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Show I Religious calendars disagree By DAVID BRIGGS AP Religion Writer Luxury hotels in New are already planning n celebrations to usher in the year 2000. On the other side of" the world, in New Zealand, the Millennium Adventure Co. has secured the rights to the world's "first light'" on the slopes of Mount Hakepa on Pitt Island, just east of the international dale line, about 745 miles southeast of Christchurch. Discounting the fact there was no year zero and following the Roman calendar to the nice round number of 2000. most people will be celebrating the beginning of the third millennium after the birth of Christ the moment the clock strikes midnight on the final day of IW. However, lor scholars who have long claimed that Jesus was horn earlier than the traditional dale, the third millennium may have already begun. According to one scholar who has extensively researched the date of the first Christmas. Christians may have just missed the actual date. Historian Paul Maier of Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, calculates that Jesus probahh was born in November or December of 5 B.C. "It was most likely during this season. 2.000 years ago. that the baby was born who would change the world." says Maier. author of "In the Fullness of Time." "This Christmas, then, is the sort of milestone that only one generation in M) has the chance to celebrate." Scholars who have tried to determine when Jesus was born have generally come up with a time somewhere between 7 B.C and 4 B.C. One of the main problems with the current dating is the Bible's reference to King Herod's learning of Jesus' birth and consulting with wise men from the East. Herod would die soon after, but historical sources indicate he died in 4 B.C.. making it impossible for him to have talked to the wise men in A.D. I. according to the traditional dating svstem. York Sl.OOO-a-perso- liursda. January IK I VV I HF UU S HI K U I). Prow. ( h 1 Pa-j- r 1 University has compiled collection of rare Bibles By MATT TRUELL Associated Press Writer BALDWIN CITY. Kan. Bishop W illiam A. Quayle read a bonk even day. and wrote more thai' 25 himself. He took a walk even dav. and loved all things in nature. He also collected rare Bibles, and his fascination helped give Baker University one of the most prominent collections of the kind in the Midwest. The legacy he left the small United Methodist university on the prairie when he died in 1925 has now more than 250 Bibles grown to I. Hid Bibles, many of them rare. "It is widely known all over the country.' said rare book expert Ardis Glenn, onetime owner of Glenn Books in Kansas City. Mo., who appraised the collection in 1993. The Quayle collection includes Bibles bv handwritten early monks, and two first editions of the 161 King James Authorized Version, which set the standard for F.nglish usage for centuries. "Not only am I glad to have it in this collection of mine, hut am glad to have it in America, which is just becoming the great book possessor of the world." Quayle wrote in his notebooks w hen he houtihl his first King James Bible. Also pan of the current collection is a book of the Psalms of David translated into the Ojibway language, published by the Upper Canada Bible Society in IS55. Thai book is called Oodahnuh-meahine Nuhguiimoow inutn Owh David. "(Jar locus and the uniqueness and quality of what we have. think, puts us head and shoulders above other universities our size. " said John M. Forbes. Baker's I director of libraries and curator of the Quayle Bible Collection. The collection has a small Latin Bible that bears the signature of English poet Robert Browning, and another once owned by his mother. Sahrina Browning. It also has the Robert Louis Stevenson family Bible. The author of "Treasure Island"' and "Kidnapped" left it behind when he sailed to Tahiti, where he died and is buried. The collection includes a leaf from a Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz. Germany, sometime before 1456. Johann Gutenberg, who invented movable type, ushered in the first information revolution. The Gutenberg Bible is believed to be the first book printed from movable type. It also has the Presidential Bible Collection, with Bibles signed by every president since Harry Truman. "It's a grand collection." said Cynthia Bulluigton. a partner at Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts, which has sold Baker I niversity some of its Bibles. "We know Us librarians have cared lor il with a loving intelligence. Il is very well regarded."' William Quayle was a prominent I nited Methodist minister, speaker and w nicr He received his bachelor's degree front Baker Universitv in 1XN5. and soon became piofessor of Greek. He became the university president in IS90. but resigned four years later to become a pastor, living