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== The Zodiacs == | == The Zodiacs == | ||
[[Image:Zodiac Chart.jpg|thumb| | [[Image:Zodiac Chart.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Chart used for mapping the Zodiacs in 1892]] | ||
The Zodiac is a ring of constellations that is directly in line with where the sun "passes" over the earth during the year. More accurately, it is where the earth rotates so that it ''appears'' that the sun is moving, when really it is the earth ''orbiting''. This band is broken up into twelve parts, which are visible at different times throughout the year. Each Zodiac is 30<sup>0</sup> of spherical rotation throughout the year. All twelve of them put together make up one year, with a different Zodiac for each month. For this reason, they were used in ancient times as a sort of calendar to keep track of the months. Especially in more mild climates where the summers and winters are hardly distinguishable. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Serpentarius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Awuarius, and Pisces. <ref> [http://www.astrology.com.au/12signs/index.asp The 12 Signs of the Zodiac] </ref> | The Zodiac is a ring of constellations that is directly in line with where the sun "passes" over the earth during the year. More accurately, it is where the earth rotates so that it ''appears'' that the sun is moving, when really it is the earth ''orbiting''. This band is broken up into twelve parts, which are visible at different times throughout the year. Each Zodiac is 30<sup>0</sup> of spherical rotation throughout the year. All twelve of them put together make up one year, with a different Zodiac for each month. For this reason, they were used in ancient times as a sort of calendar to keep track of the months. Especially in more mild climates where the summers and winters are hardly distinguishable. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Serpentarius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Awuarius, and Pisces. <ref> [http://www.astrology.com.au/12signs/index.asp The 12 Signs of the Zodiac] </ref> | ||
== Biblical References == | |||
: ''Main Article: [[Biblical astronomy]]'' | |||
[[File:Constellation Map.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Similarities among the constellations from various cultures point to a single ancient origin.]] | |||
''Main Article: [[Constellations]]'' | |||
{{bible quote|book=Job|chap=38|verses=31-32|Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?.(NIV)}} | |||
Constellations are some of the most ancient astronomical observations. Interestingly enough there are marked similarities in constellation names and the images they form, similarities that extend across cultures. Dr. Jonathan Henry proposes that these commonalities point back to the dispersion after [[Babel]], and that the constellations are representative of shared historical events like the global [[Flood]]. The pervasiveness of flood legends all over the world is well-supported, found in various cultures like that of the Mayans, Egyptians, and Scandinavians. Some secular researchers claim that the similarities of the constellations were a result of "a kind of convergent cultural evolution that happened spontaneously in many cultures"; that is, widely dispersed and entirely unique civilizations all develop the same general interpretation of the stars all around the same time period. One must understand however, that stars within a constellation have no actual connection to one another until the shape of the constellations is imagined by the viewer. Thus, it is next to impossible that people groups in very different regions of the world all “imagined” the same general images in the stars. Estimates of the date and location of the origin of the ancient constellations are consistent with the height of Assyrian power (in both the biblical period and physical location on earth allotted to Babel.) Examination of Roman, Greek, and Indian planispheres, or sky maps, further support this fact in that they incorporated previously known information; the Indian and Greek ones are so similar that they are nearly identical. <ref name=about8>[http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j22_3/j22_3_93-100.pdf Constellations: legacy of the dispersion from Babel] Dr. Jonathan F. Henry. Featured in the Journal of Creation 22(3). Creation.com. 2008. Creation Ministries International. 30 March 2010.</ref> | |||
Naturally, over time the similarities in the ancient constellations would be altered, allowing for differences, but without diminishing the common threads of general interpretation. For example, according to Babylonian tradition, the star Sirius is part of a bow and arrow image; in China, this star is in a constellation resembling a dog that is being targeted by a different bow and arrow constellation; in the West, [[Sirius]] is a star in the Big Dog, or [[Canis Major]], constellation. The constellation of [[Orion]] as a hunter, or as one with a bow and arrow, is recognizable in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Norwegian (Norse), Mexican, Iranian, and Indian art and legends, albeit with slight modifications. The [[Pleiades]] too, were known as "The Seven Sisters" from the aborigines in Australia to the native peoples of ancient Europe, Africa, and America. This commonality is especially interesting in that very often only six of the prominent Pleiades are visible, and the fact that they are referred to as ''The'' Seven Sisters is most unusually considering that the seven stars of the [[Great Bear]] constellation are far brighter. Concerning the Great Bear constellation, scientists estimated that the association of the Ursa Major star group as a bear may go as far back as the 'ice-age Euro-Asia' (the location of Babel would have existed in this general region); also, the constellation's association with a bear in regions of the world where there are no bears, like in Egypt, further prove the theory that the interpretation stems from a common origin. Another fact that indicates an origin of the major constellations near [[Babylon]] is that the most ancient ones are only seen in the northern sky and are absent around the southern pole. Therefore, the creators of the oldest constellations must have been in the northern hemisphere. <ref name=about8>[http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j22_3/j22_3_93-100.pdf Constellations: legacy of the dispersion from Babel] Dr. Jonathan F. Henry. Featured in the Journal of Creation 22(3). Creation.com. 2008. Creation Ministries International. 30 March 2010.</ref> | |||
[[File:Constellation of Orion.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The constellation Orion is one of the most ancient and recognizable constellations in the heavens, famous for its "belt" of three stars.]] | |||
Rising evidence has raised speculation that the major constellations are "corrupted memories of significant events happening early in history" or, perhaps more specifically, the global flood during the time of Noah as recorded in Genesis 6-9. Michael Ovenden of Glasglow University noted that early depictions of the massive constellation of Arago the Ship often set it upon a mountaintop with the Centaur emerging from it and sacrificing an animal upon the altar. Corvus, a raven, is also seen eating the flesh of Hydra, the water-snake. In these pictures, even the location of the Milky Way galaxy appears as smoke rising from the altar. Genesis 9:12-13 reads, ''"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.' "'' Some speculate that the bow of the constellation Sagittarius, which points in the direction of the cloudy Milky Way, is directly linked to the bow mentioned in this verse. Even the Pleiades are associated with a flood by the natives of Australia and the Jews. The aborigines viewed the Pleiades as givers of rain, but because the aborigines were not an agricultural people, there is no logical explanation as to why they would draw that association except from tribal tradition. A Jewish legend tells of the Flood, saying: "The upper waters rushed through the space left when God removed two stars out of the constellation Pleiades"; an explanation for this connection however, remains unknown. <ref name=about8>[http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j22_3/j22_3_93-100.pdf Constellations: legacy of the dispersion from Babel] Dr. Jonathan F. Henry. Featured in the Journal of Creation 22(3). Creation.com. 2008. Creation Ministries International. 30 March 2010.</ref> | |||
Some propose that God placed the stars in such a way as to display the gospel prior to the compilation of the written Word, but there is very little biblical evidence to support this theory. Rather, the majority of biblical references to the constellations act as reminders of God's omnipotent control of the heavens. Psalm 147:4 and Isaiah 40:26 speak of God naming and controlling each individual star, asserting the unrivaled power of God over all of the cosmos. As to the existence of an actual "gospel in the stars," controversy reigns. Proponents like Frances Rolleston and Joseph R. Seiss refer to Genesis 1:14-15, in which God sets the stars in place that they may ''"serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years."'' Dr. Jonathan Henry however, counters this position, pointing out that these verses speak only of stars, not of constellations. He believes that projecting a "gospel in the stars" into these verses is a form of eisegesis ("the reading in of a concept not mentioned in the passage but present in the mind of the reader"). Advocates also invoke the names of ancient stars that have biblical themes as proof of God's divine placement of specific stars in certain constellations. One must recall however, that, as the Bible does not reveal what God named the stars, man designated these stars with their given names, and that the translations of these names vary. <ref name=about8>[http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j22_3/j22_3_93-100.pdf Constellations: legacy of the dispersion from Babel] Dr. Jonathan F. Henry. Featured in the Journal of Creation 22(3). Creation.com. 2008. Creation Ministries International. 30 March 2010.</ref> | |||
Supporters for a gospel in the stars typically associate each of the twelve ancient zodiac constellations with a symbolic part of the gospel story. Libra for example, which depicts scales, is seen to represent that sin must be paid for, that justice must be served; sacrifice is ascribed to the constellation Aries, which is an image of a ram; the virgin in the constellation [[Virgo]] is identified as the Virgin Mary. These explananations seem relatively reasonable, but others, like how [[Cancer]] (a crab) symbolizes the gathering of the redeemed or how Sagittarius (an archer) portrays the element of demonism, are not as straightforward. Looking to the constellations for biblical messages is something that must be done with extreme caution because there is a wide variety of interpretations, and such searches are dangerously close to that of astrology. Thus, the debate continues as to the correct interpretation of Genesis 1:14-15 and the role of the constellations and stars in the heavens. In the end, the Bible is the only infallible source of the gospel, and Christian doctrine is not founded on elements in nature, but rather on the written Word of God. <ref name=about9>[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c019.html Is the gospel spelled out in the stars?] Dr. Donald DeYoung, Ph.D. (Physics) as excerpted from Astronomy and the Bible, pgs. 69-70. Published by Baker Book House. Supplied by Eden Communications (used with permission). Copyright © 1997. www.ChristianAnswers.Net</ref> | |||
== Official Constellations == | == Official Constellations == | ||
