Also, we don't dwell in the supernatural s**t. Our mission is the here and now. Come see what I mean! The catechism of thought chapel finds its biblical roots in those books, verses, and passages from the bible (new testament, obvi) attributed directly to the earthly teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, here named teacher. There’s a reason for this, that I will explain in more detail later. But to this
end, we recognize the new commandment as taught in Mark 12:28-34 (NIV). And it goes:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. The commandment is love: a verb. This is the single guiding principle of the thought chapel. This is our one new commandment: we love our neighbor as we love ourself. Said another way, we love our neighbor as their own self, the way our teacher loved. Everything we do flows from this. Further, thought chapel recognizes and embraces the work of The Satanic Temple, accepting their Faith in the same spirit we accept all Faiths. The thought chapel proposes, in fact, to adopt the same core tenets as guiding principle for the mission and vision of the church (pending adequate permissions of course).
1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo your own.
5. Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. Some may question a self-proclaimed chrisitan organization’s acknowledgement of such groups. More may find (dare I say?) offensive the idea we would go as far as to site such resources in our very founding documents. In answer to such reservations, I suggest going back to our teachers work. You can find it almost anywhere in the US, these days. Mostly it’s in a single volume of books found, like, everywhere. Read his parables again, and reflect on his lessons. Consider what these words suggest about how we should treat such groups, and get back to me. Welcome all! Venture forth, learn, contribute, question, love. Peach be with you. Kate (Kat)
Founder Minister
thought chapel
