Astronomy and Astrology
"If you look it up in a dictionary" said a
well-meaning, but rather misguided woman, "You'll find that astronomy and
astrology are the same thing!"
Before I began flicking through the pages of my Pocket
Oxford Dictionary, it occurred to me that if the two words meant the same
thing, why were there two words? Surely one word would
be sufficient to cover both topics? The English language is like that. We
differentiate between holes in walls - window, door, vent.
We differentiate between vehicles - car, truck, bus, van. Despite the many
similarities, each word define a different kind of
hole, or vehicle. Otherwise we might as well call all doors and windows 'holes'.
"astronomy, noun. Science of
the heavenly bodies."
"astrology, noun. Study of occult influence of
stars on human affairs."
Both pursuits use the word 'astron' which is Greek for 'star'.
but both pursuits draw completely different
conclusions from their studies.
The first, astronomy, is a science, that is,
the systematic study of heavenly bodies, using telescopes and other equipment. This study is objective, and wherever possible, open to
experiment. The evidence is open to all other scientists to examine, and the
same conclusions are usually reached when the same studies are made.
Of course the same facts discovered about the heavenly
bodies may still be open to a biased interpretation, for example, many
astronomers are evolutionists. They would therefore assume that : the universe came about as a result of a huge
explosion, that space is therefore expanding, that all the order and structure
of the universe is the result of blind random chance, that stars and other
bodies are presently being 'born' continuously, etc.
The creationist would look at the same heavenly
bodies and assume : that the universe was created perfect but is presently
'running down', that while the total energy in the universe is always the same,
the degree of structure and order is gradually increasing, that stars die as
they use up their fuel but none have ever been seen being 'born', that comets
eventually vaporize and are not replaced by new ones, that galaxies unwind but
never wind up, that moons either fall into planets or spiral away from them,
etc.
Despite the two opposite ways of interpreting the data, both
the evolutionist and the creationist can be good scientists, recording what
they find, and discovering laws within the universe they study.
The other word, astrology, is not the same as
science. It is labeled "occult" by the dictionary because astrology
is, and always has been, largely subjective. It is esoteric, (private,
confidential - meant only for those 'in the know'), recondite (abstruse, little
known, hidden). It involves the supernatural, the mystical and the magical. It
is a belief in secret and invisible things, which only the 'initiated' may
understand - or claim to understand. And as such, all astrology is impossible
to be examined objectively by science, since whatever findings science may come
up with which finds fault with astrology, the astrologer will have a
supernatural, mystical or magical explanation to explain the discrepancy.
In this way astrology distances itself from science. For
example, if fifty different scientists, in fifty different locations, all
independently examined the same heavenly body, they would all come to exactly
the same conclusions about it. They would use known laws to calculate speed,
distance, gravity, spectrums and so on. But of fifty astrologers examined the
same heavenly body, they would all produce different conclusions.
A parable.
Once, in a well-watered and bounteous world, there were two
little kingdoms. They lived on the same wide plain, but between them lay a huge
and impenetrable range of mountains. So enormous was this range that neither of
the two little kingdoms knew of the other's existence. Both kingdoms were
content with animals for transport, and subsistence farming for survival, and neither of the kingdoms had anything but the
most primitive understanding of the universe.
As a result of this ignorance, both kingdoms had constructed
their own interpretation of the forces which lay behind the real world. One
kingdom imagined spirits in every rock and stream, cloud and plant. These spirits. they decided, caused
such things as sickness, death, accident and blessing. The other kingdom
imagined Great Personalities in the sky, who flew about causing day and night,
rain and shine, and who interfered in people's lives by sending, accidents
blessings, health, sickness and death.
Now into the first little kingdom, some time-travelers
secretly inserted some wonderful knowledge. They instructed the people (who
thought the natural world was inhabited by spirits), and they taught these
people how to do science. Good science. In only a matter of years, these people
realized that the natural forces - rain, wind, growth, death, decay, ageing -
were not caused by personalities, but by chemical processes.
