Characters on Ancient Tablet Tied to Biblical Ebenezer
JERUSALEM—A clay tablet containing 80 ancient Hebrew characters arranged in five lines, dating from the eleventh century B.C., has been found at a digging site in Izbet Sarte, northeast of Tel Aviv, tentatively identified with the Biblical Ebenezer.
Ebenezer, mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1, is the name used to identify the place where the Hebrews encamped before their defeat by the Philistines encamped at Aphek.
The newly-discovered tablet, yet to be deciphered, displaces the famous "Gezer calendar" of about the tenth century B.C. as the earliest-known Hebrew inscription.
Baptist World Alliance Head Reports Active Church Communities in Russia
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Though Bibles and hymnbooks are in short supply, "Baptist Christians in the U.S.S.R. are active and enthusiastic about their witnessing for Christ in daily life," says the president of the Baptist World Alliance.
President David Y. K. Wong spent two weeks in the Soviet Union at the invitation of the All Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, a group registered with the government. He visited Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Tbilisi.
In his report, released here by the Baptist World Alliance, Mr. Wong claimed that more than 95 per cent of the Baptist churches in the Soviet Union are registered to operate, and that recently 30 more independent and autonomous churches were given government permission to register.
At every church service or gathering, he stated, "we found singing, praying, testimonies, talks, and fellowship for two and one-half to three and one-half hours. People do not feel tired, though many stand in the aisles, at the side walls, and on the stair cases in a full-packed situation.
Many participate in the services with deep emotions."
$24,000 Grant Assists Seminary Prayer Project
ST. MEINRAD, Ind.—A Roman Catholic theological school here has received a special grant of more than $24,000 for a two-year project that will involve the investigation, design, and implementation of a program to help seminary students learn to pray alone.
St. Meinrad School of Theology, a Benedictine seminary, said in its grant proposal that the need for the project arose from an awareness that "shared prayer" in the seminary does not meet the later need for personal, private prayer in the ministry.
The grant, from Lilly Endowment, Inc., of Indianapolis, was one of 36 to seminaries and other theological institutions totaling more than $1.6 million. Invitations to submit proposals were ex tended to 228 such seminaries and institutions.
A Dialog With Dad: "Too Tired ... Not Enough Money ... Keep Quiet"
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The comment most frequently made by American fathers to their children is "I'm too tired," ac cording to a survey of children undertaken by a Seventh-day Adventist couple.
"We don't have enough money," was found to be the second most-used comment of fathers to their children, followed by, "Keep quiet."
The nationwide survey was conducted by Dr. and Mrs. Delmer W. Holbrook, directors of the Family Counseling Service of the Adventist Church. This summer, they are conducting surveys and Family Life Seminars at Adventist camp meetings across the U.S.
The Holbrooks said they hope that their surveys and discussions this summer will enable them to prepare cassettes and printed materials that will guide others in restoring troubled marriages.
Their assignment from Adventist world headquarters is to help find answers to the "American home problem."
At Family Life Seminars, the Holbrooks lead discussions on such topics as tensions in marriage, family finance, communication, parental practice, and marriage enrichment.
They said they believe the greatest assistance toward happy marriages comes from Scripture—a source many families have forgotten.
Dr. Holbrook is president of the Adventist international correspondence school, Home Study Institute. Mrs. Holbrook is a columnist for the Review and Herald, Adventist church paper.
