"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. This week in the Bible and Media: Going once,twice... one of the only Bible's to ever travel to space is up for auction, atheists tattle on a man handing out Bible's outside a public school, and a host of new discoveries of old objects.

Up for auction is the Bible that accompanied astronauts on the 1971 Apollo 14 space flight. This Bible is unique for more reasons than where its been, This Bible is on microform film, measuring 1.625 inches square and centered in a gold and enamel setting measuring four by six inches. Similar to microfilm, this King James Bible requires a microscope to read it. Apparently a printed version weighed too much, so commander Edgar Mitchell took the microform edition with him instead. This special version was produced and provided by the Apollo Prayer League. The league was started in 1967 by John Stout, a NASA scientists and ordained pastor, after the deaths of Apollo 1 astronauts.

While the space Bible is expected to sell for $50,000 or more, a man in Illinois has been told to stop giving away free Bible's to public school students. A citizen giving the Bibles to students on school grounds was threatened by the school district with legal action after they were made aware of the man and his mission by the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). This is a story near to my heart as I've had my debates with members of the FFRF and have handed out Christian literature to student's in Denver and and in a suburb of Chicago. In Denver, I was a student at the school and had the right to hand out literature, while in Illinois I had to stand on a public side walk to avoid legal problems. Hopefully the man (unnamed in news reports) seeks good legal council and continues his mission.

In other news, 20 archaeologists from Hebrew Union College have found the entrance gate to the city of Zer, known in New Testament times as Bethsaida. Found in the Golan Heights area this gate is less than a handful of gates found from the first temple period. It is mentioned in Joshua 19.35, as a fortified city of the tribe of Naphtali, and in several New Testament passages as the location of many of Jesus' miracles. Also recently discovered are a few mosaics, one of which illustrates two men carrying a pole between them with a cluster of grapes. This is a depiction of Numbers 13.23, the return of men who scouted the land of Canaan. The mosaic is from the fifth century AD. Another discovery, this time in New Zeland, rocked an Anglican church when they discovered a 400 year old Bible in a cabinet. The 1616 King James version was discovered at the Saint Peters Church in Palmerston North. Apparently only 30 copies of this version still exist.