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Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible. The 1,300-year-old fragments, which are among only a handful of Hebrew biblical manuscripts known to have survived the era in which they were written, existed separately and with their relationship unknown, until a news photograph of one's public unveiling in 2007 caught the attention of the scholars who would eventually link them. Together, they make up the text...

“Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South.” That’s the title for this year’s Advance Conference, April 26-27 in RDU. Last year we called for a resurgence of the local church. This year we’re focusing on the major issues that are standing in the way of that happening here in the South. The South is changing. Urbanization and the vibrant growth of our cities have transformed the cultural landscape. Cities like RDU have become new centers of business and education, places where culture is being formed and made. And yet as our cities are advancing, the church is shrinking. For the...

It is the perfect way for city high-fliers to miss the morning rush hour. A company is set to produce the first commercial JETPACKS - and one could be yours for just £50,000. The traffic jam-beating packs will be manufactured after a multi-million pound deal was signed with an international aircraft company this week. Martin Aircraft Company, in Christchurch, New Zealand, aims to make 500 packs a year allowing first-person propulsion through the skies for commuters. The 200 horsepower dual-propeller packs can travel at 60mph for up to 30miles on a full tank of fuel. They have been reached heights...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--A reported 40,127 Haitians have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ since a major earthquake hit the impoverished nation in January, according to pastors and directors of missions within the Confraternite Missionaire Baptiste d'Haiti (CMBH). "Haiti is ripe for a spiritual movement from God," said Craig Culbreth, director of the Florida Baptist Convention's partnership missions department, which coordinates the work of the CMBH, upon his Feb. 22 return from Port-au-Prince. During a Feb. 16-17 citywide holiday observance in Cap Haitien, Haiti's second largest city, Culbreth saw "thousands upon thousands filling the streets where people are seeking God...

IVOR - In church, you come as you are. That's especially true inside the Whitetail Chapel in Ivor. Clothing is optional for everyone from the pastor to the congregation. "I really don't think God cares what you wear when you worship," said Richard Foley, a member of the congregation. "The thing is worship." Churchgoers like Foley have no problem getting the word of God from a pastor in his birthday suit. "Some of the biggest moments in Jesus' life he was naked," Pastor Allen Parker said. "When he was born he was naked, when he was crucified he was naked...

Angry crowds in a seaside slum attacked a group of Voodoo practitioners Tuesday, pelting them with rocks and halting a ceremony meant to honor victims of last month's deadly earthquake, the Associated Press reports. Voodooists gathered in Cite Soleil where thousands of quake survivors live in tents and depend on food aid, AP writer Paisley Dodds reports. Praying and singing, the group was trying to conjure spirits to guide lost souls when a crowd of Evangelicals started shouting. Some threw rocks while others urinated on Voodoo symbols. When police left, the crowd destroyed the altars and Voodoo offerings of food...

Southern Baptists need to repent of their pride, boasting and disunity and return to God and His vision. That was the sobering call Dr. Ronnie Floyd made Monday as he presented a highly anticipated report charting out a new course for the nation's largest Protestant denomination. "We (task force) have been gripped by the reality of the lost condition of our world and about our condition as a denomination, but through this journey we have also been set on fire by the call of God to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ," Floyd, chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task...

Churches and other faith-based organizations that receive government funds, beware. In an agreement that will be enforced by a federal court, government agencies in New York have agreed to monitor the Salvation Army to ensure that it doesn't impose religion on the people its serves through its tax-funded social services. The agreement just effects the Salvation Army's social work in New York, but it's more than a cautionary tale for religious groups in this era of government-backed faith-based initiatives. "With this settlement, government is watching out," co-counsel Deborah Karpatkin of the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. "It...

February 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Approximately 4% of those who support abortion were lead to "personally reconsider [their] opinion about abortion" after watching the pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, according to a new Barna study.Approximately 92.6 million Americans watched the ad when it aired February 7, during what is normally the most-viewed broadcast in America each year.  Because slightly less than half of repondents in the poll self-identified as pro-abortion, the data suggests that about 1.7 million pro-abortion viewers reconsidered their position after watching the spot. In addition, a majority of respondents saw the ad as both...

The fundamental dispute between Protestants and Catholics on Salvation was and is due mostly to a "misunderstanding", because the key terms are used in different senses. A First Similarity: Faith and Works: Apparently Catholics and Protestants disagree about the relationship between faith and works on salvation, however, both agree in two important facts: 1- That faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. 2- That we are absolutely commanded by God to do good works. Both these two points are unmistakably clear in Scripture, and both Protestants and Catholics give to faith in Christ a unique rule on salvation, and both try...

