestrial kingdom beneath her feet and she is crowned with the twelve apostles.

Some of us fear symbols. It is interesting that four common letters in our alphabet can be assembled to form a meaningless word that creates great turmoil and annoyance in our society.

What is pure foolishness is the idea that a pentagram or some other symbol can be positioned in a certain place and perform some magical miracle or spell. I sometimes wonder who believes in this falsehood more, those that draw them, or those that fear those that draw them.

Let us remember who really provided us with every symbol we have, and their true meaning. Satan's claims are all lies.

-a-train

[Adeipho]

The pentagram symbol today is ascribed many meanings and deep significance, though much of this is very recent. However, it has been used throughout history and in many contexts:

The earliest known use of the pentagram dates back to around 3500BC at Ur of the Chaldees in Ancient Mesopotamia where it was symbolic of imperial power.

Amongst the Hebrews, the symbol was ascribed to Truth and to the five books of the Pentateuch. It is sometimes, incorrectly, called the Seal of Solomon (see Hexagram).

In Ancient Greece, it was called the Pentalpha, being geometrically composed of five A's. Unlike earlier civilisations,

the Greeks did not generally attribute other symbolic meanings to the letters of their alphabet, but certain symbols became connected with Greek letter shapes or positions (eg Gammadion, Alpha-Omega).

To the Gnostics, the pentagram was the 'Blazing Star'.

For the Druids, it was a symbol of Godhead.

In Egypt, it was a symbol of the 'underground womb'.

The Pagan Celts ascribed the pentagram to the underground goddess Morrigan.

Medieval Christians attributed the pentagram to the Five Wounds of Christ.

The Christian Emperor Constantine I used the pentagram, together with the chi-rho symbol in his seal and amulet.

In the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentagram was Sir Gawain's glyph, inscribed in gold on his shield, symbolising the five knightly virtues.

In Medieval times, the 'Endless Knot' was a symbol of Truth and was a protection against demons. It was used as personal protection and to guard windows and doors.

The pentagram with one point upwards symbolised summer; with two points upwards, it was a sign for winter.

During the long period of the Inquisition, the pentagram was

seen to symbolise a Goat's Head. In the purge on witches, the horned god Pan became equated with the Devil (a Christian concept) and the pentagram, for the first time in history became a symbol of 'evil' and was called the Witch's Foot.

In the emergence of Hermeticism, graphical symbolism became very important. The concept of the microcosmic world of Man as analogous to the macrocosm, the greater univese of spirit and elemental matter is a part of traditional occult teaching in both western and eastern philosophies.

"As above, so below";

The pentagram, the 'Star of the Microcosm', symbolised Man within the microscosm, representing in analogy the Macrocosmic universe.

The upright pentagram bears some resemblance to the shape of man with his legs and arms outstretched; indeed an illustration attributed to Agrippa or to Tycho Brae (1582) illustrates the similarity of proportion in this image, showing the five planets and the moon at the centre point - the genitalia.

There are other illustrations of the period by Robert Fludd and

Leonardo da Vinci showing geometrical relationships of man to the universe.

Later, the pentagram came to be symbolic of the relationship

of the head to the four limbs and hence of the pure concentrated essence of anything (or the spirit) to the four traditional elements of matter. - [Quintessence]

In Freemasonry, Man as Microprosopus was associated with the five-pointed Seal of Solomon. The symbol was used, interlaced and upright for the sitting Master of the Lodge. The geometric properties and structure of the Endless Knot were appreciated and symbolically incorporated into the 72 degree angle of the compasses.

The womens' branch of freemasonry uses the five pointed 'Eastern Star' as its emblem. Each point commemorates a heroine of biblical lore.

No graphical illustration of any association of the pentagram with evil appears until the nineteenth century. Eliphas Levi illustrates the upright pentagram of microcosmic man beside an inverted pentagram with the goat's head of Baphomet.

In ritual magick the sign has long been used as a ritual flourish of the athame to symbolise invoking or banishing in respect to elemental associations.

In the 1940's Gerald Gardner adopted the pentagram with two points upward as the sigil of second degree initiation in the newly emergent, neo-pagan rituals of witchcraft, later to become known as Wicca. The one-point upward pentagram together with the upright triangle symbolised third degree initiation.

The pentagram was also inscribed on the altar pentacle, it's

points symbolising the three aspects of the Goddess plus the two aspects of the God.

It was not until the late 1960's that the pentagram again became an amuletic symbol to be worn and has since then become firmly established as a common neo-pagan and wiccan symbol, acquiring many aspects of mystique and associations that are today often considered to be ancient folk-lore !

Nevertheless, the potency of a symbol has more to do with its associations and its commonality than with its antiquity and the pentagram today is ubiquitous amongst neo-pagans.

The five-pointed star was used in the Nauvoo Temple and other early temples, but it's meaning was wholesome. Inverted stars did not generally become associated with the occult until after the time of Joseph Smith. Stars, including inverted stars, were used by early Christians as valid Christian symbols. The symbol of the star - whether it has five or six points - and the pentagram can be used for good or evil purposes. The fact that Satan worshippers have given evil meanings to the star, the moon, or whatever does not make the symbols inherently evil.

