Is it OK for our churches to have Christmas trees, bingo games, or Easter egg hunts?ts,
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What kind of churches have a culture of playing Bingo? Is that a Roman Catholic thing? Do they do it outside of the sanctuary?
The idea of church buildings being 'holy ground' is a bit fishy. The early church met in homes. There was a problem with rival locations to the temple serving as high places in the Old Testament. I wonder if some people's thinking about church buildings is kind of like the Old Testament advocates of high places.... the ones used for the LORD, not idols.
I had a conversation with a military chaplain and his family. One of the family members did not like their using the same facilities for church meetings, Islamic services, and worshipping demons. We discussed the idea of 'holy ground.' I said I guess highlanders could chop people's heads off at a military chapel area.
The idea of church buildings being 'holy ground' is a bit fishy. The early church met in homes. There was a problem with rival locations to the temple serving as high places in the Old Testament. I wonder if some people's thinking about church buildings is kind of like the Old Testament advocates of high places.... the ones used for the LORD, not idols.
I had a conversation with a military chaplain and his family. One of the family members did not like their using the same facilities for church meetings, Islamic services, and worshipping demons. We discussed the idea of 'holy ground.' I said I guess highlanders could chop people's heads off at a military chapel area.
So are you equating the church building with the temple in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, there were other locations that were used to make offerings to God, and at times to pagan deities as well. These places are referred to as high places. According to Deuteronomy and other scripture, they weren't supposed to have these rival locations to the temple. So are you saying the church building is like a high place?
Do you offer sheep on the altar in the church building?
I Corinthians 3:9 says, '...ye are his building.'
One thing I heard on occasion as a child was adults telling the children, "Don't run in the house of God." Adults shouldn't say such things to children. It teaches them bad theology. "Don't run inside." or "Don't run in the assembly." is much more appropriate. Preachers who say, "It is good to be in the house of God this morning" can confuse their congregations, unless they make it clear that we are the house.
I did think it was kind of ironic, though, when I went to a church service in Jakarta that met in a skyscraper downtown. They rented a big room up stairs, and also had use of the lobby on the ground floor. The lobby had a closed bank there. There was someone selling Christian books for the church and behind his head it read 'money changer.' I had heard an opinion that selling books was like the moneychangers in the temple.
Actually, though, the evidence from the New Testament is that the churches met primarily in homes in the first century, not special-purpose religious buildings. If a baker sold baked goods from his home and then opened his house to house the church meeting, are you going to tell him he cannot sell bread to support his family. (They may have favored upper rooms for housing and church meetings, but that doesn't mean there was a prohibition on living on the first floor and hosting.)
