Thursday, September 20, 2012

RePost: Overcoming the Edifice Complex


I repost this here because we Christians MUST get this concept deep down inside us.  We must not trust in idols of wood and stone (or cement) as the Jews did with the Temple, and by which Stephen "called" them on it and they killed him for it (Acts 7:44-58).  
     Here's the first baby step: let us stop calling the building we gather at on the Lordsday "church".  This step alone would begin a reformation in the Family of God.

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"Theologically, the Church does not need temples. Church buildings are not essential to the true nature of the Church. For the meaning of the tabernacle is God's habitation, and God already dwells within the human community of Christian believers. The people are the temple and the tabernacle... Thus, theologically church buildings are superfluous. They are not needed for priestly functions because all believers are priests and all have direct access, at whatever time and place, to the one great High Priest. A church building cannot properly be "the Lord's house" because in the new covenant this title is reserved for the Church as people (Eph. 2; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 10:21). A church building cannot be a "holy place" in any special sense, for holy places no longer exist. Christianity has no holy places, only holy people." 

- Howard A. Snyder, excerpt from his book The Problem of Wineskins

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