The Christ haunted South

Before we got started, please read my previous article, The peace of Christ here; , my latest on Locals; Be careful what you say, and, if you want to help me out, go here; Help with medical bills
I watch my niece and nephew on weekdays during the day, and, I alternate between my house and my sister's house from week to week. Anyway, so, my sister had some off brand cheetos, and I noticed something, a Bible verse.
Now, maybe you don't live in the South, or, even the United States, but, this is not unusual.
As for the verse that was on the Cheetos wannabes, looks like it was from the NKJV;
But the Lord has been my defense,
And my God the rock of my refuge. (Psalm 94:22) (Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved).
When I used to go to the laundromat, there was actually a sign that said something like “God is watching, Exodus 20:15”.
That's the one that says, “Thou shalt not steal”. By the way, every other verse from hereon out is going to be from the King James Version.
When I would go shopping at a local grocery story (no longer there), I would get receipts that would quote Ephesians 2:8-9 (why they leave out verse 10, Is beyond me),
it says,
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, let any man should boast”.
And for the next verse (v. 10), it says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”.
Now, I hold no judgement against those people who owned that grocery store, but, I am incredibly annoyed when verses that give the context are left out.
Anyway, the south is something special. The question here isn't, “do you go to church”? It's “were do you go to church”?
You might think that, as a Catholic, I'd have a hard time. No, not at all! I've had Protestant friends ask me about The Bible! I appreciate the fact they think of me as an expert! (I don't even think that)!
In fact, given the inate social conservatism of the area, I don't find myself arguing against people over whether or not abortion is wrong, and most people here tend to agree that transgenderism is demonic.
Now, that's not to say it's always easy. Anti Catholicism doesn't die overnight. South Carolina is, after all, the home of Bob Jones University.
And yes, sometimes you will get (annoyingly) asked if you're “Catholic or Christian” (what do these people think Christianity, means, exactly)? More commonly though, people will ask if you “Know you're going to heaven” (no, and neither do you, I might consider a terrible sin and forfeit my salvation, grace is a gift, but, you can refuse a gift). That question, even if you operate on that theology, comes across as presuming to know the state of your soul.
With ALL of that, I still like the fact that every street corner just about has a church. I like the fact people actually GO to church. I like the fact that discussing The Bible isn't at all considered weird. People will say God bless you, and mean it.
Given it's where the title of the article came from, I'll let Ms. O'Connor have the last word;
“Whenever I'm asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one. To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man, and in the South the general conception of man is still, in the main, theological. That is a large statement, and it is dangerous to make it, for almost anything you say about Southern belief can be denied in the next breath with equal propriety. But approaching the subject from the standpoint of the writer, I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. The Southerner, who isn't convinced of it, is very much afraid that he may have been formed in the image and likeness of God. Ghosts can be very fierce and instructive. They cast strange shadows, particularly in our literature. In any case, it is when the freak can be sensed as a figure for our essential displacement that he attains some depth in literature.”-Flannery O'Connor Quotes

Adam Charles Hovey is the founder of the Catholicism, News, and Whatever community on Locals, and is the host of the weekly Bible Study, "Coffee and Christianity".