Having progressed this far, they then used the science they
had received and constructed telescopes, then they turned their gaze outwards,
to the heavenly bodies. To their amazement they discovered that the moon was a
sphere, just like the earth, and that other planets had moons, and then further
out they saw the galaxies and they realized that all of Nature is homogenous -
that is, the same elements exist everywhere in the universe, and the same
chemicals, and the same natural processes . . . in fact, they discovered that
the whole universe is one single entity. They saw that it is full of variety,
but it is unvarying. That it is unlimited in its size, but absolutely limited
in other ways. Everywhere the same three dimensions exists - past, present and
future; height, length, depth; solid, liquid and gas. They found the same
visible light - the same seven colours of the rainbow in the spectrum, and the
same range of wavelengths. They realized that the heavenly bodies were, in many
ways, exactly the same as any rock, or tree, stream or cloud.
Now, thanks to their advanced knowledge, these people raised
their living standards. They built machines, and soon they were flying. Up they
went, and over the mountains, then down to the other little kingdom.
When they landed, they introduced themselves as
'scientists', but the more primitive people said they were 'astronomers'.
Of course the above story is lacking in some ways, but that
is to be expected. It would be impossible to construct a perfect parable - it
would be like designing a hammer which could also be a saw and a tripod. But
the parable shows how the correct understanding of things alters our
perceptions.
Astronomy is the study of heavenly bodies. All heavenly
bodies originated in God's mind, and were spoken into existence by God -
Genesis 1. Every atom in the universe is therefore the property of the Creator.
What does this tell us then about the heavenly bodies?
It tells us the following:
If God created the stars, planets, interstellar dust,
comets, meteoroids and so forth, if He created all the dimensions of the
universe, and all the 'natural' forces which regulate every atom within the
whole universe, we may logically conclude that the universe is totally the
property of God. Therefore the study of heavenly bodies - the science of
astronomy - is the study of creation.
Astrology therefore is a rival and antagonist to science. It
is based on the assumption that God's universe has been filled by 'squatters',
or unwelcome foreigners, like illegal aliens from some other place. Despite the
complete lack of proof, astrology maintains that God's universe has been coerced
in some way to influence the people of earth.
If this were true, we would expect God to be rather annoyed
- to think that what He has made, the stars and planets - should now be filled,
like so many abandoned tenements - with spirits and demons, all intent on
pulling invisible strings from so far away. Would the human race accept this
without a protest if it was really true? Would people accept their place as
mere puppets and mannequins in lives they have no control over?
But God has expressed His feelings about this
astrological assumption. The Bible says quite a lot about astrology, and in
ever case God makes it clear that the universe is not inhabited by
spirits who manipulate people's lives.
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament
(sky) of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to
give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to
rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars
also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good". Genesis 1:14-16
In this summary of the creation of the sun (the greater
light) and the moon (the lesser light), and the stars, we see that God made
them for certain functions :
1. To give light on the earth,
2. To be for signs. This second one will be dealt with in
more detail.
3. To mark seasons
4. To mark days
5. To mark years.
1. Light.
I assume here that before Adam and Eve sinned that there was
a huge canopy of water (Gen.1:6) in some form or other, like a shell, or an
orbiting ocean, all round the earth. If this were so, then it is possible that
the water carried and reflected the sun and moon light right round the planet
(as water seems to be confine the beams of light in an illuminated fountain), making
the days and night much more evenly lit than today, now that the canopy has
largely collapsed. But whatever the case, the sun and moon gave light to the
earth.
2.
3.
