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Trijicon, the gunsight maker that has imprinted Bible verse numbers on its scopes, has announced that it will no longer imprint the verses on the sides of scopes intended for the U.S. military, and will also provide clients with the kits to remove the Bible verse numbers from existing scopes. An ABC News report earlier this week revealed that the Michigan-based company, which has a contract to provide up to 800,000 scopes to the U.S. military, prints references to New Testament chapters and verses in code next to the model numbers of its scopes. The scopes are used by the...

Fr. Barron comments on Apocalyptic Literature. Video.

An atheist group is objecting to coded references to New Testament passages that a Michigan manufacturer is inscribing on rifle sights it provides to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trijicon has a $660 million contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marines, and other contracts with the Army. ABC News reported Monday that the manufacturer, founded by a Christian, had long marked its products with what ABC News called “secret ‘Jesus’ Bible codes:” One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For...

WASHINGTON: A US firm sought to quiet a controversy over coded Biblical references inscribed on gunsights used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, announcing it was providing kits to remove them. Muslim and religious freedom groups reacted angrily after it emerged this week that Trijicon has multi-million-dollar contracts to supply hundreds of thousands of the gunsights to the US military. Critics charged that the company was putting US troops in danger in Muslim-majority nations where US military presence is already bitterly resented.

UPDATE: THE Federal Government has ordered the defence department to look at ways of removing biblical references on gunsights used by special forces troops in Afghanistan. The American maker of the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, a Michigan based company called Trijicon, stamps Biblical references next to the serial number of all of its military gunsights. The references include "2COR4:6,'' a reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament. The passage in part reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory...

A Michigan defense contractor will voluntarily stop stamping references to Bible verses on combat rifle sights made for the U.S. military, a major buyer of the company's gear. In a statement released Thursday, Trijicon of Wixom, Mich., says it is also providing to the armed forces free of charge modification kits to remove the Scripture citations from the telescoping sights already in use. The Marine Corps has purchased more than 200,000 Trijicon sights and the Army has bought about 100,000.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A Michigan company has been inscribing references to biblical passages on sights for high-powered rifles used by the U.S. military, an investigation revealed. Trijicon has a $600 million, multi-year contract with the federal government to produce the sights, used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and to train Afghan and Iraqi forces, ABC News's "Nightline" reported Monday. U.S. military rules bar advocating any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan to prevent criticism that the united States was adding a religious element in its battle against Islamic insurgents, but Trijicon's sales and marketing director said the...

British soldiers in Afghanistan are to be issued with guns inscribed with references to passages from the Bible - risking handing a propaganda victory to Muslim extremists. The sights for the Sharpshooter assault rifle, bought this week to boost the fight against the Taliban, are etched with the characters JN8:12. This is a reference to chapter 8 verse 12 in the book of John, which reads: 'When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life".'

A Michigan weapons company is under fire for branding thousands of rifle scopes used by U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan with passages from the Bible. U.S. military rules prohibit any service member from proselytizing while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, which are primarily Muslim nations. Trijicon, a sighting manufacturer based in Wixom, Mich., has several multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon to make sights. Along with the sight's stock number, there are coded Bible passages from the New Testament engraved on the sights. One reads JN8:12, an apparent reference to John 8:12, which says, "Whoever follows me will...

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found. The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army. [...]

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

Too good to be true? It's the real deal according to ABC News! Libertas

As much as for his signature jump pass, Tim Tebow is known for inscribing Bible verses on the eye black he wears for games. Tebow’s choice for last season’s BCS championship game against Oklahoma, John 3:16, drew a reported 93 million Google hits that day. "I was just putting on my eye black and I realized that if I put a Bible verse on it, somebody might actually get something out of it," Tebow said Monday. "It’s just gained more and more momentum and steam, more and more people have recognized it, and now it’s just got a life of...

On my "Open Line" radio show last week (Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. ET), I took a call from Ryan in Baton Rouge. He asked for some advice on resources for studying Scripture in a systematic way. Here's what I told him. Take a listen . . .

There is a recent development at the ever excellent New Advent website. The Bible is presented in parallel columns: Greek on the left, English in the middle and the Latin Vulgate on the right. Navigation is provided by a list of all the books at the top and a list of chapters of the current book underneath. The English version is the Douai Rheims with the comments by Bishop Challoner. I am filled with admiration for Kevin Knight and others who help with the site. Their dedication has provided yet another superb resource for those who wish to deepen their...

Apparently some depraved losers have decided to use scripture to express their contempt for President Obama. It's not cute. It's not funny. It's far from an appropriate understanding or use of the text. I don't agree with President Obama on almost anything, but I would never wish any harm to come to him or his family. No decent person, certainly no true Christian, would either. For all my criticisms of President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid, I always say that the way we change things is through elections in 2010 and 2012. May no harm come...

Scenario: You’ve been talking with Bob, a fellow worker at the office, for weeks about the faith. You can see you’ve made headway in presenting him your biblical case for Catholicism. So you decide to invite him to an apologetics Bible study you have at your parish. He agrees to come on one condition: You must first come to a Bible study at his “non-denominational” assembly for four weeks. Then he will come to your meeting for four weeks. Immediately, you jump at the chance. You’re fired up! The Lord has given you an open door for evangelism. Upon arrival...

A Biblical Comparison of the Roman Missal deprecated Rev 4:2-4 ...And immediately I was in the spirit. And behold, a throne had been placed in heaven... And surrounding the throne were... smaller thrones. And upon the thrones... elders were sitting, clothed all around in white vestments... And there were ... burning lamps before the throne.. INTRODUCTORY RITES The EntranceRev 4:10 "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you have created all things, and they became and were craeted because of your will." Greeting of the Altar and of the People Gathered...

5 Myths about 7 Books  MARK SHEA Here are the answers to five common arguments Protestants give for rejecting the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. People don't talk much about the deuterocanon these days. The folks who do are mostly Christians, and they usually fall into two general groupings: Catholics — who usually don't know their Bibles very well and, therefore, don't know much about the deuterocanonical books, and Protestants — who may know their Bibles a bit better, though their Bibles don't have the deuterocanonical books in them anyway, so they don't know anything about them either....

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LECTIONARY WEBSITE by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.Lectionary StatisticsHow much of the Bible is included in the Lectionary for Mass? Not as much as you might think, yet far more than was included in the Roman Missal before the Second Vatican Council!The bishops assembled at Vatican II declared, "The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way the more significant part of the Sacred Scriptures will be read to the people over a fixed...