BYU NewsNet - Texas Professor Claims Evidence of Existence of Bethlehem Star

A law professor at A&M University in Texas claims to have evidence that the star of Bethlehem exists.

Rick Larson said he used scriptures, science and history to try to find out the truth about one of the most celebrated natural phenomena in the Christian history.

"Everything started about 10 years ago," Larson said. "My daughter and I where working on some Christmas decoration when my daughter asked why we had a star."

After realizing he didn't know a star was a main symbol of Christmas, Larson started to wonder whether the star of Bethlehem was just a Christian myth.

Larson said his desire for knowledge led him to use astronomer Johannes Kepler's map of the solar system, ancient writer Josephus' calendaring and software to recreate the sky of previous years.

Larson's in-depth study of the New Testament book of Mathew led him to recognize nine characteristics of the star that help to explain its existence, he said.

Larson discovered that around 3 and 2 B.C., Jupiter held the nine characteristics of the star.

"It's math," Larson said. "No one can dispute what happened in the sky."

Larson said the event has indisputable scientific evidence to prove that the star of Bethlehem did exist.

It is all about recreating the sky of previous years, and now there is the technology to do it, Larson said.

"It is important to have external evidence -- something outside the Bible that shows that the Bible is true," Larson said. "It says that the messiah has come."

Thomas A. Wayment, associate professor of ancient scripture at BYU, said the Bethlehem star is becoming more and more important for modern-day Christians.

"There are a lot of legends about the star and what it was, Wayment said. "All of those [explanations] are late [Christian] explanations."

For the old Christians the star was sufficient, Wayment said.

"It was the modern mind that needs more of an explanation," he said.

Something good can come out of the people who study the Bethlehem star, Wayment said. "It [the study on the star] increases the interest in Christianity."