We know that, at present, the timing of the seasons can be
understood by the position of the stars in relation to the horizon, but the
actual cause of the seasons is the tilt of the earth, which creates huge
variations in temperatures as the sun is exposed or withdrawn from certain
areas of the earth's surface. The seasons can be roughly divided into four types, though this average seasonal change is more
pronounced the further we go from the equator. Originally, when the water
canopy surrounded the earth, heat was probably more evenly distributed,
enabling life to thrive in all parts- the entire planet was probably of a
tropical or sub-tropical nature. It is only since the great Flood, and the
collapse of this vast body of water, and the upheaval of our present land
masses, that the earth has had icebound poles and mountain ranges, plus all the
violent weather and extremes in temperature which we consider normal today.
"He appointed the moon for seasons" Psalm
104:19
"Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in
that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness". Acts 14:17
4. To mark days.
One solar day, followed by one solar
night. It is a
useful thing to be able to count days. What we take for granted is really of
tremendous benefit sometimes. Imagine a world with no variations, and no
machines to measure the passing of time.
5. To mark years.
The solar year is, at present 365.25 (approx.) days, but it
may have been different when the world was new because the earth has been
slowing down since it was created, due to tidal friction. It seems that, before
Adam and Eve sinned, God had already prepared everything for the post-Flood
generations.
SIGNS - Further Explained.
The Hebrew word for 'signs' is 'oth'
meaning 'things to come'. In what way could stars tell humans things to come?
One way might be by their names. We know that God has already counted and named
all the stars - Psalm 147:4 "He tells (counts) the number of the stars; he
calls them all by their names" God gave certain bright stars special
names to indicate His Plans for Mankind. There was even a 'zodiac' which
contained the whole plan of redemption, but this was later corrupted by heathen
beliefs into what astrologers have now.
The evidence for this original zodiac has been
gathered, and published by the Bullinger Publications
Trust (1970) SBN 85150 501 5, through The University press, Oxford, and also by
Howard B. Rand, Destiny Publishers, Merrimac, Mass. 01860
Josephus also relates a Jewish tradition which attributes
the original zodiac to Adam, Seth and Enoch.
But before we look briefly at the original zodiac, we ought
to see what God says about astrology :
God warns
"Take . . . heed . . . for you saw no manner of
similitude on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb
out of the midst of the fire:
Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make . . . a graven image,
the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female . . . and lest you
lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the
stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve
them . . ." Deuteronomy 4:15
It is clear from these verses that Nature is not to be
worshipped. One of the attributes of worship is a belief that an inanimate
object is able to think and hear and communicate. God here assures us that the
heavenly bodies are inanimate.
God controls the heavens, as Job says :
(God) commands the sun, and it rises not; and seals up (covers) the stars.
Which Who) alone spreads out the heavens, and treads
upon the waves of the sea.
Which (Who) makes Arcturus, Orion,
and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south" Job 9:7-9.
The original zodiac and what happened to it.
Astrology is the mythologized and distorted remains of what
was once a clear and accurate portrayal of God's Plan for mankind spanning many
thousands of years. Originally Adam and his children knew the names of the
special stars, but gradually, over the generations, this knowledge was lost or
altered. Remnants, however, have remained - enough to gather a general idea of
what the original looked like.
The word 'zodiac' means 'degrees' or 'steps' because the
"signs" of the zodiac mark the passage of the sun through the
heavens, which corresponds with the twelve months of the year. Twelve turns -
twelve signs.
The first evidence of astrology - the corrupted version - is
in the
The Babylonian "Creation Tablets" refer to the
signs of the zodiac, though the original meanings have been corrupted or lost.
The Greek version is just as bad. Useful though Greek
mythology may be for teaching lessons, it is not a very accurate record of star
names.
It is worth remembering that our written Scriptures started
mainly with Moses, in about 1490 BC, although it is more than likely that Moses
drew on other earlier records when he gathered some of his information. But
this means that, for some 2,500 years, the revelation of God's Plan for mankind
was kept in the names of the stars, in some sort of state anyway - until the
written Scriptures were compiled.
The original groupings of stars were quite arbitrary. It was
the names which were important. But people soon drew lines around the
groupings, and produced useful pictures. Later, when
To illustrate this transition, see Psalm 19. The first six
verses are all astronomical, then suddenly the subject
changes to literary.
