I want to know why was christianity against astronomy?

Many people, Christians and non Christians fail to understand the Bible is about the Creator, not the creation. The Bible is an unparalleled source of information about God. As God revealed himself to man, He did so in terms of their understanding. It was not His purpose to teach them how creation worked. God created man capable of slowly learning how creation works. God's revelation of Himself to man was too important to dilute with geology or astronomy lessons.

Unfortunately as man's perception of the world grew, mislead Church leaders opposed new understandings they felt conflicted with the Bible. Mislead non Christians tried to use Biblical statements conflicting with their understanding of the world, to throw doubt on the truths of the Bible. Both positions are wrong. Man's understanding of both God and the world are imperfect and constantly changing and never universal.

In addition to Labman's very well-put answer,

There was a time when Christianity believed that The Earth was the centre of the universe, and that all other heavenly bodies revolve around it..

I wonder if your idea about christianity being opposed to astronomy stems from Galileo's time, when he discovered that in fact The Earth rotates around The Sun. He was then tried and found guilty of blasphemy.

In the past, innovators and scientists of all kinds have had to be careful of contradicting what The Church held to be a self-evident truth, since The Church was also a political (and conservative) superpower, with blasphemy punishable by death.

Thankfully, no longer true. Ahem.

Religuos leaders will tell you anything to stay in power and keep the flock inline.all religions do this to some extent or another.Astronomy is science and as we observe more of the universe we learn we are only a small speck in a very big place so you could conclude that maybe there's something besides us out there somewhere.I'm not going to sit here and knock christianity or any other religion for that matter as I believe in God but I don't follow as a sheep no one who thinks they have some kind of right to define God for me.That goes for the Pope the shah the preacher the ayatollah and the rabbi. From what I've seen god has been used by everyone for there own means and end ,but astronomy pure science challenging us to take the next step and just keep looking. :rolleyes:

For a quite illuminating article on the "Galileo affair" check this out:
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodic...leoAffair.html

Admittedly, it is from a Catholic viewpoint, but illuminating none-the-less.

What The Bible Teaches Us Is To Stay Away From Astrology Which Is Putting Your Faith In Something Other Than God Himself.
That Is Strictly A Taboo.

I can respect you for that ,can you respect me for not agreeing? :cool:

We Are All Entitled To Our Own Beliefs. I Try To Support Mine On Biblical Standards. You Are Free To Believe Whatever You Desire
As That Is Your Right. There Is No Conflict Here On My Part.

Thank you Stony,Just for the record my beliefs are based on a love of my God that I understand, I don't get into the good books as I feel man has corrupted them to an extent,but there is a lot of wisdom and truth that the corrupters couldn't hide or change.I try to live my life according to this belief,I constantly ask myself "What would God have me do?" Sometimes the answer comes easy, sometimes a lot of thought is involved ,but I do the best I can with my limited intellect. :rolleyes:

You Don't Have A Limited Intellect! If You Want To Know How To Live, Read And Read The Book Of Proverbs Over And Over. Then, Add That To Everything You Learn From The New Covenant That Jesus Christ Established. We All Fail, But Thank God For His Loving Grace Bestowed Upon Us.

Hello,

A great truth is simply stated: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” including the planets of our solar system and the fixed stars in their constellations. (Ge 1:1, 16; Job 9:7-10; Am 5:8)

In such grand creation, however, it was not God’s will that man make gods out of these things. He, therefore, strictly forbade his people to worship “a form like anything that is in the heavens above.” (Ex 20:3, 4) Astrology in every form was outlawed.—De 18:10-12.

So the stars and planets in themselves are tools to learn about our creator but not to worship them nor gaze into them to try and tell the future. We need to keep what God has made clean of difilement of human thinking.

Take care,
Hope12

Thank You Hope, You Hit The Nail Right On The Head...

The opposition was based on a misunderstanding of what the Bible said about the earth. The Bible doesn't teach that the earth or the sun is the center of the universe. Once having adopted this geocentric and heliocentric belief, the religious leaders felt obligated to oppose any divergent view since not doing so would be admitting that the Bible was wrong. Actually, it was they who were wrong not the Bible but they didn't see it that way.

Actually, these were the same people who were roasting humans at the stake after torturing them and claiming that Jesus approved. So I don't particularly see them as Christians. Sorry.


BTW

As pointed out by the other posters, the Bible does oppose Astrology though.

God Did Warn His People About Astrologers, Witches, Soothsayers, Etc. But If You Get Down To What Astronomy Really Details, It Is Not Looking Through A Telescope It Is Mainly Mathematics. Questions, Comments Or Observations?

I watched a good program on UK TV last night (BBC4),about the history of time,in that in "black holes",where all light,energy,and matter,cannot escape,time literally stops.In the normal universe,we can only move forward,as time is linear.Also,the universe is apparently 13.7 billion years old.They even showed what happened at The Big Bang,before which,there was no time,no space,no nothing.
As a baptist,and someone who keeps a "rational" view-point,if the scientists say it occurred due to the natural order of "things",where as it could also have been "a great creator",then so-what.I just think life as a whole,plus the wonders of the cosmos are awe inspiring.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by STONY

What The Bible Teaches Us Is To Stay Away From Astrology Which Is Putting Your Faith In Something Other Than God Himself.
That Is Strictly A Taboo.

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The original question stated astronomy, not astrology.

Your point on its own may be true, but I'm guessing your religion does not take exception with the science of astronomy as a whole anymore than it does with biology. You can disagree with topics within the subject like carbon dating, evolution, age of universe... but to say you don't believe in astronomy as a whole is saying we cannot predict the orbits of the planets by mathematical models.

I'm guessing you were talking about astrology, as you stated, and not astronomy as mentioned in the original question.


So I'm wondering if the origninal post was meant to be astrology and not astronomy.?

Lets Not Confuse Astronomy With Looking Through A Telescope. Real Astronomy Is Working With Mathematics. Think About It...

Aristotle and the popes of the middle ages are against Astronomy. As far as I'm concerned. God is the only possible source to have enabled the Big Bang. N Newton studied half his life on finding the code in the Bible that will tell him the future. Yah he's bonkers but still he's christian!

vLinko, I'm in agreement with you that God is the source of the Big Bang, but in my opinion your other points are not valid as we can point to lots of things that people said centuries and millennia ago that do not make sense today.

KKK members also claim to be Christians, but that does not mean that what they do or say means anything.

Yes, the Popes of the middle ages were, loosely speaking, against astronomy, but only based on what "astronomy" was at the time.

The ironic thing is that the Catholic Church has probably done more for the advancement of astronomy than almost any organization - its observatory at the Vatican has been instrumental in developing our understanding of the motion of the Earth and planets. So although back in the 1600's there were short-sighted Popes who made pronouncements based more on politics than theological grounds, since then the Catholic Church has done much to advance science in general, and astronomy in particular. Unfortunately the same can not be said of all Christian sects.