As a frequent hotel patron - ahem - I always find the Gideon Bible in my nightstand drawer. Who are the Gideons? Do they have a church? How come I have never seen one?
Gideon is a character in the book of Judges in the Bible. His men once attacked the Philistines carrying their torches in jars so they wouldn’t be seen at night. At a given signal, they all broke their jars, and the Philistines thought they were surrounded by a much larger force. The lamp in a jar on the front of each Gideon Bible refers to this story.
The Gideons International is a non-denominational organization dedicated to spreading the Word of God. Since they are non-denominational, there are no churches. They are funded entirely by donations.
Incidently, the Bible’s are intended to be taken. Check the inside front cover, there is a message there to the effect that anyone interested should take it home. I mention this because every so often I hear people joking about “stealing” the Bible from their hotel room. It isn’t stealing, that’s what it’s there for.
It never occured to me before, but how does one carry a torch in a jar? Maybe it wasn’t a torch. More like a candle. And there surely was no top on the jar, lest it would extinguish the flame. So, why wouldn’t the light reflect upward, illuminating the person carrying it? And how do you break the jar and still hold onto your “torch?”
Sam, if you think about it for a moment, you’d note it will depend n the type of jar and how it was carried.