"sacred" spaces - just musing

[abaris]

As I was driving to work this morning I started wondering about church buildings.  And why most gods think that they need one.

It's more on the lines of building a sense of community. Some place where people can congregate. Our distant ancestors had clearings in the woods where they gathered. Churches or any other place of worship are just the continuation using different means.

[Joods]

Exodus 25:8,9; 40
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it...And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain. 

And of course, only PERFECT males were allowed inside. God doesn't want to see blind or crippled or disfigured humans.
Leviticus 21: 16-23
16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy. 

There is no command to build a dedicated church building. That is something 'religious' people do.

Emphasis mine. 

Apparently, Drippy, you don't even bother to read your own bible. You just spout denial all over the place whenever someone says something negative about that stupid holy book. Perhaps you need to study Exodus. Particulary the part that Dr. Fuzzy mentions where it specifically states gawds instructions for building a sanctuary. 

And in case you wanted to play semantics with words, a sanctuary IS the same place as a church, ie, a place to worship an imaginary sky daddy.

[Joods]

As I was driving to work this morning I started wondering about church buildings.  And why most gods think that they need one.

It's more on the lines of building a sense of community. Some place where people can congregate. Our distant ancestors had clearings in the woods where they gathered. Churches or any other place of worship are just the continuation using different means.

Ya but.... the difference is the clearings our ancestors used didn't cost money to build. The church "elders" have to guilt trip people into believing their stupid god wants money so he can have a house built that he will never come and visit, pay taxes on or thank all those who contributed their money to build.

[abaris]

Ya but.... the difference is the clearings our ancestors used didn't cost money to build. The church "elders" have to guilt trip people into believing their stupid god wants money so he can have a house built that he will never come and visit, pay taxes on or thank all those who contributed their money to build.

You think? Should look at what was offered there. All the sacrifices were at least as expensive as a church is today. Compared to what the people owned and their general standard of living.

[vorlon13]

Members of the One True Faith wouldn't feel a need for a shiny/showy palace, the accrual of blessings will be evident to all the unfaithful.

[robvalue]

Right. Wherever I go, the One True God™ is right beside me. He's omni-pleasant, impotent and on-missions. Why would I need a load of bricks and drawings of dead people?

[Joods]

Ya but.... the difference is the clearings our ancestors used didn't cost money to build. The church "elders" have to guilt trip people into believing their stupid god wants money so he can have a house built that he will never come and visit, pay taxes on or thank all those who contributed their money to build.

You think? Should look at what was offered there. All the sacrifices were at least as expensive as a church is today. Compared to what the people owned and their general standard of living.

I think you're reading more into what I was saying than what I actually said. Here's the thing - you can compare an apple to an orange all day long, but in the end, you're still doing to have an apple and an orange and neither is the same. Having a clearing where a community went to gather didn't require a building, of sorts. It was a clearing. It was an area cleared out of possibly brush, weeds, thatch, woods etc. Unless you put a building there, then it's just a clearing. That is the image I gathered from your post. The image I gathered was one of a huge bonfire where the "community" gathered around at night and did whatever they did back then. As far as I know, gathering wood for the bonfire didn't cost anyone money. They walked around and gathered up the wood on the ground or they cut down nearby trees. 

A church, OTOH, requires builders AND money for the cost of materials and labor. Where do you think that money has to come from? And honestly, a church has a specific use. To gather specific religious folk of a specific religion, to worship their god. Can it be used for more than that? Sure, and it does. The members hold various church functions there all the time such as potlucks, yard sales etc. 

A clearing (to use your word), on the other hand, served the community - which, in modern times, is logically made up of a diverse group of people, including those from different religions. This is why we have community buildings now. However, all that said, there is still a difference between a clearing and a church building. 

tl;dr version: Think of your "clearing" as the community building, where various things happen, for the good of the "community". Think of the "church" as a building where people go to worship a god, for the good of their religion.

[Drich]

There is no command to build a dedicated church building. That is something 'religious' people do.

Emphasis mine. 

Apparently, Drippy, you don't even bother to read your own bible. You just spout denial all over the place whenever someone says something negative about that stupid holy book. Perhaps you need to study Exodus. Particulary the part that Dr. Fuzzy mentions where it specifically states gawds instructions for building a sanctuary. 

And in case you wanted to play semantics with words, a sanctuary IS the same place as a church, ie, a place to worship an imaginary sky daddy.

apparently sport you do can not fathom the simple idea that the bible represents more than one religion. Otherwise you'd know that because their are no more OT Jews, all that you quoted and embolden are meaningless.

Seriously, do you not understand that a Christian is not an OT Jew?

[abaris]

A clearing (to use your word), on the other hand, served the community - which, in modern times, is logically made up of a diverse group of people, including those from different religions. This is why we have community buildings now. However, all that said, there is still a difference between a clearing and a church building. 

In this case, no. Look up what celtic and germanic communities used them for. Sacred places to congregate in the name of their gods. I guess, many, if not most of us, come from that kind of ancestry.

Also, I've got no problems with churches. In Europe they're often very old and certainly part of our cultural heritage. I know that's a bit different in America, since the whole country is very young in comparison. But, in the middle ages, as well as now. They provide jobs and revenue, when being build, since the money has to go somewhere. So it's not a one way street. What's happening after they have been built and how the community is used or exploited, is written on a different paper.

[Joods]

A clearing (to use your word), on the other hand, served the community - which, in modern times, is logically made up of a diverse group of people, including those from different religions. This is why we have community buildings now. However, all that said, there is still a difference between a clearing and a church building. 

In this case, no. Look up what celtic and germanic communities used them for. Sacred places to congregate in the name of their gods. I guess, many, if not most of us, come from that kind of ancestry.

Also, I've got no problems with churches. In Europe they're often very old and certainly part of our cultural heritage. I know that's a bit different in America, since the whole country is very young in comparison. But, in the middle ages, as well as now. They provide jobs and revenue, when being build, since the money has to go somewhere. So it's not a one way street. What's happening after they have been built and how the community is used or exploited, is written on a different paper.

I'll give you that, but to my credit, you didn't specifically state celtic or germanic ancestry. I, myself am of Italian heritage. Either way, yes, because I'm American, my thought process was along a totally different line of thinking. 

It's amazing how people can see different things from one post. I didn't see exactly what you were referring to and drew my own conclusions and threw in a bit of sarcasm there as well. You know, that whole church elders wanting money thing.