Question: "Catholic vs. Protestant - why is there so much animosity?" Answer: This is a simple question with a complicated answer, because there are varying degrees of, and reasons for, animosity between any two religious groups. This particular battle is rooted in history. Degrees of reaction have ranged from friendly disagreement (as reflected in the numerous ecumenical dialogues produced between the two groups), to outright persecution and murder of Protestants at the hands of Rome. Reformation teachings that identify the Pope as the Beast of Revelation and / or Roman Catholicism as Mystery Babylon are still common among Protestants. Clearly,...

Question: How can all these denominations claim to follow the bible yet all come to different conclusions? How can I possibly know which one of those above teach the truth when they can't even agree on what the Bible says? Protestants believe a variety of doctrines and all claim to take their doctrines from the Bible. That doesn't really sound like perspicuity to me. 'Bible alone' has created so much havoc in this world. Answer: You rashly attribute the differences of opinions among Christians to 'Sola Sciptura' - namely, the Protestant belief that the Holy Scripture is the only infallible...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall stirred the debate over prayer before Forsyth County Commissioners' meetings when he said in a radio interview that people pushing for the right to pray before meetings are the same people who were opposed to desegregation. Marshall said he was talking about the Christian Right, and particularly southern evangelical Baptists, and how their push to keep prayer before meetings stems from a history of majority bullying and racism. "The southern fundamentalist, evangelical Baptist during slavery used the Bible to justify slavery, and they used the same Bible to justify segregation during the...

There is cafeteria Christianity — selecting this doctrine and that rite but leaving those others off the tray — and then there is St. Isaac Church, where worship is more like a smorgasbord. Archbishop P. Gregory Schell is not leaving much off the table at his feast of faith in northwest Denver. "This is a place where East meets West, and Christ is in the center," says Schell, founder of the 10-year-old Christian Orthodox Church of America, a fusion of ancient Christianity and contemporary evangelical worship. St. Isaac and the five other churches in Schell's national network were inspired by...

A Christian organization is denouncing an atheist group for a campaign that aims to desecrate roadside crosses. Anglican Bishop Council Nedd, who heads the organization In God We Trust, tells OneNewsNow his staff ran across the website AtheistActivist.org. "It's a website sort of designed to train atheists how to do...destructive social activism," Nedd describes. "And what caught our attention was the portion on there that dealt with tearing down roadside memorials to the deceased." According to Nedd, the website even includes a description of what tools a person should carry with them to cut down metal memorials. Laws regarding the...

<p>The oldest death row inmate in the U.S. has died of natural causes at age 94.</p> <p>An Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman says Viva Leroy Nash died late Friday at the state's prison complex in Florence.</p> <p>Nash was still on death row, but spokesman Barrett Marson said Sunday he did not know if Nash died in his cell or in a medical facility at the prison.</p>

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) - Patriot’s Point Development Authority heard a presentation that included the suggestion of erecting a male counterpart of the Statue of Liberty in the Charleston Harbor. At Tuesday’s monthly board meeting, Rodney Cook, of the National Monument Foundation suggested that a male version of Lady Liberty could house a museum about South Carolina’s role in the Civil War. The statue would be the same size as the one in New York City, and cost about $150 million. Most of that money would come from the private sector. Nick Tompkins, the spokesperson for Patriot’s Point wrote in an...

The video features a star quarterback and a strong pro-life message. But it's not the ad by Tim Tebow and his mother. A 9-minute pro-life video featuring six members of the New York Giants team that won Super Bowl XXI is similar to the ad expected from Tebow, without the surrounding firestorm. Wellington Mara, the son of the Giants' founder, was co-owner of the team until his death in 2005. Along the way, he became an iconic figure in the NFL and was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mara also was staunchly pro-life, serving on the board of the...

Considering the abortion lobby's deluge of pre-emptive protest against the Tim Tebow Super Bowl advertisement, sponsored by Focus on the Family, few might have guessed its actual form, first unveiled last night: a clean, simple, family-oriented message that never mentioned abortion. The brief spot, garnished with light humor, left pro-abortion forces so scattered in their effort to respond that one group even called another's harsh criticism of the ad "absurd." The ad took two forms - one that showed during the pre-game show, and an extended version that played during the Super Bowl. The first spot shows Pam Tebow against...

Christian Newswire/ -- For several weeks, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has been sitting on the sidelines while its cohorts attacked CBS Television for agreeing to air a pro-family commercial during the Super Bowl. It seems the hierarchy of the abortion-committing group did not want to come off looking as ridiculous and petty as their counterparts. Just in time, two former pro-abortion leaders, Frances Kissling of "Catholics" for a Free Choice and Kate Michelman of NARAL Pro-Choice America, have come to the rescue of the rarely silent PPFA.   In an opinion piece published in The Washington Post, Kissling...