One of its coolest apps (applications) is “Google Sky.” With it, you can point your phone towards any part of the night sky, and the app will give you a map of and the names of the constellations and planets in that part of the sky.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a stunningly bright star. I knew that it most likely was not a star at all, but a planet. I pulled out my smartphone, started up “Google Sky,” and pointed my phone toward the star. Turns out that it was not one planet but two planets conjoined, Jupiter and Saturn.
This got me to thinking about the Star of Bethlehem. I knew there were all sorts of astronomical theories as to the identity of that star. I wondered if a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn might be a possibility. So (what else?) I Googled it. Turns out, a conjunction of those two planets is not really a favored possibility. There seems to be a lot of support for the theory that the Bethlehem star was a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus.
The more I thought about all this, I just couldn’t get smartphones and the Wise Men out of my head. No doubt, we human beings are pretty smart to come up with all these fancy gadgets! It’s because we human beings, like the Wise Men of old, are naturally curious creatures who want to figure things out. Our scientific, technological progress shows us that we are pretty good at it. Unfortunately, we also can be pretty dumb. Wars and the state of human relations in our world reveal that.
Jeff Hull writes about his great aunt, called Momma J. At 96, she was the last of her generation. As the family was gathered at her sister's funeral, a cousin remarked to Jeff that they were soon to be moving into the family's oldest generation. Jeff looked at his cousin and said plaintively, "But, Mary, I don't feel like I know the answers yet."
After everyone had a good laugh, Mary turned to Momma J. and said, "When does that change, Momma?"
Momma J., from her wheelchair, smiled up and said, "I don't know YET, dear."
The scriptures are clear that we don’t have it all figured out. The Apostle Paul said, “We look through a glass darkly.” We are still searching. Like the Wise Men of old, our search has led us to Bethlehem.
©2010 C. David Hess