The astronomical aspect of Psalm 19 is the revelation
which God wrote in the names of the stars, but then God superseded this
heavenly revelation and switches our attention to the written Word -
this explains the strangely blunt division in the Psalm.
The Biblical zodiac begins with Virgo, (the Virgin) and
moves through the other eleven star groups, ending with Leo (the Lion). The
Egyptians knew this sequence too, which is why they built the sphinx, though
most of the original meanings to the zodiac were lost to them. The word
'sphinx' comes from the Greek 'spingo' meaning 'to
join' - the head of a woman and the body of a lion. The zodiac therefore begins
with the Virgin and ends with the Lion.
The detailed analysis of the names of stars in each
constellation and words derived from the names are all in the work by Bullinger and Rand.
A brief summary of the Biblical zodiac, using Bullinger's references, is as follows :
VIRGO
COMA. The desired.
CENTAURUS. The despised sin-offering
BOOTES. The coming one
LIBRA
CRUX. The cross endured
LUPUS. The victim slain
SCORPIO
SERPENS. Assaulting the man's heel
OPHIUCHUS. The man grasping the serpent
HERCULES. The mighty man victorious
SAGITTARIUS
LYRA. Praise prepared for the conqueror
ARA. Fire prepared for his enemies
DRACO. The dragon cast down
CAPRICORNUS
SAGITTA. The arrow of God sent forth
DELPHINUS. The dead one rising again
AQUARIUS
PISCIS AUSTRALIS. The blessings bestowed
PEGASUS. The blessings quickly coming
CYGNUS. The blesser
surely returning
PISCES
THE BAND. The great enemy
ANDROMEDA. The redeemed in bondage
CEPHEUS. The deliverer coming to loosen
ARIES
CASSIOPEIA. The captive delivered
CETUS. The great enemy bound
PERSEUS. The breaker delivering
TAURUS
ORION. The redeemer breaking forth as light
ERIDANUS. Wrath breaking forth as a flood
AURIGA. Safety for the redeemed in the day
of wrath
GEMINI
LEPUS. The enemy trodden under foot
CANIS MAJOR. The coming glorious prince
CANIS MINOR. The exalted redeemer
CANCER
HYDRA. The old serpent destroyed
CRATER. The cup of wrath poured out
CORVUS. The birds of prey devouring
The meanings of the stars have been drawn from Greek,
Hebrew, Coptic, Arab, Egyptian, Latin and other languages, but the overall
picture is that of the coming of Jesus, his death on a cross, and his
subsequent triumph over Satan, and restoration of perfection to the fallen
world.
As you can see, the original meanings in the names of the
stars added up to tell the story of God's great battle against Satan, and His
work of redemption.
The above, of course, is a far cry from modern astrology,
which says nothing at all about the Redeemer or the cross. Having obliterated
the gospel from the zodiac, modern astrologers make predictive statements,
based on the positions of planets, and many people actually believe that
orbiting bodies (dead, cold rock, or swirling poisonous gas, or fiery balls of
toxic fumes) can have some sort of personal influence on their lives. Once this
is accepted, it may also be possible to believe that any inanimate
object has an influence - the house, the lawnmower, or perhaps the letterbox?
What does the Bible say to astrologers,
and others like them, who prefer to follow their own ideas rather than the Word
of God?
"Stand now with your enchantments, and with the
multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have laboured
from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the
astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save
you from these things that shall come upon you.
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall
burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame " Isaiah 47:12 - 14
"And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that
the king enquired of them (the men who waited on the Lord), he found them
ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. Daniel 1:20
ASTROLOGY
According to the Hutchinson Encyclopedia,
"astrology" comes from two Greek words - 'astron' = star, and 'legein' = speak. "Astrology is the study of the
relative position of the planets and stars in the belief that they
influence events on earth. The astrologer casts a horoscope based on the time
and place of the subject's birth. Astrology has no proven scientific basis,
but has been widespread since ancient times. Western astrology is based on the
12 signs of the zodiac.
