There is the Paul Stuff and then there is this as well...
1. "No contemporaries wrote about him."
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In the post, Josephus is mentioned as living shortly after Jesus. This military leader and historian Flavius Josephus wrote on Jesus' impact in Jerusalem.
[SIZE=-1] [Jesus] [wise man] [surprising][deeds] [teacher] [truth before God][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][many people] [he was indicted] [by leaders] [of us] [sentenced to cross] [those who had him] [spending the third day] [he appeared to them] [prophets] [these things] [and numerous other things] [about him][/SIZE]
http://members.aol.com/fljosephus/contAn1.htm
Remember also that the temple was destroyed shortly after, so some documents were destroyed.
See also some later writings.
Justin, First Apology 31 (c. 140 AD/CE)
Ignatius, To the Trallians 9 (c. 120 AD/CE)
2. No astronomical event corresponding to the star of Bethlehem.
Look up the work of Michael R. Molnar -- he has an article on the NASA site.
http://scicolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/Molnar.htm
In 3-2 BC, there was a series of seven conjunctions, including three between Jupiter and Regulus and a strikingly close conjunction between Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BC."
The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event," according to an influential paper by Roger Sinnott.
Firmicus Maternus, an astrologer to Roman Emperor Constantine, wrote that an occultation of Jupiter in Aries was a sign of the birth of a divine king.
When the royal star of Zeus, the planet Jupiter, was in the east this was the most powerful time to confer kingships. Furthermore, the Sun was in Aries where it is exalted. And the Moon was in very close conjunction with Jupiter in Aries.
This set of conditions reoccurs every sixty years.
There was even an ancient coin from Antioch that showed the alignment of the stars.
http://home.eclipse.net/~molnar/
...endorsed by Prof. Bradley E. Schaefer, Yale University[SIZE=-1]
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Another article on NASA--
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24may_duo.htm
"Close encounters between Jupiter and Venus happen often enough, every year or so. Some, though, are better than others. For instance, on June 17, 2 B.C., the pair drew so near -- just 6 arcseconds (0.002 deg.) apart -- that they merged into a single dazzling point of light. Some scholars believe that was the Star of Bethlehem mentioned in the Bible."
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast16may_1.htm?list, about
The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomical and Historical Perspective," Susan S. Carroll
On June 17, 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter joined .... in the constellation Leo. The two planets were at best 6 (arcseconds) apart; some calculations indicate that they actually overlapped each other. This conjunction occurred during the evening and would have appeared as one very bright star. Even if they were 6 apart, it would have required the sharpest of eyes to split the two, because of their brightness.
See also
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/961217b.html -
http://search.nasa.gov/search/searc...tion&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=nasa_production
