How do you feel about the building of huge lavish churches or synagogues?

Question

In my own opinion, it makes me sick. A true reflection of what religion is. All for show and power. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I heard sermons on proper tithing. In addition, the modern church has become more of a business venture than anything , the CEO being the pastor or priest, especially the (ack) Catholic Church. What do you think?

Answer 1

I don't agree with you at all. Church buildings reflect the current theology of the church, and its needs. When you look at mega churches, esepecially in the south, they're built to accomadate thousands of people. They have balconies, and high celings and huge spaces, with big choir lofts and pa systems and whatnot, because they need them.

Gothic style cathedrals are designed to give honor to God. Jewish law used to allow for sacrifices to be made to God, before the destruction of the sacred temple in Jerusalem. When the Romans leveled it in either 70 or 90 ad, I can't remember which, it became impossible for Jews or anyone else for that matter to sacrifice to God. Church architecture is designed to give the glory to God that would have been given through sacrifices. When you go into a beautiful old Catholic church, it's designed to represent God's kingdom in heaven. It's designed to force you to contemplate God's mystery and magesty, it's supposed to be an honor bringing offering, it's supposed to be a lot of things, it's supposed to be imposing.

Humanism and the Renaissance brought more rounded churches without the huge spires I suspect you're talking about. Humanist churches tend to have lower set, wide sweeping arches, bringing the church down to our level. Humanist churches have mosaics and stained glass windows which depict the works of the apostles and Jesus while on earth, rather than the transfigured Jesus which you'll see in a Gothic church.

Contemporary churches are more strictly Lutheran, and have limited art because contemporary Protestant theology states that art is more distracting and can lead to idolatry. There tends to be just a cross or one image towards the front of the church, while the church itself is desgned more towards function than form. These are the kinds of churches that become mega churches.

I'm alright with any construction of a holy place, because they all represent different motivations and ideas about worship. I think building a beautiful thing for God is admirable. I can see how you'd have a problem with it, but I appreciate it.

Answer 2

Oh, don't just knock the Catholic church with that one. I'm a bit bothered by those Christian megachurches where they feel they need to dazzle people with light shows, incredible sound systems and technology. My cousin goes to a church where they admit that they are trying to attract people by making the church 'cool'. They have a rock band and the pastor always makes references to pop culture. I was there last Easter and he was talking about the Rolling Stones. They spent massive amounts of money on the 'stage', huge projection TV and stereo/recording equipment. Of course, the focus is on Jesus but it comes off as more of a stand up/entertainment routine than anything else.

I suppose that in the end, it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that people are being drawn to the church (??). If it takes some massive lavish building to attract people then I guess that's what they have to do. They wouldn't be building this stuff if the people didn't want it. I'm not religious so I guess it's really none of my business anyway.

Answer 3

I think that, back in history, such lavish structures had a point. Religious architecture of the old days /had/ to be big; it was the only thing that a given town had going for it, and was specifically built on a grand scale to a) support the town and b) draw the eye upward and outward for religious worship. There was both a secular and a sacred purpose for that sort of thing.

Modern structures that have the right purpose in mind and are grand can also be effective. My university has the largest Lutheran student chapel in the US, and it IS a powerful, affecting structure, with gorgeous (almost pop-art, interestingly enough) stained glass and a lot of pomp and circumstance. As someone who's not religious, it's powerful, fun to watch, and if that's what my university wants to spend their money on (privately collected), let them. They're part of the college and not a business.

Nowadays, megachurches and stuff like that /are/ a business, though. They are built specifically not for religion, from what I've seen, but for business ventures. They do not support not the community, but are direct payback for the religious leaders, who drive their Jags and BMWs up to the church to give the sermon on TV and get people to send them their last $20 that should have gone to food, for a scrap of cheap material termed a prayer cloth, or a bottle of saline solution they tout as holy water. I find megachurches such as I've described abhorrent and anti-religious.

I have traveled to many services, and I find the simplicity in local small-town churches with whitewashed walls and in Quaker meetinghouses and generally stark (because of the lack of specific religious iconography) Unitarian Universalist services to be far more pleasant for me personally, so my own personal tastes lean towards the more humble services.

Just some thoughts.

Answer 4

It is pretty sickening when the money could be used to better people's lives. Why spend it on something that is used rarely or only on holy days?

This didn't start with the modern church. The Popes were building huge churches and palaces long ago. They draped themselves in velvet and satin and adorned themselves with jewels. They commissioned great artwork such as statues, frescoes and paintings. The pope rides around in a Mercedes Benz, lives in the Vatican with priceless artwork, has a summer villa and a winter ski lodge, while the poor go hungry. It is all a scam which is what most religion is but the Catholic Church is the best at it and has the longest history of it. The corruption in Rome was what set Martin Luther, a poor monk, to create the Lutheran Church.

It REALLY makes me sick when I hear about a Catholic school or church closing in a poor area due to lack of funds when the Vatican has this vast wealth it could use to help in neighborhoods which have probably contributed to Rome's coffers.

Answer 5

I do not think that churches need to be so lavish and cost so much money. It is a sign of being materialistic, and the Bible says to not be materialistic. I also think that it is crazy how much some pastors get paid or how they seem to take advantage of the church. All the money they waste to have the biggest or best church could go to help a good cause or someone in need.

Answer 6

I believe it is needful to have a place of worship, whether in ones home or if there are a large number of people a building may be necessary. But I don't believe Jesus would approve of unnecessary spending of stained windows and articles of show. Anyway, Jesus went where the need was. Sometimes he taught from a boat or on the streets or in a synagogue. You didn't see him spending money to decorate a church building. The main thing I see wrong with unnecessary decorations is that the money could be better spent on meeting needs of the poor or used in purchasing Bibles to give to reach others.Or other needs of the gospel.
Jesus is our example, and his disciples.

Answer 7

Mecca is a place for muslims purely. purely muslims are allowed to bypass there so as that they do no longer want a church, synogogue or the different non secular development besides mosques. Mecca is a hundred% diverse then floor 0. floor 0 is a political place the place anybody of all faiths bypass and it quite is shown that floor 0 reminds human beings approximately islam for this reason human beings certainly want a muslim business enterprise there to coach human beings the actuality approximately islam so as that they are not getting faulty via the detest available approximately islam. via the way, they are not development a mosque at floor 0, they are development an islamic tips middle or community middle. there's a distinction.

Answer 8

How do you feel about the building of huge lavish schools or universities? Is it all for show and power? Everyone deserves a comfortable setting that is condusive to learning, even those who are learning about spiritual matters. A church or synagogue is simply an educational facility for spiritual matters. What if you walked into a massive library with oversized sofas for those who want to read, and a state of the art media center for those who wish to see videos or listen to speeches and music, and a gigantic conference center for professors and scientists to teach large groups of people? Would you be so judgemental? Would you be angry that educational facilities keep whining about insufficient funding from the government? I would also argue that schools have become a large business venture, but they are business ventures that benefit the people who use them. At least with churches the people have a choice about paying money, while the money to fund schools and universities gets taken out of your taxes whether you want it to or not. So stop whining and don't be so judgemental of others.

Answer 9

I've heard of some pretty horrific stories of tithes going to $100K autos, $1 mill estates and foreign property which have nothing to do with religious affairs here in Toronto. The Toronto Star newspaper did a 2 day full report on one incident.

Answer 10

The Catholic Church has been doing it for centuries.
The great cathedrals of the world are Catholic.

Tithing is out, old testament.
If people want to know the truth, they should ask and I don't mean the pastor or priest.