Using a blend of science, software and scripture, Texas A&M adjunct law professor Rick Larson presented his proof for the Star of Bethlehem as an actual astronomical event last Thursday in McFarlin Auditorium.
The crowd, which consisted mainly of local families and small church groups, were awed by Larson’s argument.
“There are two common responses people have to the story of the Star of Bethlehem,” Larson said. “Skeptics claim that it’s just bunk, manufactured by the early church to add weight to the story of Christ. People of faith, though, take the story and even if they don’t understand it completely, believe it. Tonight, we’ll explore the star as a mystery of science.”
Larson said his search for finding proof began with his own faith and experience in law. His curiosity about the star drove him to explore the field of astronomy. Larson made the clear distinction that he was exploring the star as a science, astronomically as opposed to astrologically.
Larson first began with scripture. “If you’re not studying the reading out of Matthew 2, then you are doing something else,” he said. In the disciple Matthew’s account, three Magi, or wisemen, from the East came to Herod’s Jerusalem to pay homage to the newborn Jesus, after viewing his star as it rose. Larson continued drawing from scripture, jumping haphazardly from Acts to Revelation. He added that many interpretations of scripture that can clearly be seen as forecasting of the event of the Star and its correlation with the birth of Christ.
One of the most interesting points came from the book of Revelation. As scholars believe, the book was written by the disciple John while he was in exile because of his beliefs. The book symbolically explains God’s purposes through Christ. In Revelation 12, verses one through five though became prevalent – Larson claimed that these verses were written due to John’s observations of constellation patterns.
From this point, Larson needed a bit more help. He turned to software that he had purchased to help him in his personal search. The program, appropriately named “Starry Night,” is based on the German mathematician and physicist Johannes Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion published in 1609 and 1619. With the ability to perform Kepler’s equations at an incredible rate, the program is able to recreate the night sky from any date in history.
Using the software, Larson focused on the recreated night sky of the year 3 B.C.E. (Before Common Era) as seen in Babylon, Iraq, specifically. He focused on the planet Jupiter and told about the planet’s retrograde motion, a regression in the normal orbit as viewed from Earth. Then, Larson showed how Jupiter lined up with the star Regulus once. Jupiter then went into retrograde motion and passed Regulus again. This phenomenon has not happened again in the 20th century.
“The story doesn’t end here, though,” he Larson. He proceeded to show how the day of Christ’s execution was also predicted in the cosmos. Larson quoted Acts 2, verse 20, which reads “[On the day of the Crucifixion] the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood . . .”
Using Starry Night, Larson showed that the only full lunar eclipse, a “blood moon” seen in Bethlehem, in recorded history happened on April 3, 33 A.D. around the date of Christ’s crucifixion.
The crowd didn’t seem to know whether to cry in amazement or stare in awe.
“This all means that the Universe runs like clockwork, and God knew the instant that he would paint Jesus in the stars, and put him into life,” Larson concluded. Following this, he let the crowd soak it all in. He invited everyone, believers and non-believers alike, to join him in a prayer, letting go of all objectivity, and praising God for the opportunity to share his findings with people from Europe and across the U.S., from California to Florida.
“When I saw these miracles on the software, tears were streaming down my face as I sat on my back patio,” he said in an aside. As he continued to pray, “Lord, help me to continue sharing this with people, Amen.”
The event was enhanced by music from Larson’s wife Julie’s album “Heartpsalm”, which was available for sale in the lobby. Proceeds went to helping Larson continue traveling to share his work with others. Donations were also gladly accepted and many people gave generously.
“I’m just a normal guy, like all of you,” he said. “I just want to share what I’ve found with as many people as possible.”
To find out more about Larson’s studies, check out www.bethlehemstar.net.
