New Biblical Theme Park a Blessing or Blasphemy?

O R LA N D O, Fla., Feb. 5 -- Orlando, Fla. has roller coasters, Mickey Mouse and now Bible stories.

A new theme park opened today called The Holy Land Experience, where visitors can haggle with vendors in Old Jerusalem, make home videos in front of Jesus' Tomb and snack on Goliath Burgers. One father was heard urging his kids on, "I wanna see you guys keep trying to push the rock!"

"Not everybody can go over to Jerusalem; we just hear stories," says Becky Sterling of Perrysburg, Ohio. "But having something like this, it does make it more real."

Tourists go to Disney for thrills, but what do they come here for? The park's founder, Marv Rosenthal answers, "Truth." He insists he's not trivializing the Bible, simply using modern techniques to communicate ancient truths.

"We would like to hope that people would come to permanent faith in the God of the Bible through coming here," says Rosenthal.

Park Under Fire From Jews

Four lonely protestors showed up at the park's opening today. Even though local rabbis are upset, they did not want to rally in the hope they won't give the park more attention than it deserves.

"We believe [Rosenthal] to be soul-snatching," says Los Angeles resident Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League, one of the four protestors at the park today. "We believe him to be murdering Jewish people. That's what's going on in there."

This biblical amusement park is not at all amusing to many Jewish people, who say one of its main goals is to convince Jews to accept Jesus.

Rosenthal is a Messianic Jew, a Jew who believes in Christ. Along with the park, he runs an organization called Zion's Hope, which evangelizes to Jews.

"This to us is very dangerous," says Rabbi Merril Shapiro. "It's tantamount to the desire to see the end of Jews and the end of Judaism."

Rosenthal says there will be no proselytizing in the park and that his critics are attacking Christianity.

"Sure, it's persecution," says Marv Rosenthal. "We who are of the Jewish faith and believe in Jesus have been persecuted for years."