Are the Bible’s Stories True? Archaeology’s Evidence

By MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

Time Magazine, Feb. 7, 2010

In another part of the world, it would have been a straightforward public-works project. A highway was too narrow to handle the increasing flow of traffic, so the authorities brought in heavy equipment to widen it. Partway through the job, however, a road-leveling tractor uncovered the opening to a cave no one knew was there. Work came to an immediate halt, and within hours a scientific swat team descended on the site to study it.

This is a long and detailed article that is worthy of a read when you’ve got some time. The Bible plays such a huge role in the world that it behooves everyone to become well acquainted with it. Having a working knowledge of the Bible is part of understanding who we are and why?

Many people believe it to be the Word of God, and some hedge their bets by inserting the clause, ‘as far as it is translated correctly,’ while others believe it has moral merit, and that even if it isn’t true that it provides parables that provide a guide for ethical living. Others read it in disdain, shake their heads, and wonder ‘how does anyone believe this stuff?’

That’s the law in Israel, where civilization goes back at least 5,000 years and where a major archaeological find could be lurking under any given square foot of real estate. Just about every empire since the beginning of Western history has occupied these lands, or fought over them, or at least passed through — Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Crusaders — leaving behind buildings or burial places or artifacts. Which is why there were about 300 active digs this year in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza — an area no bigger than New Jersey. (See 10 surprising facts about the world’s oldest Bible.)

It’s also a major reason why Israel has seized the opportunity to stage “Jerusalem 3000,” a 17-month festival of art, music and archaeological exhibitions commemorating the 3,000th anniversary of the city’s original conquest by the ancient Israelites. The festival, which opened in September, admittedly has more to do with luring tourists than with unraveling ancient history. And it has heightened resentment among Palestinian Arabs, who insist that Jerusalem belongs to them and fear that the Israelis’ passion for excavating everything in sight threatens Islamic holy sites in the city, around the country and in surrounding areas.

But the celebration serves as a reminder that the region has witnessed a very special sort of history. For nearly 3 billion Jews, Christians and Muslims, this is the Holy Land, the place where the Bible and Koran say Jesus and Abraham and King David and King Solomon all walked the earth. Each spadeful of dirt an archaeologist turns up could yield evidence about how, and even whether, these and other biblical figures actually lived. As Hannukah and Christmas approach, believers around the world are attuned more than ever to the significance of archaeological finds of the past century, and especially the past few years, in establishing the reality Continue reading…

by Peggy Fletcher Stack

Salt Lake Tribune

One day he’s dissing gay activists as immoral “buggers” and perhaps the “greatest threat” to the nation. Then, he’s embracing anti-discrimination legislation and conceding the “right” gay residents have to job and housing protections.

What swayed state Sen. Chris Buttars?

His church.

In November, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its support of Salt Lake City’s measures safeguarding gay and transgender residents from discrimination.

Suddenly, Buttars, R-West Jordan, and his Mormon colleagues on the right who had vigorously — and vociferously — opposed such laws faced a choice: Should they back or buck their church?

This same “follow the prophet” pressure gripped LDS liberals when the Utah-based church came out in favor of California’s Proposition 8, defining marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. For Latter-day Saints, adherence to their prophet’s instructions is more than an abstract notion. It is repeated often from the pulpit and written into the Mormon identity.

Roman Catholic lawmakers bump into similar dilemmas when the pope or bishops weigh in on issues from abortion to health care to capital punishment. How much deference, if any, do politicians of faith owe to their ecclesiastical leaders, especially in religions with top-down hierarchies?

Catholics regard their leaders as stand-ins for Christ who speak on moral issues with an undeniable authority. The church’s catechism Continue reading…

Published on Sunday, February 7, 2010 by Toronto Sun/Canada

Wars Sending US into Ruin

by Eric Margolis

U.S. President Barack Obama calls the $3.8-trillion US budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.

In fact, it’s another potent fix given to a sick patient deeply addicted to the dangerous drug – debt.

More empires have fallen because of reckless finances than invasion. The latest example was the Soviet Union, which spent itself into ruin by buying tanks.

Washington’s deficit (the difference between spending and income from taxes) will reach a vertiginous $1.6 trillion US this year. The huge sum will be borrowed, mostly from China and Japan, to which the U.S. already owes $1.5 trillion. Debt service will cost $250 billion.

To spend $1 trillion, one would have had to start spending $1 million daily soon after Rome was founded and continue for 2,738 years until today.