"Astrology comes from a strongly held belief in ancient
Let us, for a moment, read the 'Your Stars' for the week
6-12 of May 2000. For ARIES it says "Mar.21-Apr.20. A
poor time for putting existing plans into operation but an excellent one for
devising plans for the future. In short, creative thought is temporarily
better than physical action."
The advice is general and wide. It could be interpreted in
many ways. Most people make some sort of plan each day, even if it involves
cleaning the toilet, going to the shop, ringing a friend, etc. A person could
take the advice subjectively and say that it applied to them, and another
person could take the same advice and say it applied to them too. But let us,
just a moment, suppose that this prediction and advice (guidance) is true, we
are now faced with a host of problems.
For instance:
1. How can the position of a cold, rocky or gaseous lump of
material (a planet) orbiting the sun millions of miles away have any bearing on
the behaviour of only a percentage of people living on earth? Why not all of
them? And how does a planet differentiate between people - to guide one but not
the other? And what if people don't know their 'star sign' - do the planets get annoyed with them?
2. If planets and stars can have this much effect, can they
also make decisions of their own, change their 'minds', reverse their
decisions, make mistakes? How, if the planets are just
rock or gas, do they know about individual people who were born when they, the
planets, were in certain orbital planes?
3. If the stars and planets for-ordain the behaviour so many
of earth's population, is there any real unguided freewill left on earth?
I'm sure astrologers would have many answers to these
questions, but I suspect, when all's said and done, that the whole matter would
boil down to two or three simple statements : Astrology is an unscientific
belief system, inherited from the Babylonians. Astrology is a corrupted version
of the original zodiac. Astrology is a door into Satan's world of deception and
lies.
Now let us compare the 'Your Stars' prediction with the
ancient Biblical zodiac :
ARIES
CASSIOPEIA. The captive delivered
CETUS. The great enemy bound
PERSEUS. The breaker delivering
ARIES is the constellation depicting a ram, or lamb. In
Hebrew the name of this constellation is 'Taleh'
meaning 'the lamb'. The Arabic name is 'Al Hamal'
meaning 'the sheep, gentle, merciful'.
The principal star in ARIES, in Syriac
is 'Amroo', meaning lamb. This constellation teaches
us about Jesus, who is called "The lamb of God, which takes away the sin
of the world" (John 1:29).
The ancient Akkadian name was 'Baraziggai' - 'Bar' = altar, or sacrifice, and 'ziggar' = right making. So the full name of the
constellation would be "Sacrifice of righteousness".
Other stars in the ARIES constellation are 'El Nath' or 'El Natik' which means
'wounded', or 'slain'. In the year of the crucifixion this star shone overhead
at the noonday darkening of the sun on the day the Lamb of God was slain.
Another star 'Al Sheratan' means
'the wounded' or 'the bruised'.
Another star 'Mesartim' means 'the
bound'.
The other three constellations - CASSIOPEIA, CETUS and
PERSEUS - all carry equally wonderful meanings. Briefly :
CASSIOPEIA is an enthroned woman, CETUS is a sea monster
bound and brought down, and PERSEUS is a mighty man holding a great sword.
In the meanings of the stars in these three constellations
we learn of the Lord Jesus redeeming
Satan has tried to twist and destroy whatever God had made -
which is why we have astrology today instead of the clear teaching of the
Bible. Since the true zodiac has been subverted so well by Satan into the man-centred mythology of today, God now uses the Bible, and
faithful teachers of the Word, to proclaim the same message to all : He loves us, and wishes for all people to enter His
Kingdom.
"And when they shall say to you, Seek
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek their God? (should they not
seek) the living (rather than) the dead?
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is because [there is] no light in them" Isaiah
8:19,20