Amazing Bible Timeline ~ Review

Disclaimer: Before I start this review, I’m going to say upfront that I do NOT recommend this product. I will share a few reasons why in the body of this review but am truthfully just hitting on the tip of the iceberg in my concerns.

Overview of the Product

The Amazing Bible Timeline is a large {37″ x 45″} poster that shows 6,000 years of world and Biblical history in a color-coded circular format. It begins with Adam and shows the breakdown of nations throughout history, color-coding the different families and nations.

Once the Flood occurs it shows how many of the different nations came through the sons of Noah {Ham, Shem, & Japeth}. You can see what was happening in different nations at specific points in history. The timeline is broken up into 100 year segments so you can quickly find a time in history when looking for events.

My Thoughts

Before I go any further, I will say this: As a homeschooling mom {or a mom in general}, my responsibility is teaching my children our beliefs and I will do all that I can to ensure the my children are given materials that support our beliefs. I do not feel that is wrongly rejecting a faith that doesn’t match our beliefs ~ it’s doing what God has called ME to do and fulfilling the responsibility I have to my family. I am also responsible for the materials that I put in front of them and being aware of what that product contains.

Initially I was excited about the timeline, but we received an email from the company addressing several questions that other Crew members had raised about the timeline. That response raised a few red flags for me and I began to dig a little deeper into the company itself and really examining the timeline.

I rolled out our timeline and found a few things. In two different locations on the timeline their were references to Mormon theology/beliefs. One was a direct reference to the book of Mormon {A.D. 400} and another a reference to Joseph Smith and his travels {A.D. 1800} ~ neither something that our family would consider accurate Biblical history.

To give you a little deeper history on the company, they produce both a LDS {Latter Day Saints} version of the timeline and also a non-LDS version {the one I was sent to review}. In 2000, the original ‘blueprints’ for the standard version were accidentally destroyed and the company had to backtrack and recreate the timeline based off the LDS version. They admit there may be mistakes or things that they ‘missed’ in removing because there are over a thousand references on the timeline overall.

My Concerns

Here’s the basic sum-up of my issues/concerns:

• The two errors we found on our timeline were obvious errors ~ ones that specifically mentioned LDS names or references. If they missed these two obvious references, what other errors might still remain that are not as obvious?
• It has been NINE years since the original was destroyed and it seems ludicrous to me that in that length of time these obvious mistakes were missed. Personally, if I had purchased one of these and paid nearly $40 after S/H, I would be calling the company and demanding a refund.
• Quick math would tell you that you could easily review the timeline THREE times in one year if you only studied/examined ten references a day. Yet somehow, they’ve had numerous proof readers {non-LDS} who missed the obvious references for nine years now.
• I understand that mistakes are mistakes, but I personally struggle with a product that contains errors that tie into the basic integrity of the product and the fact that a profit is being made off of careless mistakes. You would be upset if a spelling program taught you how to spell inaccurately, or if a science book taught you incorrect formulas. A spelling error on the timeline would a mistake ~ referencing the book of Mormon on a product geared toward evangelical Christians/non-LDS is more than a little mistake.

There are other issues I have in my dealings with the company that have left me with even more questions. However, I’m at the point where I don’t want to give the company any more ‘screen time’.

Do I recommend the product? Absolutely not. Would it be a good fit for your family? ~ that depends on your beliefs and your personal convictions. Only you can make a decision for your own family.

The Amazing Bible Timeline can be purchased for $29.95 {plus $6.00 S/H} and also comes with a digital version of the timeline as well as interactive maps of the Holy Land.