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The American Library Association has revealed that the Bible is among the books most often challenged and called to be banned in libraries. "You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it's a violation of church and state," said James LaRue, who directs the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association, according to The Associated Press. "And sometimes there's a retaliatory action, where a religious group has objected to a book and a parent might respond by objecting to the Bible." Guidelines for the Office for Intellectual Freedom have clarified...

Based on a statistical analysis of the results, and taking into account the content of the texts that were chosen for the sample, the researchers concluded that at least six different hands had written the 18 missives at around the same time. Even soldiers in the lower ranks of the Judahite army, it appears, could read and write... The study was based on a trove of about 100 letters inscribed in ink on pieces of pottery, known as ostracons, that were unearthed near the Dead Sea in an excavation of the Arad fort decades ago and dated from about 600...

The Bible is on American Library Association's list of 'most challenged' booksThe Bible is on the latest list of books most objected to at US schools and libraries, targeted nationwide, at times for the sex and violence it contains, but mostly for the legal issues it raises. "You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it’s a violation of Church and state," said James LaRue, who directs the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association (ALA), which released its annual 10 top snapshot of "challenged" books on Monday, part of...

Wright-Patterson Medical Center has removed a Bible from a POW/MIA display after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation lodged a complaint, according to a base spokesperson. Mikey Weinstein, MRFF founder and president, said in a telephone interview today the organization was contacted by 31 people who objected to the Bible as part of the table display and 10 of those who complained were identified as Christians. “They objected very clearly that having the Christian Bible on that table provided supremacy to one faith over all the other faiths and since these are government facilities that’s a direct violation of the no...

NEW YORK (AP) — On the latest list of books most objected to at public schools and libraries, one title has been targeted nationwide, at times for the sex and violence it contains, but mostly for the legal issues it raises. The Bible. “You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it’s a violation of church and state,” says James LaRue, who directs the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association, which released its annual 10 top snapshot of “challenged” books on Monday, part of the association’s “State of Libraries...

Attending the School of God from R.C. Sproul Apr 09, 2016 Category: Articles We live in a culture that is a quick and dirty culture. We want to become mature Christians in five easy lessons. We want to become saints by fifteen minutes a day. We want to have flat stomachs and strong abs by three workouts a week. That may work over a given period of time for your abs, but it’s not going to work for your soul. Attending the school of God takes time and labor and energy and deeply committing oneself to prayer, to the study of...

Secular humanists are starting to step up their direct attacks on the Bible. Many are openly calling what it says about sexual relations "hate," and they especially want young people to accept that. What secular humanists aren't bringing up, though, is that in pre-modern societies, without modern medicine especially, "sexual liberation" would have meant drastic increases in incurable diseases and ailments. It doesn't even take any faith in God to see that it isn't hate to command people not to do what would cause them and others physical harm. This is a summary review of the matter of secular humanists...

Having already made a .50-caliber sniper gun the official state rifle, Tennessee lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to making the Holy Bible the state’s official book. The state Senate voted 19-8 in favor of the bill despite arguments by the state attorney general that the measure conflicts with a provision in the Tennessee Constitution stating that “no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship.” Opponents argued the Bible would be trivialized by being placed alongside other state symbols such as the official tree, flower, rock or amphibian. But both chambers of...

I recently wrote about some of the "Startling Similarities (and Contrasts) Between the Bible and the Quran." Here are six more important differences between the holy books of the world's two largest religions: 1. Conversion Stories As I have been reading the Bible for the past 40 years, I've noticed that its message first and foremost is the story of God extending grace to rescue fallen mankind. There are many stories of ordinary people and "great" prophets, all struggling in their faith. There are also several conversion stories. For example, in the Old Testament, Manasseh is a diabolically murderous...

A Bible and Bible verse have been removed from a POW/MIA display inside an Akron, Ohio Veteran's Administration clinic after a complaint from atheist Mikey Weinstein. For decades, these items have long been a part of a "Missing Man Table" commonly displayed at military functions and installations all across the nation. Weinstein said he intervened at the request of nearly a dozen, mostly Christian, military veterans who said they were offended by the Bible display. As usual, Weinstein failed to provide proof that these people actually exist...

