Peace
New Member
Posts: 38
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Post by Peace on Aug 23, 2006 23:58:27 GMT -5
I have visited a couple of Anglican (Church of England) churches (I am also personal friends with a reverend and a bishop with whom I sometimes gather for prayer) and I've participated in the Alpha Course which has its roots in the Church of England ...and these have not believed that God lives in the church building. They do believe that the church building is a house where the church meets, and the church is the people and the people are the dwelling place of God. Obviously I've missed the ones you visited. I'm only stating my own experience. I have visited just one Catholic church that I remember, and this particular one seems to teach the same way, that God indwells the people. I am also friends with and sometimes meet for prayer with one of the deacons from this church. Judaism has in the past sought to house God...in the ark of the covenant..in the temple...in the holy of holies. Perhaps there is still a tendancy to think that way...I'm not sure about this one. I have visited a synagogue though, and I never thought to ask that question. Next time I will. Blessings, Linda Yes Linda A few years ago a thought crossed my hairbrained considerations.... when David told God he wanted to put up a house because everyone else had a house to live in a God had been travelling around in a tent for decades... God's reply was it never crossed my mind.... BUT it's all good you can build me a house. So........... We get overly righteous about NOT having a building (whatever.... as has already been so helpfully pointed out, we DO HAVE CHURCH BUILDINGS, their just called convention grounds.) My point is if God could over-look an imperfect desire in David's day could he not overlook the same in our day. I believe so!!! But once again... we already have church buildings and have had for a long, long time. Only thing is now it's not so simple as the convention grounds of old now it's not uncommon for the convention grounds to be wrapped up in a trust. (Sometimes the trusties are different ones from within the church. And doesn't even subject itself to the original owners!!) Short of being Inc. I don't know how the church could get much closer to being the perfect example of the denominational religions they so quickly condemn. Oh well, life goes on in an imperfect world. ---------- Peace
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Post by studylearning on Aug 24, 2006 8:59:42 GMT -5
Houses-All capable of being Gods House
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Post by Zorro on Aug 24, 2006 9:32:27 GMT -5
My point is if God could over-look an imperfect desire in David's day could he not overlook the same in our day. I believe so!!!
I think this is a valid point that I believe is verified throughout the Bible......I'm relatively sure that we find no instructions from God regarding the construction of synagogues. I can find only one reference to them in the OT, Ps 74:8, where David describes "synagogues of God". Obviously God accepted them.
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Post by cat zeta jones on Aug 24, 2006 10:29:19 GMT -5
Zorro
but did david ask the priests or did he just ask god ? what would happen if a 2x2 decided god had okayed a temple ? what would the workers do ? would they be found fighting against god ?
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Post by Zorro on Aug 24, 2006 11:31:30 GMT -5
Zorro
but did david ask the priests or did he just ask god ? what would happen if a 2x2 decided god had okayed a temple ? what would the workers do ? would they be found fighting against god ? The context of David's statement was regarding enemies destroying the synagogues of God, so there is no reference to David or anyone else asking for permission to build them...just that they were considered to be "of God". My point is this....there is no instruction in the NT regarding where to worship....only examples. If we are going to rely so heavily on examples, the establishment of synagogues by Jews for worship without instruction from God and God's acceptance of them is an interesting consideration, IMO. Especially when Jesus had the golden opportunity to give explicit instructions on the place of worship and instead said simply that true worshippers will worship him in Spirit and in truth. IMO, the workers commonly fight against God whenever they reject the universal body of Christ, its members and its worship of God.
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Post by tshilo12 on Aug 27, 2006 20:35:04 GMT -5
Judaism has in the past sought to house God...in the ark of the covenant..in the temple...in the holy of holies. Perhaps there is still a tendancy to think that way...I'm not sure about this one. I have visited a synagogue though, and I never thought to ask that question. Next time I will. Blessings, Linda ---------- Peace Well, I cut out a bunch of the above, it looks like it was Peace quoting Selah/Linda, but I couldn't find the original post... Anyways, there's an assertion here that I'd like to address...namely, that Judaism has sought to "house God" ח"ז... First, the ark of the covenant (ארון הקודש "aron haqodesh" = "sacred closet") was a wooden box, not a house for anything...it was quite ornate and probably quite heavy, but it was not a house for God, it was a box for carrying the tablets of the Aseret haDibrot [the so-called "10 Commandments"]...both the shattered ones God had inscribed and the whole ones Moshe Rabbeinu had to rewrite himself. Second, the Tabernacle (משכן "mishkan"="dwelling") was a residence for the aron haqodesh in the wilderness, and later, for 400 years, at Shiloh, as a residence also for a jar of mannah and for Aaron's staff. Third, the Temples, both of them, were not places for God to "live", they were a permanent home for the articles housed in the mishkan, which was then "retired". It is said, poetically, that the Temple is God's footstool, but the idea that God lives in the Temple is anathema to Jewish conceptions of the Almighty. The "holy of holies" is the room in the Temple complex where the aron haqodesh, the jar of mannah and Aaron's staff were kept. -t
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