Meteorite Worship

A fifty-foot wide, ten ton meteor streaked across Russia last week. According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the meteor entered the earth’s atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of 33,000 miles per hour shattering into pieces about 18 to 32 miles above sea level. 

The U.S. space agency, NASA, said the meteor was 33 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Reports from Russia indicate that more than 4,000 homes were damaged. According to the state-run news agency, glass shattered across more than a 75,000 square mile area. Thankfully, no one died and fewer than 1,500 persons suffered injuries, mostly from flying glass.

Whereas meteoroids are small particles from comets orbiting the sun, meteors are meteoroids that actually land on the earth’s surface. The pieces of the meteor that exploded in Russia are meteorites. Generally, meteorites are smaller than grains of sand and vaporize on passage through the atmosphere. 

According to Russian scientists, the meteor that exploded comprised of rock and a bit of iron. 

Scientists found 53 small meteorites on the surface of a lake and believe larger fragments are under water. The crash left a 26-foot wide crater in the ice on which it landed. 

It is difficult to imagine the magnitude of what happened in Russia. Because of the enormity of the explosion, some have begun to attach religious significance to what happened. History confirms that it is not that unusual to associate meteors with divine intervention.

For thousands of years, meteorites were venerated as sacred objects by ancient civilizations. The spectacular explosions of meteorites, along with the light, often as bright as the sun, are so enormous that they evoke fear and awe in persons who witness such events. 

Actually, several Native American tribes venerated pieces and fragments of the huge iron meteorite responsible for Arizona’s famous Meteor Crater. Native tribes from around the world have venerated meteorites for centuries. Ancient civilizations of the western hemisphere were no exception, and there are several examples of the worship of meteorites in Greco-Roman tradition.

Palladion of Troy, as well as the Cone of Elagabalus were actual meteorites – stones that had fallen from the sky, objects from heaven, believed to contain supernatural powers. In addressing the Ephesians, the city clerk said, “...doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven (Acts 19:35)?

The Roman historian, Titus Livius, tells the story of the meteorite in Phrygia - a conical object known as the Needle of Cybele, the goddess of fertility. After the Romans conquered Phrygia, the meteorite was conveyed in a gigantic procession to Rome, where it was worshipped for another 500 years. 

Annually, millions of Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia to pay homage to the Kaaba, a room in which a sacred black stone is housed. Each Muslim is expected to make the pilgrimage at least once in his lifetime and to walk around the Kaaba seven times. Pilgrims are then expected to pause at the southeastern corner of the Kaaba to complete the ritual, touching or kissing the sacred black stone. 

Venerating the black stone was practiced by pre-Islamic Arabs. Muslims inherited this practice and contend that it is done to show special reverence and veneration for its dignity after the example of the Prophet Mohammed. The Qur’an actually teaches that the Ka’aba was originally built by Abraham and Ishmael (Surah 2:125) and some believe that the stone became black as it took the sins of those who kissed it (Burton: Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah – Vol.2, page 300). Despite this practice, Muslims contend that they do not worship the stone. 

In addressing the Athenians, the Apostle Paul confronted philosophers who thought the divine being was like gold, or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill. He contended, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29-30). In other words, our understanding of the Creator must not be equated to things He created – that is a display of ignorance. 

Scientific knowledge has helped to dispel much ignorance, thus removing the need to associate divinity with meteoric phenomena. The Apostle Paul would agree – he did not only expose religious superstition among the Athenians, he challenged them to commit to the historical Jesus – “the person you killed and God brought back to life.” Some of those who heard believed, others disagreed, and another group deferred their decision – just like we do today.