Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

DOUBTING THOMAS

1455 Johann Gutenberg invents to printing press, potentially increasing to lightning speed the slow process of hand copying books, including the Bible. Friar Thomas grumbles, 'Phooey, that impersonal pile of machinery will never replace the personal touch of our hand copied Bibles.'

1845 Samuel Morse's telegraph connects Baltimore and Washington, enabling almost instant messages to be transmitted between the two cities. Reverend Thomas says, 'Why in the world would anyone in Washington want to say something instantly to people in Baltimore; a letter will get there in several days.

1867 After winter ice jammed the East River halting all water routes into and out of Manhattan a variety leaders propose connecting Manhattan to the other boroughs with bridges over and tunnels under the East River. Reverend Thomas says, 'I doubt you could ever build a bridge over that river, and certainly never a tunnel under it -- why it would leak!'

1877 Thomas Edison shows off his new machine, called a phonograph. It talks or makes music when the crank is turned. Upon hearing it, Reverend Thomas remarks, 'Well, there certainly would never be a use for something like a box of music or speaking for people in the church.'

1879 News of Edison's patents for the electric light circulate. Reverend Thomas laughs heartily when someone suggests electrifying the church and starting an evening service. 'Now why in the world would a church need electric lights? Oil lamps were good enough for Eutychus and St. Paul, they should be good enough for us -- besides when it gets dark, God intended humans to go to bed. This will have no effect on the church'

1899 Marconi demonstrates that he can use his wireless telegraph to send a message across the English Channel through the air. Upon reading it in the newspaper, Reverend Thomas grouses, 'What would England and France have to say to each other? And for certain, the *church* would never need to use such a communication device.'

1903 Two Indiana bicycle shop owners, Wilbur & Orville Wright successfully complete a three-mile flight in a new machine that flies in the air. Reverend Thomas lays down his newspaper and comments to his wife, 'Why in the world would anyone want to fly? I doubt this will come to anything. Certainly it will have no impact on the church.'

1913 Henry Ford introduces mass production enabling several families in Reverend Thomas' church to purchase the Model T. Rev. Thomas is dubious. 'I'll stick with walking to my parishioners and use my trusty horse for the outlying folk. After all, it was good enough for John Wesley.'

1922 Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 invention of the telephone is introduced as wires are strung to many houses in Reverend Thomas' town. He passes on installing a telephone with a chuckle. 'How in the world would a minister use a telephone -- you've got to go see people face to face.'

1950 A.B. Dick's mimeograph invention (1887) was being widely adopted during the post war period by many churches. In 1950 Rev. Thomas' pastor friend buys one with his own money. 'What in the world would you do with that?' he asks. Upon discovering that the pastor intends to print up his own worship bulletins, he is incredulous -- 'Why in the world would a local church print up its own bulletin -- can't the people hear the announcements?'

1961 A younger treasurer of the church asks the board for permission to secure one of the new electric adding machines to replace the old hand-cranked adding machine based on the machine invented by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century. Rev. Thomas doubts the need of such a newfangled toy and asks, 'What in the world is wrong with a simple manual adding machine that churches have used for years... remember many of the smaller churches still use pencil and paper.'

1976 A new hand-held electronic calculator emerges. It is touted to instantly solve difficult calculations for college students and could make the slide rule obsolete. Pastor Thomas sees the advertisement on TV and remarks, 'that will never catch on -- too expensive and not any better than our trusty electric adding machine over at the church.

1979 One of Pastor Thomas' fellow ministers purchases an Apple computer and uses it to run off labels for his midweek mailing labels. Magazines predict that every home will one day have one or more personal computers. Thomas says, 'Why in the world would a home need a computer -- we don't even need one at the church. They're just a toy."

1980 Scientists predict that an entire library of information will eventually be written and stored on a single disk created with lasers. Glancing around his office walls displaying nearly a thousand books, Pastor Thom says, 'They'll never have ministers resources on such disks -- I doubt anything will come of it.' 1981 The Xerox process invented by Chester Carlson in 1938 finally produces small photocopy machines at affordable prices so that small offices can now purchase them. When a neighboring pastor talks of their new Xerox machine, Pastor Thomas remarks, 'But they're too expensive for us... I'll stick with that old mimeograph machine I inherited.'

1995 Email, and the WWW explode from the quiet innovator phase to the 'early adopters' level with multiplied ministers going on line one after another. At a recent pastors meeting, Pastor Thomas was overheard saying, 'Why in the world would a minister ever need to be on the Internet? This will have no effect on the church. I doubt anything will come of it.'

[Historical note: written in 1995 when frustrated by a key powerful denominational leader's rejection of Internet plans with, "It is a fad and won't be around in five years."]

So what do you think?

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