in the Kansas Citv area. Chicago. Detroit and St. Louis. In 9( IK, he was named bishop. During his hie. Quavle wrote mure than 25 popular religious books, with titles hke With Jesus." He also was in heavy demand as a public speaker. Forbes said, all of which gave him "Oul-OI-Doo- money to buy rare Bibles. His bequest gave Baker the embryo for Us present collection. I he collection now has about 1.100 Bibles, although only 450 to 500 are rare enough, or inteiesting enough, to be displaved. Kim Quav le. a freshman at Bak- - AP Photo John Forbes displays a Bible with an illustrated loredge from Baker University s Quayie Bible Collection late last year in Baldwin City. Kan. Forbes is the curator o the collection. er I Diversity and the bishop's has great been through the collection many times. "It's kind ol therapeutic." said the Naples. Ha., native. "I go there a lot. here arc pictures in there of I Bishop Quavle and grandfather when he was little. It's just like going hack to your roots."' Seeing miracle led author to write book on subject By STEPHEN J. LEE Knight-Ridde- r Newspapers Paul Prather began the path that led to his new book on miracles 20 years ago by wit- nessing one. Seeing his father healed instantly from cancer began his own path to spiritual renewal and sparked his interest in the question of whether and why God intervenes in people's lives. e Prather's book. "Modern-Da- y Miracles: How Ordinary People Experience Supernatural Acts of God." (Andrews anil McNeel. SI 9.95 is an inspirational and informative look at the reported increase in miracles today and what it might mean. Religion reporter and columnist for a daily newspaper in Kentucky, the Lexington Herald-LeadePrather also is pastor of a small Christian church and has written another book. "Life's a Dance: The Story of John Michael Montgomery." Prather said while he is "unabashedly a Christian." he also feels sort of "schizophrenic" about miracles. He has master's degrees in the liberal arts and social sciences, has taught at the University of Kentucky and been a journalist for nine years for a secular daily newspaper. Meanwhile, his personal spiritual journey has been from being ntised Southern Bapiist. with no real belief in modern miracles, to marrv vz into a 220-pag- r. Pentecostal family, being asked to pastor a tiny Pentecostal church and rather slowly adopting many of their beliefs. "I have a sort of intellectual secular and skeptical point of view and. at the same time, a religious heritage that has exposed me to a lot of these miraculous phenomena, many of which have no secular explanation for."" Such as the healing of his father 20 years A Southern Baptist pastor who did not believe that miracles still happen. Prather's father was stricken with deadly cancer. "It was supposed to be terminal." Prather said in a telephone interview. "He had a tumor on his head, on his kidneys, and in his bone marrow." Doctors debated how to tieal I it. father told Prather that praying. God had told be healed. "We didn't of that." Prather says, because their father had nev er been one to believe in such things, much less predict them. "Within two or three days, his cancer jusi spontaneously disappeared." Prather said. "I wasn't religious when this happened. I was in college, and a particr. and a skeptic. But I was prcscn' when he was healed and I saw that and I couldn't deny it. If it hail happened to someone else. I would have said it was an ainaz-im- j coincidence or a misdiagnosis. Bui I But one day his while he had been him thai he would know what to make beer-drinke- r, knew what bad shape he was in and I knew what the doctors had said. And knew said beforehand that God was going to heal him. So there was no doubt in mv mind that he had been supernaiurallv healed in those circumstances." His lather's health continues io be clear ol cancer. Over the yeais. both as a journalist and as a pastor. Prather kept running acioss similar stories he couldn't shake. "It didn'l mailer what denoimuaiion it was in. Catholic. Methodist. Baptist, people would start telling me these stones about lunacies. A lot of tune they didn't want to talk on the record, because people would think thev were crazy." So he lets people tell then stories, includ- a longtime drug user and agnostic, hostile to the Christian faith, by a minister. A grieving widow lacing financial ruin, silting in despair al the cud of her rope, crying out lo God and gelling a clear response that turned her hie around The man sullcrmg with Lou Gerhrig's disease who encountered a tall stranger who helped him and told him he was the man's guardian angel. I here are many other stories. Some of the lunacies seem n iv ial. some incredible: some of the stones persuasive, a lew poignant. And they ate a lot moie common, perhaps, than we in the modern, scientifically oriented West often