Can you Loosen Orion's Belt?

Just as my Blog goes is Spurts and Phases, so also my Subject Matter goes in Phases as well.  Right Now, I'm on an Scientific, Christian Apologetics Phase, that is Mostly being Motivated by Radar's Blog.  I've Only Read a Few of his Posts, yet am also being Stimulated by Very Challenging and Intelligent Conversation in the Comment Section of some of those Posts.  The Most Recent of which is Just Over a Year Ago, I Introduced Ian Juby and Now it's Time to Add on...  Yeh, It's Long and the Comment Section is Long.  Just Read what you Want to and then Move on.

What I am Thinking about Today is Another of his Posts, Is the Bible Scientifically Correct?  Introducing Please Convince Me Dot Com.  This One is Excellent too and is Also Long, yet I'm going to Tell you Right now, which Parts of it I was the Most Impressed by.

This First Two Sections that I was Impressed by are "How is the Earth Seated in the Cosmos?" and  "Is the Universe Expanding?" and here are the Verses that were Quoted.

Job 26:7 -"He spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." and 
Isaiah 45:12 -"It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it.  My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts."

"I'm not sure what Translation was Used on this Post.  If you want to Read what was Said on the Post, than Click on the Is the Bible Scientifically Correct? Link.  My Very Brief Explanation is that the Above Verses Show how the Writer of Job and Isaiah seem to Know that the Earth was not held up by Anything and that the Universe was Expanding, even though the Bible was Written before such was Understood.

The Sections of that Post Under the Heading "Are There Valleys in the Seas?" and "Are There Springs and Fountains in the Sea?" are Excellent too.  The Part that Impressed me the Very Most, though, was the Section Entitled, "Is There Something Special About Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus?"  Now, that Section is Definitely Worth Repeating, so here it is below...


"If you’ve ever read the story of Job in the Bible, you are probably aware of the fact that Job was extremely wealthy and had a great family.  But, tragedy struck and he lost his wealth, his children and his wife.  To make matters worse, Job was reduced to excruciating pain, and was eventually covered with sores from head to toe.  All this was too much for Job, and he eventually accused the Lord of being unjust.  God didn’t answer Job’s accusation directly.  Instead, He began to ask Job a series of questions and one of these questions demonstrates perhaps the most amazing scientific truth in all of scripture;

"Job 38:31-32 - "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?  Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?  or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?"

"Now God makes a statement about three stellar constellations, and as we examine these, we’ll see that science has only recently confirmed something that God told us a long time ago.  First, let’s take a look at what God says about Orion; 'Canst thou . . . loose the bands of Orion?'  God is talking specifically about the three stars that form the belt on the Orion constellation.  These three stars appeared to be fixed on our sky, rigidly aligned to form a relatively straight line.  Yet God asks Job, 'Hey do you think YOU can loosen this band?'  It’s as if He is saying, 'Well, I can buddy!'  It may seem as though the band of stars is fixed, but Garrett P. Serviss, the noted astronomer, wrote about the bands of Orion in his book 'Curiosities of the Sky'.  Today, this band consists of an almost perfectly straight line of second-magnitude stars that are equally spaced and very beautiful.  In the course of time, however, the two right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam, will approach each other and form a naked-eye double; but the third, Alnitak, will drift away eastward so that the band will no longer exist.  In other words, one star is traveling in a certain direction at a certain speed, a second one is traveling in a different direction at a second speed, and the third one is going in a third direction and at a still different speed.  As a matter of fact, every star in Orion is traveling its own course, independent of all the others.  As time passes, this band of stars will indeed be loosened, just as God told Job.

Orion (Loosen his Belt)

"But now let’s take a look at the Pleiades Constellation.  Look at what God says: 'Canst thou bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades . . . ?'  God seems to be challenging Job in exactly the opposite manner from what he said about Orion!  It’s as if He is saying, 'Hey, Job, you think you can keep Pleiades together?  Well, I can!'  As it turns out, the seven stars of the Pleiades are in reality a grouping of 250 suns.  And photographs now reveal, that 250 blazing suns in this group are all traveling together in one common direction.  Isabel Lewis of the United States Naval Observatory (quoted in Phillip L. Knox’, 'Wonder Worlds') tells us that astronomers have identified 250 stars as actual members of this group, all sharing a common motion and drifting through space in the same direction.  Lewis says they are 'journeying onward together through the immensity of space.'  Dr. Robert J. Trumpler (quoted in the same book) says that over 25,000 individual measures of the Pleiades stars are now available, And these measurements confirm that the whole cluster is moving in a southeasterly direction.  The Pleiades stars are kind of like a swarm of birds, flying together to a distant goal.  Sounds a lot like what God described in the Book of Job!  'Hey Job, can you bind Pleiades together?  I did!'

Pleiades (Bound Together)

"Finally, let’s take a look at Arcturus.  Remember what God said about this constellation: 'Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?'  Once again, God seems to be challenging Job here.  'Hey, Job, you think you can direct Arcturus anywhere you want?  Well, I can!'  Arcturus may look like it is fixed in the sky, but Garrett P. Serviss wrote that Arcturus is one of the greatest suns in the universe, and it is a runaway star whose speed of flight is about 257 miles per second.  Arcturus, according to astronomers, is thousands of times more massive than our sun, which is traveling only 12 ½ miles a second!  Charles Burckhalter, of the Chabot Observatory, (again quoted in 'Wonder Worlds') says that Arcturus’ high velocity places it in that very small class of stars that apparently are a law unto themselves.  Arcturus is a runaway.  The combined attraction of all the stars we know cannot stop him or even turn him in his path.

Arcturus (The Run Away Star)

When Mr. Burckhalter was directed to the Book of Job, he studied it in the light of modern discovery and made a statement that has attracted worldwide attention: 

“The study of the Book of Job and its comparison with the latest scientific discoveries has brought me to the matured conviction that the Bible is an inspired book and was written by the One who made the stars.”

"These scientific facts recorded in the book of Job concerning the Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus constellations anticipated scientific discovery by nearly 3,000 years.  Scientists only discovered these startling facts in the Twentieth Century, yet they were recorded in the book of Job nearly 3000 years ago.  Twentieth Century science has proven God’s Word, the Bible, is true."


When I Read this, I couldn't Help but to be Amazed.  I Kept Thinking About it until I Realized that I was Going to have to Repeat it in a Post.  The Credit for this Article does not just go to Radar, though, for Finding it and Posting it, but Also to the Original Source, Please Convince Me.com.