My general thoughts on religion are presently hovering toward the “intellectually a mass delusion, but individually necessary for a balanced life.” This is why I’ve been giving churches another chance lately. I recognize that I am a spiritually bankrupt person but am finding it difficult to fill this void with something that doesn’t offend my intelligence. I suspect it would be some type of transcendental, meditation-oriented thing but even Zen Buddhists like to go around spouting their little catchphrases.
Anyway as I was sitting in the boring church surrounded by people eager to show off their new Sunday Easter clothes and drop extremely large checks in the plate, I leafed through the back of the “Thompson Chain” my mother owned when she was alive. The “Thompson Chain” is a fairly nifty bible that takes one word or idea, assigns it a number, and through the aid of an extensive index and concordance, lets you follow that idea all the way through the Bible by reading every verse in which it appears. Doctrinally it’s accepted by even the most fundie of fundies. Here are some interesting facts:
The “Plans and Devices” section used for making sermon outlines has a large bold faced headline POVERTY – RICHES, dealing with giving all that thou hast to the poor and so on. All the detailed notes for this entry take about a page and a half, with various subcategories.
The same section has a headline BUSINESS LIFE regarding how to manage yourself honestly in the professional arena. It takes up two solid pages.
“Fornication” has a tiny listing of 8 verses.
Neither “sodom” nor “sodomy” has an entry at all.
Wow, it sure seems like the fundies have all their priorities wrong, doesn’t it? At least when it comes to political activity.