House of merchandise

Was beginning to wonder here to, Scribe. Was pretty sure you was not condoning merchandising in the Church building.

 

Amen and Amen!

 

Go back and look again. I said we are to worship 24/7. That means I worship at home, work, church, school--everywhere. And I said the church house is not a "house of worship," meaning a place with the main purpose of worship.

I gave the purposes of the Sunday church service according to Scripture. Now if you have Scripture telling me that the Sunday church service is for the purpose of worship and thus the church building is to be a "place of worship," trot it out. I've never found any. In fact, I've never found a church building in the Bible! Have you?

 

Acts 15:4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

Seems to me the church here would be talking of a building. Either that, or the Apostles and saints were not members of the body of Christ.

 

If the church were the people here, then the apostles and saints were not saved. That is the only conclusion one can come to when one argues that the only meaning of Church is the Body of Believers who make up the Church.

 

Who will buy a new pew for the church if we put it in memory of your parents???? any takers??

BBob,

 

Broad brush you paint with there.

I don't get that at all. How do you get that "the church is a building" from THAT verse?

The issue with Jesus and the moneychangers was the extortion of the people for the sake of "worship"--the selling of sacrifices to people, and making it difficult for them to fulfill God's law.

I'm against that today. But I don't see that to mean "no merchandise in the sanctuary."

• What about merchandise in the fellowship hall? Or the church library? Or the hallway outside the sanctuary?
• When we say "merchandise," I'm not referring to charlatans or ridiculous markups. What about a preacher selling a book he wrote, making enough to cover his expenses?

 

Could not sales of books be done at home? Why the Church?

 

Everyone pay your tithes so I can buy me the church a new cadilac.....:laugh:

 

I'm sorry...this makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

I thought the church was the people....you mean it's the building?

 

Certainly you don't mean to equate your going to the market or trimming the verge with going to pray in your closet, or attending the assembly of the saints?

 

Let me rephrase my question. If our bodies are now the temple of God (which I don't dispute), and the temple of God is to be called the house of prayer, how does this passage speak to the manner in which we keep this vessel?

 

Is that "most churches," or just three?

You've just generalized from three rather ridiculous examples. That's not representative.

EDIT: I can't stand prosperity theology either....but your earlier statement didn't address them. It said "most churches."

 

Your words: