The Number Twelve and the Zodiac

We have known over two thousand years that Jesus was born probably in August/September. There are archeological evidences corroborating when the census order was issued and when and where the officials were in office from Caesar Augustus down to Herod (Cyrenius as Governor of Syria, Herod's son, Archaelaus). The Romans would make the people register from time to time. There is another "registration" recorded by Luke in Acts 5:37.

The Nativity Scenes have other problems such as two years between the Magi and the Shepherds. The Shepherds found Jesus in a stall; the Magi found him in a house.

All most all of the Christian holy days were made to match the pagan holy days throughout the Roman Empire from the time Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan (330 AD). The worship of the evergreen, the holly, the mistletoe, the rabbit are all embedded in other religions.

Two great books were written at the turn of the Twentieth Century by two great scholars: E.W. Bullinger wrote "The Witness of the Stars" and John A. Seiss wrote "The Gospel in the Stars."

There are four "perfect numbers: Three, Seven, Ten and Twelve. In many religions that deal with numbers, they believe Three to be the number of perfect completion, Seven to be the number of spiritual perfection, Ten to be ordinal perfection and Twelve to be the number of governmental perfection.

The mystery of the Sphinx having the Body of a lion and the face of a woman was all connected to the Zodiac by the Egyptians. The signs of the Zodiac are in a circle with each sign telling a story. The problem with a circular story is where does it begin for a circle has no beginning. The face of the woman in the Sphinx begins the story with a Virgin and the body of the lion ends the story with the Lion as King.

Interesting that the Kings of Israel could only come through Judah. The names are very interesting in the Hebrew and in Akkadian. As I understand every culture has the same signs in the same place whether it be Egypt, Babylonian, ancient China, Hittite, South American or Persian.  

The number Twelve is interesting in most religions and especially true in the Tenach (Old Testament) and some of the New Testament:those you mentioned plus a few others such as when Jesus fed the five thousand men and then the seven thousand men, He had the men to sit in companies of twelve each time, and each time there were taken up twelve baskets full of left over fish and bread.

There are Twelve pearls, and Twelve Angels.There are 144,000 (12 X 12) sexually pure witnesses from Twelve tribes in the Apocalypse. The High Priest had Twelve stones on his Breast Plate. There were Twelve persons anointed in the Bible. The age of Jesus when he first appeared in public was Twelve years old, and He was Twelve years old when His first words were recorded; Jesus, also, mentioned Twelve Legions of Angels.

Twelve is all around us, permeating both the Bible and our secular lives in measurement and time. There are many ways Twelve and multiples of Twelve are used:

12 inches makes a foot, thirty-six inches makes a yard (3 X 12), 360 (12 X 30) degrees makes a circle, two twelves makes a full day, 360 days in a lunar year, 60 seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour (5 X 12.

It is a shame that the Alexandrian libraries were destroyed by both Christian and Muslim fanatics. Who knows what those ancient volumes held for our learning?

Phil.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 948 comments) on Friday, December 21, 2007 at 8:05:35 PM
 

Orion, the Mighty Glorious One

Jesus was an Israeli and a Jew. He was an Israeli because He was born of the nation of Israel. He was a Jew because he was born of one of the tribes of Israel called Judah.

In the Tenach, the Israelites were dealt very harshly with for worshipping anything created: man made idols called graven images, animals, insects, reptiles, sun, moon, and stars which were all created. In fact, the Tenach teaches that is why God allowed Baylon to destroy Israel in 586 BC under King Nebuchadnezzar.

Jesus being a good Jewish lad, His adopted father, Joseph and His mother, Mary, being very devout Jews would have taught their Son well. The Hebrews believed that God had written a message in the stars which message God gave to Adam.

The ancients of the near East divided the Zodiac into three books of four chapters each. The First Book was called the Redeemer. The main sign was Virgo or the Virgin.  The three attending constellations were Coma "the Desired," Centaurus holding a spear and piercing a victim. The Old Hebrew name was "the despised sin offering." Bootes was the third attending constellation usually picture as a man walking with branch called "Arcturus" which means the same as Bootes, "he comes."

You mentioned Orion. Orion was the first attending constellation in Book Three of the three books. The Third Book's title is "the glory that should follow." Taurus was called the Bull by the Greeks, but the ancient Hebrew was "Messiah comes to rule." The first attending constellation Taurus is Orion which means "light breaking forth in the person of the Redeemer."

The second attending constellation to Taurus was "Eridanus." The name means "the River of the Judge" or as in Akaddian, "wrath breaking forth for his enemies."

Auriga or the Shepherd was the third attending constellation. Auriga means "safety for the Redeemed in the day of that great wrath."

When we look at some of the individual stars in the ancient Hebrew, we find several interesting things:

One of the names of Orion was "the Glorious One." This is how he is pictured in the ancient Denderah Zodiac where a man is pointing to three bright stars (Regel, Bellatrix and Betelguez). Orion's name is given as Ha-ga-t which means, "this is he who triumphs." The hieroglyphic characters below read "Oar." Orion was originally spelled "Oarion," from the Hebrew root which means "light." So Orion means "coming forth as light." The ancient Akkadian was "Ur-ana,"  "the light of Heaven."

As you well know, Orion is the most brilliant of all the forty eight constellations of the Zodiac. When Orion comes to the Meridian, he is accompanied by several constellations of great light and beauty. All can see when he comes for the equinoctial line or "solstitial colure" passes almost through the middle of Orion.

As the ancient Hebrew Psalmist said, "The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Psalm 19:1-3.

So Paul says in Romans that we are all without excuse for we know from the things which are created.

If There Is No God, Nothing Matters. If There Is God, Nothing Else Matters.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 948 comments) on Friday, December 21, 2007 at 9:19:41 PM
 

Theoretical Theology

As Shakespeare wrote, "Enough of your quips and your quiddities!" (Henry IV, Part II, I believe)

Everything about theology and organized religion is based on conjecture and subject to doubt. In Henry IV, Pt. 2 Hotspur, it is reverently said, can "summon great spirits from the vasty depths." The skeptical response: "Aye, but will they come?" So it is with all who would presume to cast the tangled nets of religion over the spontaneity of life.

Sure, the numeral 12 is all around us, but so is 1 (one nose, one trunk on a tree, one nucleus in an atom), 2 (2 nostrils in a nose, 2 hands and feet, etc.), 3 (see article,above), 4 (corners on a square or rectangle, poles in a circle, etc.), 5 (digits on a hand or foot, facets in columnar basalt), 6, 7, and so forth.

Ascribing coincidences of numerical counts to mysterious background forces of religion is amusing, but ultimately futile, as is relating human events to the random patterns of the visible galaxies.

We need to get used to the likelihood that there are no gods. (If there is one, how could there not be 2, or 3, or 500?). Life has no inherent "meaning" nor is life without meaning. It just happens. No need to build elaborate verbal and theological constructs. We just need to continue research in biology, physics and chemistry.

So, have a happy solstice, Xmas, Hannukah, or secular celebration with friends and family--not for religious purposes, but because human relationships are about the only reliable way to find "meaning" in life!!

by R. Queisser (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 60 comments) on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 4:47:20 AM
 

Bassclef

You make a supposition: there is no God.

I make a supposition: there is God.

Who is right? Both are suppositions on which we base all our lives and make all our decisions.

If you are right, I lose nothing. My life and your life are no more important than yon cockroach on the wall. We accidentally live and when and where and how we die is just a part of the unseeing and uncaring universe.

If I am right, I gain eternity and you gain eternal separation from God and from life. You mentioned Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare. Remember the Queen is dead. MacBeth can only hope it is an uncaring, impersonal universe and nothing more:

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death.  Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more.  It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing” Macbeth. Act 5. Scene 5.

Hamlet cannot quite come to the same place for he has not freed himself from this idea there is God, at least not to where He can do anything because he does not believe in anything as Macbeth has done. Hamlet not being free from this belief in God which posits a moral code that causes his inaction and leads to tragedy. Hamlet reminds himself of this dilemma. Remember? Hamlet begins with "To be or not to be...." and ends with these words, "To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub." Hamlet. Act 3. Scene 1.

And it is the rub is it not which you and I face? You make a great supposition and I make one.  Both demand great faith. With three heart attacks and five bypasses, I will lay my head confidently down on my pillow. If I do not wake in the morning, I have all the confidence in the world that when I do wake, I will wake in His presence who died for me and promised on His reputation that "He is the resurrection and the life." He either lied or the told the truth which makes Him either a great good Person or a very evil person.

When you step out of this life into eternity, it will either be to an eternal death or an eternal life. If I wake, I still win. I will hold my three month old grandchild that I believe is more than just a cockroach on yon wall, hug my wife and go to church to be with my church family. I will pass out about eight hundred dollars worth of gift cards to eight single mothers sometime at church. These Moms have know idea and are very worried about not having a Christmas for their children. I would not trade places tomorrow with all the right wing kings of enterprise with all their power and all their wealth. I serve a greater King.

If there is no God, nothing matters. If there is a God nothing else matters.  

Merry Christmas,

Phil Ratliff, pastor, Alameda Baptist Church, Norman, Oklahoma.

by pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 948 comments) on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 9:17:16 PM