RE: James Kennedy's Zodiac book

From: glenn morton (glenn.morton@btinternet.com)
Date: Fri Nov 17 2000 - 13:40:08 EST

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    James Kennedy's Zodiac bookThis thing has been out there a long time, as Ted
    mentioned. Alan Higley mentions it:

          “It appears that the entire plan of salvation is written in the
    language of the constellations. Their language portrays the entire history
    of the human race from its beginning to its full and final redemption. This
    account agrees perfectly with the account given in the Inspired Word. From
    this we know that the language of the constellations and of the stars is
    from God.” ~ L. Allen Higley, Science and Truth, (London: Fleming H. Revell,
    1940), p.125

    Henry Morris repeats and adds to the silliness:

    "We can surmize that they were gradually seduced by their prior association
    of the star signs with the gospel promises. Nimrod gradually persuaded them
    to shift their faith from the spiritual message represented by the signs to
    the stars themselves and then to the rebellious angels associated with the
    stars." ~ Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God, (Grand Rapids: Baker
    Bookhouse, 1989), p. 268-269

    **

    Of the Zodiac

    "Yet the signs go back to the beginning of history and are essentially the
    same in all ancient nations.

         "The evidence seems compelling (as discussed in Chapter 5) that the
    astrological meaning of these signs dates from the rebellion at Babel and
    its association with the 'host of heaven'." ~ Henry M. Morris, The Long War
    Against God, (Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse, 1989), p. 266

    At this rebellion, Morris adds the bizarre view that Satan sat down with
    Nimrod in the Tower of Babel and they planned the rebellion.

    "The remarkable complex of astrology, spiritism, mythology, polytheistic
    idolatry, and evolutionary pantheism has been variously masked in
    pseudoscientific verbiage and humanistic speculation (somthing for every
    taste!), which marked the ancient religions as well as modern evolutionary
    scientism. This world view could never have been devised by men alone, not
    even such powerful men alone, not even such powerful men as Nimrod and his
    followers. The supernatural hold that this system has maintained over
    multitudes through the ages surely implies nothing less than a supernatural
    origin.

         "Somehow, in connection with the building of that first pagan temple at
    the peak of Babel's Tower, Satan and his powers of darkness must have
    communicated these occultic revelations to Nimrod, setting the first great
    post-Flood rebellion against God underway. That rebellion was interrupted
    for a time by the Babel judgement, but it continues today world-wide,
    stronger than ever in history." ~ Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God,
    (Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse, 1989), p. 257

    As to the constellations being the same for all cultures, they aren't. This
    is another example of young-earth creationists not getting their facts
    correct. Pegasus was a horse, but to the chinese, it was Yingshi. This is
    not the word for horse and is most likely 'silver city'.("Ancient Celestial
    Sign Started Chinese Calendar", Sky and Telescope 86:6, Dec. 1993, p. 13)

    I know from my study of the Chinese language that Ying he is "silver river"
    and is the Milky Way. There were constellations known to the Greeks that we
    no longer recognized:

    The oldest Zodiacal list:

    “Of those constellations known to Ptolemy, the oldest complete list goes
    back to about 275 B.C. in the Greek didactic poem The Phaenomena by Aratus.
    In this poem, Aratus refers to 48 constellations, all of which we recognize
    today except for the Pleiades and the Bow, which are now part of other
    constellations.” Alexander A. Gurshtein, “The Origins of the
     Constellations,” American Scientist, 85(1997), , p. 266

    The oldest known cuneiform texts with 12 equal zodiacal signs date to the
    5th century B. C. (van der Waerden 1974), suggesting that the traditional
    zodiac was established by this time. Earlier records, however, reveal that
    the signs were not always evenly spaced: Babylonian texts dating to 700 B.
    C. (such as the mul APIN series) contain not equal signs but irregular
    zodiacal constellations. This discrepancy is a clue that the constellations
    of the ecliptic may not have been originally conceived as a complete 12 part
    system. Indeed, some of the zodiacal constellations we know of today were
    absent at this time.” Alexander A. Gurshtein, “The Origins of the
    Constellations,” American Scientist, 85(1997), , p. 266

    glenn

    see http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm



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