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Objections to A Message of Ancient Days
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Christians should just stop their whining? They just gave us grisly details of Nero’s killing of us, then it says,

"Nevertheless, Nero’s treatment of the Christians was unusually harsh. For the most part, the Roman state ignored the early Christians. Before AD 64, most of the persecution suffered by the Christians
came at the hands of other Jews."

They must have meant Paul of Damascus who converted to Christianity. I never heard that Paul tortured us as the Romans did. And now we’re blamed for the Fall of Rome??? We didn’t do anything, we were just not devoted? And the TEXTBOOK states, "Why did the empire fall? Historians do not have one answer. Still, these factors played an important part." Christianity is then listed first out of six. Then it whines about how hard it is to be a historian. Yet we should keep quiet about being tortured?

The title of the whole Christian Lesson is: "Christianity and the Fall of Rome." I did not realize at first that the title was meant to place blame.

This is what the textbook publishers say is "our turn" when complaints were made about the indoctrination of Islam? Turn for what?

(Please forgive my presumption to speak for the Jews, I am not a Jewish scholar, but I did receive help from a Rabbi. I would appreciate any feedback or corrections from Jews).

When Jeremiah wades in, the textbook states,

"The prophets were not fortune tellers
who predicted the future.
Instead they preached a message about
how the people should act in the present."

Jeremiah, Danial, Isaiah, etc., gave EXACT prophesies about the future. False prophets were stoned to death if they prophesied wrongly just one time. It was that important that the people not be misled by false prophets.

Muhammad is the only prophet that could not relay the future. It seems we must redefine "prophet" because Muhammad did not rightly prophesy.

The textbook states:

"However, by accepting the prophets’ explanation
for the disaster,
the Jews could keep their faith in God and survive exile." (pg 311)

The Jews had faith because they knew God! Not because any prophet attempted to explain away their circumstances. Unbelievably, Houghton Mifflin is giving alternative atheist reasons for Jewish faith and claiming the prophets were false prophets!

Did the textbook "historian" know that Isaiah prophesied more than 140 years earlier, that Cyrus, a Persian ruler would overthrow them? (Isaiah 44:28) Isaiah named Cyrus by name. And yet the textbook claims prophets could not predict the future, taking the opportunity to invalidate Judaism to impressionable children. Prophesies from hundreds of years ago in the Bible are becoming reality TODAY in every newspaper, as we read about Israel!

"Many people lived together in Canaan….Gradually they came together as a people and were called Hebrews."

The first time "Hebrew" is named referred to Abraham in Genesis 14:13, commonly known as "Father Abraham", whom God called out from his people. God mandated they stay clear of other nations and the root of the Hebrew nation is Abraham. This was so important that the Jews painstakingly kept lineage records for centuries. Hebrews did not just "come together as a people" and name themselves. Even when Esau, son of Isaac, intermarried, his offspring were named "Edom." Genealogies were so carefully kept that Jesus can be traced all the way back through Israel and Judah.

So why would the textbook want to deny the authenticity of the Hebrews? Is it because Islam did not carefully preserve their genealogies? Is it a coincidence that Muhammad claims Allah makes no distinction of peoples? That doesn’t fit well with God’s "chosen people." And the textbook has just dismissed the roots of the chosen that were so carefully recorded. It is all rewritten to fit Islam's beliefs!

Houghton Mifflin's biased version of Jesus and Judaism
for the 6th grade

III. USAGE COMPARISON OF COMPELLING RELIGIOUS WORDS

In addition, the following descriptives are used in the Islam unit compellingly about Islam's beliefs, but nothing close to comparable in the Christian or

Judaism Units:

Criteria differs with Judaism, so I compared all words that involved interaction with God or Allah. I left out some rituals, i.e. much about Mecca and pilgrimage is omitted.

Judaism: 655 18 (i.e. Jews believe)
Islam: 1, 670 16 (i.e. Muslims believe)

Something is really rotten here. And look at these qualifiers. Just as with the Christian comparison, there are LESS qualifiers with much more text.

IV. STRIPPED OF FAITH, DEVOID OF GOD:

One or two mistakes or omissions would be understandable, but Houghton Mifflin consistently rewrites "Biblical history" to explain how Israel survived as though God did not exist.

1. The textbook states:

Jews believe this to be a monumental miracle of God, and the only honor it is given is "according to tradition." Compare this to the eloquent and extremely lengthy renditions of Muhammad and Islamic beliefs stated as fact!

2. The textbook states regarding Exodus:

"The Israelites took a round about route to reach their homeland.
The Torah states that the trek lasted 40 years…"

Why can’t the textbook disclose things such as God led them miraculously, with a pillar of light by night and a cloud by day? In the Islam section, great emphasis is given to the relationship between Allah and Muslims. Could it be because the Quran states they were told to travel by night and in darkness? That would conflict with what Jews believe, so the Jewish details are left out to the extent the Quran agrees.

3. The textbook states:

"In 1020 BC, the Israelites chose
a man named Saul as their first king." (pg 309)

The Bible states: "And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to you of! This same shall reign over my people." (1 Samuel 9:17)

God chose Saul, not the people as the textbook states.

The title of this lesson is "Early Biblical History" and should give Biblical History!

4. The textbook states:

"David went to a nearby brook, gathered five smooth stones, and put them in his leather bag. Then he went out to face Goliath, according to the Bible." (pg 308)

Twice David said in the Bible, "Who is this that should defy the armies of the living God?… The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." (1 Sam 17)

What a dramatic interesting passage for children! Instead, the textbook chooses to focus on

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