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David:
You may be correct, but I am not able to see it. The Jerusalem Christians met on temple grounds, but never inside the temple. As I understand it, they met in an area that had a roof but no walls. The temple grounds covered forty acres, and I would assume that the Christians stayed away from the temple proper in order not to incur the wrath of the Priests and Pharisees.
As to synagogues, I was under the impression that they could only be such if they had ten Jewish men meeting, and it was the group, not the building, that bore the title in that time. The new KJV uses the word "assembly" rather than Synagogue , and that could well imply a group too large for our dining room, but I doubt that it was anything near what you find assembled in church buildings today, but I thank you for the input. I value your opinion and have learned from things you have written, even though You were addressing someone else and some other issue. We just aren't in total agreement on this one.
Blessings,
Terry
-------Original Message-------
Date: Friday, March 14, 2003 10:08:04
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] differences
Terry wrote:
> If you study the New Testament, you will never find reference
> to a building fund, or even to a building.
Hi Terry. I very much like home church and find it helps bring back a
perspective that the church of Jesus Christ is not a building made with
hands. Nevertheless, please be careful about drawing conclusions from the
silence of Scripture. Even if the Scriptures do not mention a "church
building," that does not mean that there never was one during this time.
James uses the word "synagogue" to refer to the assembly of Christians,
which might be interpreted to mean a building where Christians assemble (see
James 2:2). Paul also indicates that he hunted for Christians in
synagogues, meaning a building where people worshipped God and were taught
of God (see Acts 26:11, 22:19). The early Christians also met in the Temple
(see Acts 2:46, 5:42). So, clearly, the early Christians, like Jesus,
regularly assembled in synagogue, in the Temple, and in houses. In other
words, they assembled both "house to house" and in buildings used for
religious worship and teaching. They did not seclude themselves to meeting
only in homes.
Terry wrote:
> There was no church house until around 300 A.D., when
> emperor Constantine converted to Christianity from paganism
> and brought the temple with him. Why he had the audacity to take
> what was pleasing to God and change it into something that pleased
> men is hard to figure, but from then on we had meeting places, the
> more ornate, the better.
Constantine certainly did more church building than anyone in history until
probably the 19th century. Nevertheless, church buildings did not start
with him. As early as the writings of Ignatius, who died around 110 A.D.,
we find references that suggest buildings being called churches. Ignatius
mentions the church of the Magnesians being near the Maeander river. That
suggests that perhaps he had a building in mind. He also mentions "one
altar for the whole church" in talking about the Eucharist. Eusebius
mentions Christian churches during the reign of Aurelian (215-275 A.D.), and
many historians record the destruction of Church buildings during the
persecution of Diocletian (284-305 A.D.), which was prior to Constantine.
Diocletian led some of the biggest persecution against the churches. There
was a 40 year period of relative peace prior to his coming to the throne
during which time pagan temples were turned into church buildings, and some
new church buildings were erected. It seems clear to me that Constantine
was reversing what his predecessor had done.
Terry wrote:
> Before long, people are calling these meeting
> places "the Church". I have been guilty of it
> as have most people, but it is a terrible lie.
It is human nature to do this, which is why God gave us commandments against
idolatry. God told Moses to make a tabernacle after the pattern shown to
him, but God knew that men would have a tendency to look to it instead of
him. Think about why God might have done this while knowing the effect.
This gives us the answer to the question of whether or not church buildings
in themselves are good or bad.
Terry wrote:
> If you were invited to a gathering of the
> Church in NT times, you would find what
> Paul described in 1 COR.14:26 "When you
> come together, each of you has a song,
> has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation,
> has an interpretation. Let all things be
> done for edification." In other words,
> every saint takes part. It is not a performer
> on stage and an audience in the pews!
Excellent point! Even the Jewish synagogues were better at this than modern
church systems, as we know that Jesus, Paul, and others regularly assembled
in the Jewish synagogues and taught God's Word there.
Terry wrote:
> Remember what Paul said in that verse.
> It's all about "edification". We do
> not meet in our home for worship.
> We worship our God every day, all day,
> starting with prayer in the morning and
> ending with prayer at night, with a few
> short ones sprinkled in during the day.
> We worship by being obedient, by loving
> our neighbor and our fellow saints and
> our enemies, by caring about those who
> hurt, and helping those who need help.
> When we meet, it is to celebrate God's
> goodness and to encourage each other.
Hmmm. You are against corporate worship? I receive edification when
worshipping God with others. You don't? Maybe you can explain what you
mean. I understand the part about worshipping God every day, but I don't
understand how that is exclusive of worshipping God corporately with others
too, whether that is in song, in praise, in obedience, etc.
I hope my comments don't discourage you. I did enjoy reading your thoughts
about home church. I hope you share more along these lines.
Peace be with you.
David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida USA
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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