Obama’s total military budget is nearly $1 trillion. This includes Pentagon spending of $880 billion. Add secret black programs (about $70 billion); military aid to foreign nations like Egypt, Israel and Pakistan; 225,000 military “contractors” (mercenaries and workers); and veterans’ costs. Add $75 billion (nearly four times Canada’s total defence budget) for 16 intelligence agencies with 200,000 employees.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars ($1 trillion so far), will cost $200-250 billion more this year, including hidden and indirect expenses. Obama’s Afghan “surge” of 30,000 new troops will cost an additional $33 billion – more than Germany’s total defence budget.

No wonder U.S. defence stocks rose after Peace Laureate Obama’s Continue reading…

by Judy Fahys

Salt Lake Tribune

Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature’s chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.

The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature’s belief that “climate alarmists’ carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures.”

The resolution, sent to the House on a 10-1 vote, would urge the Environmental Protection Agency to drop plans to regulate the pollution blamed for climate change “until a full and independent investigation of the climate data conspiracy and global warming science can be substantiated.”

“We’re at the breaking point,” said Rep. Kerry Gibson, the resolution’s sponsor, who warned that the supply of safe and affordable food is already threatened by over-regulation.

Eleven Brigham Young University scientists defended climate science in a point-by-point rebuttal to parts of the resolution and urged the panel in an e-mail to reject the measure.

“Even if all the political solutions proposed so far are flawed,” they said, “this does not justify politicians attacking the science that indicates there is almost certainly a serious problem.”

The Utah Farm Bureau, a strong backer of the Continue reading…

This letter is from Planned Parenthood in response to questions about their view of the upcoming Super Bowl ad. The response seems perfectly appropriate and succinct.

By now you’ve most likely heard all about it — the anti-choice group Focus on the Family is spending millions to run an ad during the Super Bowl featuring football player Tim Tebow and his mom talking about a deeply personal medical decision she made years ago. She decided to continue her pregnancy against medical advice, due to what had been diagnosed as a high-risk pregnancy.

People have been asking us at Planned Parenthood what we think about the ad and Mrs. Tebow’s decision. It’s simple. Planned Parenthood respects the right of every woman to make important medical decisions for herself.

Mrs. Tebow weighed medical and moral considerations and decided what was right for her. She made her choice in private, and without government interference. That’s exactly what we want Continue reading…

Lehi » The IM Flash Technologies digital memory chip plant in Utah rushed to the forefront of its industry with the announcement Monday of a new process that doubles the storage capacity of its products.

But for how long will the competitive lead last in a field where the capacity of the chips doubles about every 18 months as companies are able to cram more and more memory on a small, rectangular silicon wafer.

Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. said they have begun production for testing of the world’s smallest flash memory chip at their joint plant in Lehi.

The announcement represents a big leap ahead in the fiercely competitive market for the chips that store photos, songs and videos in cameras, media players, smart phones and other consumer devices.

“This obviously gives us the leading-edge technology,” said David Baglee, co-executive officer of IM Flash Technologies. “This is how you stay in business.”

Investors take note. “This is how you stay in business,” and it assures additional profits for Micron Technology.

Alan Niebel, CEO of Web-Feet Research of Monterey, Calif., said IM Flash’s intention to start shipping the new chips by the second quarter probably means it will have the industry’s smallest chip with the most capacity for at least six months. Announcements by Toshiba and Sandisk about their work on a similar-sized chip are expected soon.

A chip shortage expected to last into next year will keep profits up, Niebel said, “which means good profits coming back to this plant.”

The Lehi plant employs about 1,500 workers, and though Continue reading…

by Jeremiah Stettler

Salt Lake Tribune

Gov. Gary Herbert should return a $10,000 donation from a Utah coal company — whether or not that campaign cash influenced decisions to expedite the mine’s permit process.

So says gubernatorial challenger Peter Corroon, who called on the governor Thursday to put to rest perceptions of a “pay to play” policy in state government and order an independent inquiry into how the regulatory process was conducted.

Peter Corroon shouldn’t even have to be saying anything about this. Public outrage should be so severe as to embarrass Gov. Herbert into conceding that he has been caught red-handed in an act that would be considered a bribe in any situation but politics.

This is sleaze, pure sleaze!  Here we have a governor of the state, an upstanding guy with an outstanding record of public service, engaged in low level slime, and pretending there is nothing wrong. With him it’s business as usual with the volume turned loud.

Don’t expect him to raise the ethics bar.  He has become the poster boy for the Ethics Petition. In fact, if the ethics rules proposed by the Ethics Petition were in place he wouldn’t be in this sleazy position. He would have told the coal company that it is against the law to take donations. Currently it is not against the law, and thus politicians think it is moral and upright to get all they can get.

He has become cash hungry and seems to have lost his once common touch. As part of his $1,000,000 fund raising gala he accepted a $50,000 donation from a general contractor who does regular business with the state. Has politics Continue reading…