Palaces of worship

[Zzyzx]

.
In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Such buildings are intended to impress and/or send a message. Impress whom? Message whom? What message?

[bjs]

However, the message seems to be I care about this,

Does that apply to current mega-churches of televangelists?

Is this all you wanted to address? Mega churches (defined as a church with more than 2,000 members in regular attendance) makes up about 1% of churches in America. Mega churches that televise their worship services make up only a fraction of that percentage.

If your intent was only to talk about mega-church televangelists then this thread feels like a bait and switch. If your intent was not to limit the discussion to mega-church televangelists then that group is far too small of a sample to be considered an accurate representation of the whole.

The question remains, WHY build grand places of worship?

I answer that question directly.

[Zzyzx]

.

Is this all you wanted to address?

Perhaps it would be prudent to read the OP

In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Does that that sound like restriction to megachurches? What part 'In many cities and towns' is difficult to understand?

Care to try to address what is actually said in post #10?

[Tcg]

.
In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Such buildings are intended to impress and/or send a message. Impress whom? Message whom? What message?

In the late seventies, I traveled through the Bonneville salt flats and eventually reached Salt Lake City. This is one of the first sites I saw there:



It was quite the site after many miles of near perfect flatness. If this wasn't meant to impress, someone made a major mistake. It certainly impressed me.

The message? Some sort of claim to have a connection with the heavenly realm.

To whom? Anyone who saw this glorious building.


Tcg

[Saber Bob]

[Replying to post 9 by Zzyzx]



Per Professor Peter Kreeft, Boston University..

The aesthetic proof of God:

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach exists. Therefore,God exists.
You either get this one or you don't.

[Tcg]

[Replying to post 9 by Zzyzx]



Per Professor Peter Kreeft, Boston University..

The aesthetic proof of God:

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach exists. Therefore,God exists.
You either get this one or you don't.

The music of Tim Minchin exists. Therefore, God doesn't exist.
This of course isn't valid, but makes as much sense as Professor Kreeft's unsupported claim.


Tcg

[tam]

Peace to you!

.
In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Such buildings are intended to impress and/or send a message. Impress whom? Message whom? What message?

In the late seventies, I traveled through the Bonneville salt flats and eventually reached Salt Lake City. This is one of the first sites I saw there:



It was quite the site after many miles of near perfect flatness. If this wasn't meant to impress, someone made a major mistake. It certainly impressed me.

The message? Some sort of claim to have a connection with the heavenly realm.

To whom? Anyone who saw this glorious building.


Tcg

Kinda misses the point, doesn't it? The disciples of Christ were impressed by the 'magnificent buildings' at the temple as well. But what did He say to them?

As [Jesus] was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!

Do you see all these great buildings? replied [Jesus]. Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.





Peace to you all,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

[SallyF]

Peace to you!

.
In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Such buildings are intended to impress and/or send a message. Impress whom? Message whom? What message?

In the late seventies, I traveled through the Bonneville salt flats and eventually reached Salt Lake City. This is one of the first sites I saw there:



It was quite the site after many miles of near perfect flatness. If this wasn't meant to impress, someone made a major mistake. It certainly impressed me.

The message? Some sort of claim to have a connection with the heavenly realm.

To whom? Anyone who saw this glorious building.


Tcg

Kinda misses the point, doesn't it? The disciples of Christ were impressed by the 'magnificent buildings' at the temple as well. But what did He say to them?

As [Jesus] was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!

Do you see all these great buildings? replied [Jesus]. Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.





Peace to you all,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

Doesn't miss the point at all.

But your post supports the theory that the "Gospels" were concocted after - and in response too - the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Herod the Great's temple.

(Herod the Great was a true Messiah who built a temple to the god Christians claim sired their leader, Jesus.)

[SallyF]

This place of worship was constructed of uncut stones

In accordance with the "Word" of the biblical version of "God".




Worth pondering at length .

[bjs]

.

Is this all you wanted to address?

Perhaps it would be prudent to read the OP

In many cities and towns the most ornate and ostentatious buildings are churches / cathedrals / mosques / temples / or other places of worship.

Does that that sound like restriction to megachurches? What part 'In many cities and towns' is difficult to understand?

Care to try to address what is actually said in post #10?

When I responded to a general statement about churches, you shifted the focus only to mega-churches.

When I pointed out that this is not an accurate representation of churches in general, you shifted the focus back to churches in general without ever addressing my original response.

[Zzyzx]

.
[Replying to post 19 by bjs]

Care to try to address what is actually said in post #10?

OR the OP "Such buildings are intended to impress and/or send a message. Impress whom? Message whom? What message?"

Or shall we just play Apologetic Shuffle rather than discuss the intended message of palaces of worship (whether megachurches or not)?