Though the symbols in Masonary, and as seen upon some temples of the Mormons are the same and similar in some cases, it does not mean that the interpretation of such symbols are the same.

The symbols go back to time immemorial, and have been corrupted, and contain many errors or alterations. The Masons may have the symbols but their understanding of them is misunderstood, their signs are not used as part of holy ordinances, but as signs of recognition or some other use not related to gospel principles.

Every symbol on a Mormon Temple has the same meaning as it did when they were used in biblical times.

[abeChristianson]

Our friend, the loony Jack Chick has provided this illustration:

Thanks a lot now I went to his site and found his crazy thoughts on our church......

[Casslan]

Symbols can be "hi-jacked" to mean anything. Did you know that the swastika was a religious symbol long before the Nazi's got a hold of it?

Even Christianity took what began as a method of slow agonizing death, and used it to symbolize Christianity.

Also do not forget about St Peters Cross that is used by the Catholic Church. That, too has been hijacked by Satanists.

The Cross of St. Peter (officially known as the Petrine Cross or colloquially Peter's Cross) is an inverted Latin cross. The origin of this symbol comes from the Catholictradition that St. Peter was crucified upside down, as he felt he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Christ died (upright). It is often used with two keys, symbolizing the keys of heaven.

see Cross of St. Peter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Moksha]

Thanks a lot now I went to his site and found his crazy thoughts on our church......

Jack Chick is an excellent example of what happens when a combination of crazy conservatism, religion and drawing ability happen in unison.

[Mike Reed]

With The Inverted Pagan Star, The Same Things Exist. If The Inverted Star Is to Represent Jesus The Christ Then, How Come The Satanic Star Existed Before The Church Was Founded.

It wasn't. Evidence suggests that Eliphas Levi was the first to associate the inverted star with evil, and this post-dated the construction of the Nauvoo temple.

[Mike Reed]

I was under the impression that when used on temples the star represents the Telestial Kingdom, along with the moon for the Terrestrial and the Sun for the Celestial.

I don't agree with this interpretation, as the stars are on the celestial-room level of the Nauvoo temple. The foreman of the framework of the Nauvoo temple, Wandle Mace, reported that the starstones represented the crown of stars worn by the Bride of Christ in Revelation 12.

As for the star WINDOWS, however... we don't know for sure. But I think a hint to it's meaning is in the cruciform stonework surrounding the window, as well as the coloring of the star. I believe these (together) are rose crosses. The rose-cross has long been associated with the pentagram... The rose is often depicted with having five petals. The catholic rosary has five sets of beads (called Decades)... if you were to open up the circle of beads, you would be able to draw a pentagram by connecting lines from the start of each set (on the Amiens cathedral displays an inverted pentagram on one of its rose-windows Pentagram on Flickr - Photo Sharing!). The star's five points (as well as the five Decades) remind Catholics of the five wounds of Christ. Freemasonry likewise associated the pentagram with the five wounds of Christ, but also with what they called the "five points of fellowship." The coloring of the window on the Nauvoo temple matches Luther's mystic rose-cross, with red in the center, white petals, and blue on the outside. Rossicurians and Freemasons of Joseph Smith's day picked up this symbolism. Symbols can have layers of meaning, and I believe this to be the case particularly for the pentagram windows of the nauvoo temple.

BTW... some may object to my interpretation, because they assume that the Church has always avoided using the symbol of the cross. This is not true. The no-cross protocol is a late development in the Church's history (as my MA thesis will show, once I finish writing it).

[Mike Reed]

Actually, they are representative of the Woman (Church) as described in Revelation 12:1.

We don't know this for sure. Wandle Mace reported this only for the starSTONES; not the star WINDOWS.

[Mike Reed]

In that case what do the sun and moon represent? On our temple we have sun moon and stars around the sides but one sun and one star and different phases of the moon. None placed higher or lower than the others. Can you explain why that would be and what they represent?

The starSTONES, Sunstones, and Moonstones represent the bride of Christ. Revelation 12 says she is clothed in the SUN, has the MOON at her feet, and wears a crown of STARS.

As for the star WINDOWS, however... we don't know for sure. See my detailed post http://www.lds.net/forums/lds-gospel-discussion/10044-whats-inverted-pagan-star-2.html#post178230 for my interpretation.

[Snow]

The starSTONES, Sunstones, and Moonstones represent the bride of Christ. Revelation 12 says she is clothed in the SUN, has the MOON at her feet, and wears a crown of STARS.

As for the star WINDOWS, however... we don't know for sure. See my detailed post http://www.lds.net/forums/lds-gospel-discussion/10044-whats-inverted-pagan-star-2.html#post178230 for my interpretation.

Since it was BY and JS that designed the temple symbology, what do they have to say about it?

[Mike Reed]

Since it was BY and JS that designed the temple symbology, what do they have to say about it?

Of the star windows? Nothing that I am aware of.