realize. Prather says. "One survey found that s2 percent of Americans believe God still perlornts miracles." he said. "People don't go out and talk about it. but they heheve it in then hearts." He's a believer, even il almost reluctant at limes, and skeptical al others. Prather says, lbs own beliefs on miracles have evolved, partly as lie has witnessed too much evidence to deny, he says. "I siill have a lot of" questions even after doing 'this hook." Piather said. "But mv gut leehng is thai God is in the process doing something in our time. I don't know w hat il is. but he seems to be making himself know u in a way thai perhaps hasn't been done since Bible times." sion ol I ing: I he miraculous Christian conversions ol hardened and politically ambitious Water-galfelon-- . Charles Colson and Jeb Magrud-e- r into sincere ministers, which have stood the lesi of two decades. The mysterious healing of Doitn lioilingswoith. a Protestant minister and e businessman in China of angina under the hands ol :i Buddhist healer. Madame Moe. A Hindu yogi seeing his spiritual master, in the flesh, even touching linn, in an apparition three months alter the master had died. I he deliverance liom demonic posses ( Expression of belief expands beyond bumper stickers By DAVE SCHLECK Knight-Ridde- r Newspapers Church takes time to craft catchy sign phrases NEWPORT NFWS. Ya. The rear bumper of Sandy Roman's car stayed pristine lor three months until he drove into work one Monday morning with seven political and religious bumper slickers strewn across the back of his Saturn sedan. such Several liberal slogans " in will she Trust God. as. provide." "Go vegetarian." and. "God is too big to fit into one relicovered the large "Sal-urn- " gion" emblem on the back of his By DAVE SCHLECK Knight-Ridde- On her way to NFWPORT NFWS. Ya. her first week of classes al Menchville High School last Sepiemlvr. Jamie Iv ester drove down Warwick Boulevard and noticed lor the liist time the sign outside First Baptist Church of Newport News. Glancing out from her Foul Fscort early (hat morning. Fester read the sign's message board and found words that would change her life: "You'll nivc up on vouiselt before God will." "That jtisi told me thai I wasn't listening to (he right person." said Fester, a T- - ear-olwho was searching for a stronger relationship w ith God. "I was listening to myself instead ol God." Although Fester had only been lo church live limes since she was 10 years old. she stalled attending First Baptist with a friend. She was baptized a month later. Nancy Thomas, the pastor's secietaty at Fust Baptist, pieced together Ihe message (hat inspued Fester last summer. Thomas said Fester's story exemplifies the power God can bestow in a simple church sign. I nhke a preacher's setmou. chinch signs reach people who don't have the inletest or the time to set loot inside the sanctuaiy. Churches once satisfied with simple wooden signs Id years ago are now opting lor flashier marquees, accouhng to Jet rx Phelps, a sales car's bumper. "People at work wanted to know if there was a sale on bumper stickers over the weekend." said accelerator Roman, a Jefferson Thomas the at operator I National Accelerator Facility in Newport News. Inspired by an animal rights demonstration he attended in Washington. D.C.. the weekend before. Roman decided to turn his car into a catalyst lor thought. "P.verybody gives up thinking once I hey get out ol' college." said Roman, expounding on the messages behind his bumper stickers during a conversation in ihe driveway ol his James City County. Ya.. home. "I'm sort ol obsessed about whether that's a gift or thinking I know." don't a curse. . In a iratlic-plague- d Newspapers r d representative lor the Cardinal Sign company in V irginia Beach. Ya. " They want to get a much nicer sign to get their message out." Phelps said. A lighted marquee with a fixed message board like the one at First Baptist costs between S2.000 and S5.(KMi. Phelps said. Fv angelical Christians are especially aware that church signs are etlective in spreading their message. "We always endeavor to reach the unsaved." said Thomas, who changes ihe sign's message every week with Ihe help ol church volunteer Ron Perry. "It's amazing." Ihomas said. "Because thousands of people dnve by on Waiwick Boulevard every day. We've had quite a lew people call to say th.it (hey wetc leehng particularly low until they read the message on the sign." Ihomas s.dd she gels message ideas lor the chinch sign liom two books; "I ncle and 'Diaper's Ben's Instant Book of Quotations." The Rev. Bob Collins, pastor ol Denbigh ('hutch of God. said he tries to think up catchy phrases lor his chinch sign to attract newcomers to his congiegatiou on Denbigh Boulev aid. "We pul some crazy ones up sometimes, just to c.itsh people's attention." said Collins, whose lav oi ue examples aie. "Open on Sun" day: Fiow sets welcome." and. ntiques lot i i Chp-quoies- sale: the oldest thing in the world salva- - tion." "I would not put up anything that would be derogatory to any other church or any l.iith." Collins s.ud "'I hat would be a tum-otl- . not a turn-on.