Churches Shouldn't Spend So Much Money on Buildings

"First it is to make the church and especially the sanctuary a place of transcendence to glorify God with our best fruits. The second is to instruct the faithful through the use of imagery. If you actually believe that God is physically present in this location would it not be incumbent on you to make it beautiful?" http://biblehub.com... http://biblehub.com... God is not physically present in church buildings. He resides in our hearts. That's what we truly need to keep clean and beautiful, not the church building. "Additionally, it is believed that the reward of heaven will be the beatific vision whereby we see the face of God who is more beautiful than all else. As such, art and beauty are prefigurements of what we will experience in heaven." Considering that the fanciest church building doesn't even come close to the glory of Heaven, this seems kind of pointless. "Finally, beauty attracts. People want to be somewhere where they can experience beauty. It is an innate desire in everyone. If I were to ask you would you rather be poor, but be surrounded in beauty, or be rich but be surrounded always by uglyness I think most of us would rather live in poverty. In fact in poorer nations, a place like a beautiful Church is the only place where the average person will have the opportunity to experience art and beauty and as such the community pool their resources to create such." So they're coming to Church because they want to check out the building? If the Holy Spirit didn't draw them, then they won't get anything out of Church. "Finally the purpose of the Church is to get souls to heaven. While works of Charity are important, we must consider what Pope Francis meant when he said, 'The Church is not an NGO.'" Correct. However, our good works are part of our witnessing to others. Others are supposed to see our changed lives and marvel at the God who has done this. "The two great commandments are to Love God first, then to love your neighbour. Beauty helps the first, and the first leads to the second." You don't show your love for God through a beautiful building. You show it through a beautiful heart. "If we read about the temple of Solomon we find that no expense was spared in the construction of the temple that housed the Ark of the Covenant. The entire interior was lined with the finest cedar from Lebanon carved with the patterns of gourds and open flowers. The Holy of Holies was overlaid with gold from top to bottom. The altar in the holy of holies was overlaid with gold. Statues of Cherubim were carved out of olive wood and covered with gold. And there was more more carvings of olive wood and more gold on the walls and floors and carvings and more and more and more." Under the Old Testament Covenant, God resided physically in the Temple, and in the Temple alone out of any place on Earth. If you wanted to approach God, you had to enter the Temple room known as the "Holy of Holies." But today, God resides in our hearts, which is 1000 times better. "I look forward to Pro's argument." Gladly. MY TURN: I'll tell you the tale of two churches: Donahue Church (the name changed a while back) and Liberty Church. One is this huge building with a parking lot the size of a State Capitol (perhaps that was an exaggeration), a two-story gymnasium, a large sanctuary with stained glass windows, and fancy light shows during worship services. That church was always building new buildings. Eventually, their bills were so much that the church was bought by another church, Liberty, on the other hand, is a small single story metal building which used to be a bar 30 years ago. About 50% of the congregation consists of Senior Citizens who've attended that church since its conception. That church still exists today. One of the problems with huge church buildings is that it costs a ton of money, money which could be spent helping the poor, the widows, the orphans, or assisting missionaries oversees. Instead, that money is used for the purpose of making your sanctuary look better. Effectively you are stealing from God. And no, I'm not calling you in particular a thief, unless you're a mega church pastor with a huge fancy building. http://www.biblegateway.com... One's building should not be larger than the size of the congregation demands. House Churches are just fine, as is meeting outside. This is what the early Church did. Do you think Peter ever saw a huge fancy Cathedral? Of course not! He probably met inside people's basements for worship services and sermons. It's not about the number of people your church draws in. It's not about the fancy light show, the beautiful stained glass, the rock band praise team, the comfortable seating, or any of that crap. It's nice to have, but one should go without it if it costs so much money, money that could be spent on something else. I await Con's response.