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New Film Spoofs Ten Commandments

In early August, a new film by the director of Wet Hot American Summer was released. According to The Christian Post, unlike Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments, this film uses each of the commandments as vignettes to create a foundation for an often inappropriate caricature.

Another Hazard of Smoking

When one thinks of smoking, there is one hazard that doesn't come to mind. Wolfgang Polzer at Assistnews.com reports that the Chinese craving for cigarettes is responsible for rising paper costs in Bible printing, according to the business manager of the German Bible Society, Felix Breidenstein.

Because of the rising demand for cigarette paper in China the special thin paper used in Bible printing is getting more expensive, as Breidenstein told the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

Tomb of King Herod Discovered

According to http://rs6.net/tn.jsp? the long search for Herod the Great's tomb has ended with the exposure of the remains of his grave, sarcophagus and mausoleum on Mount Herodium's northeastern slope.

Herod was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37 to 4 BC, who was renowned for his many monumental building projects, including the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the palace at Masada, as well as the complex at Herodium, 15 kilometers south of Jerusalem.

Not The Only Ark!

A half-sized replica of the biblical Noah's Ark has been built by a Dutch man, complete with model animals. Dutch creationist Johan Huibers built the ark as testament to his literal belief in the Bible.

The ark, in the town of Schagen, is 150 cubits long - half the length of Noah's - and three storys high. A cubit is about 45cm (18in) long.

Visitors are stunned. "It's past comprehension," Mary Louise Starosciak told the Associated Press.

Uncle Harry's Vacation Pictures

For those of us over 30, we can remember sitting through an "Uncle Harry's" vacation slide presentation. "You should have been there!" was the frequent exclamation.

Well, we can't always go where "Uncle Harry" went. But we can travel the world through the Internet.

If you're ever looking for outstanding pictures of Israel, the State of Israel Museum of Tourism's website is filled with over 1,600 high quality photographs that you can download and use in your Bible studies.

Chuck Norris Weighs In On Bible Classes

Chuck Norris, the star of more than 20 films and the long-running TV series "Walker, Texas Ranger," isn't shy about his position on the need for Bible history classes in our public schools. His latest WND commentary clearly defines his passion.

If the Bible was endorsed by our Founders as a textbook, how can we not follow suit by doing the same? The fact is, to leave out of educative curricula the most influential text in Western civilization, including in American history, law and literature, is a blatant and biased withholding of proper public instruction.

It's time to answer in the affirmative the question of Fisher Ames, who assisted in the creation of the First Amendment and was also chosen, but declined (for health reasons), the presidency of Harvard University in 1805, "Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book?"

Besides Bible History Classes in Public Schools...

Most tech-savy people have heard of Youtube or Google Video. Recently, The Colorado Coalition of Reason (COCORE) posted the video, "The Last Presentation"? as a 38-minute educational video that targets social science high school classes on diversity, sociology, and comparative religions. This video depicts a speaker, Sara Price, presenting an athiest's point-of-view to a comparative religion class. The 35 students have already heard from five speakers representing major religions. Sara's talk about freethinkers, atheists, and secular humanists discusses separation of church and state, Intelligent Design, good and evil, hell and an afterlife, stem cell research, and assisted suicide.

Too many people who are against having Bible history classes in our public schools have no problem endorsing having atheists make their presentations. One comment on the Google Video website stated, "I'd imagine it's a Sisyphean [sic] ordeal to get this sort of program into a lot of schools; but THIS is the only sort of religious instruction that belongs in any of them!"

(Note: Please be aware that links to outside websites may contain material that some may/will find objectionable.)

Video Here

If you have every wondered what Jerusalem looked like during the times of Jesus, Dr. William Schniedewind has put together a wonderful PDF of the Jerusalem model located at the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem. Dr. Schniedewind is the chair of the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA.

ACLU Files Odessa, TX Suit

Two advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit on May 16, 2007 against a West Texas school district on behalf of eight parents who say a Bible course violates their religious liberty.

The American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way Foundation sued the Ector County Independent School District, asking the Odessa school system to stop teaching the course. The Ector school board approved the course, a high school elective, by a 4-2 vote in 2005.

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