- " The Rev. Mauellus Hams, pastor ol Fust Baptist Mom son in Newport News, s.ud his chinch's sign - which umctitly reads. "Come heie sermons m the key ol Revelation" iclieci what is going on inside the chinch's walls. "Presently, the sign is being employed to publicize the sermon theme that I've been embarking upon lot the last fun ot live inouihs - the Book of Revelation." Hams said. Harris said vandals made some "vulgar changes" in the lettcrine ol his message boat d sev ei.il yeai s ago " I he sign has no proteclive covering, so can't prevent lolks from lainpeiiug with my - I bulletin boaid and tinning a Christian mes- sage into an un-- ( li'Mum one." he s.ud. Ihomas s.ud a lew lelleis have been stolen ud even without liom her chinch's sign, and "(J" aie olten that, the letteis "N," But she doesn't let those in shod supply challenges distupt her work. "We run oui ol lelleis sometimes and have lo leave out a won) or lliuik ol way to s.iv things mote concisely." Ihomas s.ud. Bui n never inteileu's w uh gelling oui Ihe message ".." " of God's woid." country that takes ptide in freedom ol" expulsion, perhaps it's only natural that religion would make its way onto the backside ol Ameiica's automobiles. Once ntotoiists started slapping "Honk il you love Jesus!" stickers on chrome bumpers in the 1970s, and sometimes an exchange ol woids lias been playing vial out on the highways. the largest Dickins Inc. Christian gilt supplier in the Umi- - sells between .Vi.tmn ed Stales and HHI.IHKI humpei siickeis and aliout Ihe same number of Chiist-iat- i lish emblems each year, said Melissa Bane, the company's mat-keliu- g cooidiualor. Bumper stickers sell lor alniul S2 each, while I'ish emblems tost between S2 and S4 Stickeis with slogans lelemng such as " ngels aie aie the watching over me" nationally, although ttadi- - lo angels best-selhn- g t 1 lional messages such as. ' File is liagile: handle with piayer" ate more popular in the eastern I nitcd Stales. Bane said. Ihe lortn of leligious e spies-siohas expanded beyond just bumper slickers, accouling lo Peggy Sutherland, manager ol Agaie Chnsiian Book Stoic in Newport News License plate Fames with teligiotis messages like. "Ihe Bible: File's institution manual" ate ouiselhng most bumVt stick n cfs, even the ones with catchy phiases like. "Die ... get turned ... comeback to hie ... NO PROBI.L-MO" Ihe license plate holdeis ate a to (he wonderlul alternative buniKM sticker." Sutherland said. "I dou'i sell as many bumper stickeis emu' humpeis weni liom chiome to mbbet " But Ihe items .ue "Sign ol the Fish" emblems. said Ihe plastic Sutheilaiul besi-sclhn- g emblems, whuh .ue usually 5 niches long and depict the simple outline ol a lish. sell lor about S.' and are usually placed on the back ol the luiiiK ot cats. The lish is an ancient code symbol used by early Chiistians who leaud peiscciilion. Two stiangers who wanted to let each othei know thev wetc Chiis-lian- s would diaw a fish svnibol to communicate they shaied a common lailh. without letting oulsidets know about then Chi Mian Ivhels. Ihe lish became the symbol of Christianity because the first letters ol the phrase "Jesus Christ. in the Son of God. Savior" Cueek alphabet spell out the Greek woid lor lish. Sharman Allen of Newport News s.ud she is proud to have a lish emblem on the back ol her and her husbands maroon Ford Pxploier. "Noi in a bragging sense, but we aie happy to be Christians." said Mien, whose v anil x license plate reads. "XlOl. HM." "We couldn't be more blessed. And thai is how we lepieseiil our joy." s the lish emblem is immersed in American culture, different schools ol thought are engaged in u I quirky clash. In response to some conservative Christians' criticism ot the theory of evolution, humanists have started displaying fish emblem thai have "grown" legs and have the woid "Darwin" on them, reler-nnlo the naturalist who originated the theory of evolution by selection. In a counter-attack- . Christian bookstores now aie selling emblems depicting a Christian fish taking a chomp oui of the word g nat-ui- Darw m fish. Such expu'ssion can be taken too hit. Roman say s. Although Roman subscribes to the libei.il belief ot Unitarian he said there are some hbeial bumper stickers that he would nevet put on his car. For example, he recently saw a bumper sticker thai said. "Fundamentalism slops a thinking mind." which is a take-osloon the gan. "Abortions stops a beating heart." "I hat's teally an attack on Christian fundamentalists." Roman said. "It's divisive rather than inclusive." ll anti-aborti- ' J- |