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NASB | John 2:13 ¶ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 2:13 ¶ Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
Subject: is selling in a church building fine? |
Bible Note: EdB, I have a lot of respect for the things you have to say, bro, but for lack of better judgment, I felt I needed to air out my thoughts here. I have a really hard time thinking of the Temple of Jesus's day as being the same thing as the Church building we have today. What we call the "Church", is a building constructed by men to offer a place for believers to come together to worship God. It is not what people often times refer to as "Gods house". Gods house and presence is no longer behind the veil of the Temple, but in the heart of believers, who are now His temple. To give a Church building that same glory today seems to violate Jesus’s prophesy in John 4:20-24 and seems to be an attempt to sew the veil back up. To me, it seems to accommodate people’s view of the building, not God’s view of His people. I understand what you are saying about things being done in church today that take away from worshiping God in spirit and truth, as He requires, and that cannot be compromised, but when we can approve of something for the simple reason that it is not done on church property, that somehow seems wrong and hypocritical to me. If I felt it was wrong for a musician to offer CDs after a service to support his ministry, I would also feel it was wrong for him to offer them at any other time or place. If I thought it was wrong for a church to offer tapes of there services to cover their expenses in the church library, I would also have to say it was wrong for them to mail them out. If I thought it was wrong for the women’s group to have a fund raiser to help with a mission project on the church’s property, I would also have to say it was wrong for them to have the same thing somewhere else. If I thought it was wrong for the youth to have a hot-dog supper in the Church’s fellowship hall, I would also have to be against them renting the local community center and doing the same thing. I know from reading most of the post, that maybe most people here have a different view of this matter than I do. Maybe even a lot of people I go to church with have a different view too. I also know that even unbelievers have been lead to believe that the Church building is “God’s house”, and that if anything happens there other that a normal church service, that it somehow dishonors God. I know that we are to not cause others to stumble, so sometimes, I guess, we have to do things for appearances sake. But I cannot help but believe that God is after our hearts, not our appearance. Anyway, I would be very willing to change my view. I will listen to anyone who knows of any coming together of NT believers that God honored more because of the building they met in. Or perhaps if God was dishonored in someway by any of the other day to day things that might had taken place there in the place where they were meeting. Worship Him in spirit and truth! retxar |