The murders of four translators working to bring the Bible to obscure languages in the Middle East earlier this month won't stop the charity behind the effort from its work, officials said. The four unidentified translators, who worked secretly for Wycliffe Associates, a Florida non-profit dedicated to bringing the gospel to hundreds of obscure languages, were killed by suspected Islamist militants at an undisclosed location,Wycliffe officials said in a statement. “They shot and destroyed all the equipment in the office,” read the statement. “The invaders burned all the books and other translation materials in the office." The work is so...

In the March 2015 speech that launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas pledged to “restore that shining city on a hill.” Cruz has repeated the language in countless campaign appearance since then, no doubt as a way to build a connection in voters’ minds between him and President Ronald Reagan, who made the phrase famous in the 1980s. Yet while Cruz and countless other politicians from both sides of the political aisle have used the phrase as an inspiring image of the United States’ global leadership over the past half century, it has...

You "ARE" My Spearhead,staff and Sword You are my Jobs that stand in adversity, My Samuels that go and declare for me, My Ezekiels that speak life to dead bones, My mighty men that fearlessly face the enemy alone, My Daniels that pray until My angels come with breakthrough, My Johns of the wilderness speaking My testimony each day anew, My Matthews, Lukes and Timothys, Bringing words of hope and eternal life setting wellsprings free, My pauls with lifes turned over to me, Never looking back as Lot's wife but instead into what My spirit sees, For you are constructed...

A handsomely made, finely acted miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth (1977) plays a lot like a distillation of the best components from all of the biblical epics of the 1940s-‘60s that had preceded it while generally avoiding those movies' flaws. Despite its all-star cast, for instance, Jesus of Nazareth steers clear of the sometimes goofy, distracting stunt casting found in George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), mostly famously John Wayne as the Roman centurion with the single line, "Truly, this man was the Son of Gawd." It's less artful in some respects than King of Kings (1961), but improves...

He is not here: for he is risen as he said. Come and see the place where he lay..   Matthew 28:6Easter wishes to all. May your day of rebirth be filled with joy, love, hope and forgiveness. And perhaps a chocolate bunny or two, at your discretion. Incognito bunny h/t Cripes SuzetteSo I suggest we all take a break from politics and politicians, enjoy the day and, if the weather allows, get out in the fresh air, breathe deep and remind yourself: only 298 more days! And trust the hand of God to see us through. Jesus said unto...

I have been in a few face-to-face debates with Muslims, and all of them were polite and respectful. One question from my Muslim friends kept popping up, however: "Why did Jesus have to die on the cross for our sins? If we sin, God just forgives! He does not need for someone to take our place." Muslims have told me that this substitutionary sacrifice is actually very unfair of God. God would never let a righteous man die for the guilty. They illustrate it this way: "Would God allow an innocent baby to die for the crimes of murderers? Of...

The Muratorian fragment / The Muratorian canon (click for larger image) I sometimes hear this odd objection that the books that were to be included in the Bible were not decided until the 4th century. I think it comes from some Hollywood movie, or maybe a TV show. Anyway, this post should help fix that myth.I’m going to quote from New Testament expert Dr. Michael J. Kruger from his blog.He writes: One of the key data points in any discussion of canon is something called the Muratorian fragment (also known as the Muratorian canon). This fragment, named after its discoverer...

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Archaeologists in Israel are "astonished and surprised" after finding artifacts dating back to Jesus' time at a local orphanage and military complex in Jerusalem. The Israel Antiquities Authority said this week that it has found numerous rare and important artifacts, some dating back to the Second Temple period, buried deep beneath the Schneller compound in Jerusalem, which had previously served as a orphanage and later an Israeli army base. The Schneller compound first served as an orphanage in the 1800's, and then as an occupation area for German soldiers during World Wars I and II. It later became a base...

There is a class that most college students will take at one point in their academic career. It is the course on Western Civilization—“Western Civ” for short. It is a feeble attempt to supplement the modern college curriculum (typically in two freshman-level courses) with what used to be the very backbone of a liberal education. The course revolves around classics of the Western Tradition: Plato’s Republic, Virgil’s Aeneid, Augustine’s Confessions, Descartes’ Meditations, and Locke’s Second Treatise on Government. But one text in particular, I think, has been subject to mistreatment and misuse—the Holy Bible.The problem is simple. One of...