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 Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 3:42 pm
well I actually don't go to church. But I love church buildings as well. Even I know there's something about my best friend. Well actually she told me that how you follow the bible without reading it. So I figured this out. Just like others go to the church every Sunday. And I haven't been in the church for years except the sing along. Even I love to attended the church. But I am spiritual Christian.
So just wandering. Did you have to go to the church?
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:45 am
How the term "church" gets tossed around in the culture (both secular and religious circles) is not 100% concurring with how the concept is found in the Bible: Biblically, it's not a particular building nor a type of building, but the people who share the belief of YHWH/Jesus):
1 Corinthians 16:19 (NIV)
19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla[a] greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 16:19 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla
Romans 16:5 (NIV)
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
Acts 7:38 (KJV)
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Doesn't matter if they meet inside a house, or outside in the desert, they are the church, regardless of permanent building or lack thereof.
---
What's more: even if they don't all gather at close proximity to everyone else, they're still considered the same gathering by Biblical precedent:
Numbers 11:24-26 (NIV)
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.
26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.
As hinted at above, however, there is a minimum that Jesus/YHWH set (not just by the above example, but also in the Gospels) for what entails a "gathering":
Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Just like the two, Eldad and Medad, in the Old Testament. That's not an arbitrary number, but logically consistent with objective Truth: the moment you have more than one believer in His Name, you have a gathering (plural number) of believers.
---
The purpose of gathering with believers is the following:
To Encourage One Another To Do Good
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Romans 7:12 (NIV)
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
To Guard Sound Doctrine (related to encouragement)
Titus 1:9 (NIV)
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Proverbs 4:2 (KJV)
2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
To Meet One Another's Physical Needs
Acts 4:34-35 (NIV)
34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Acts 6:1 (NIV)
6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 6:1 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture
1 Timothy 5:3 (NIV)
3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
1 Timothy 5:9-10 (NIV)
9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
To Partake of the Lord's Supper
1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV)
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (NIV)
7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So, encourage one another to love, good deeds, and sound doctrine, help meet one another's physical needs, and partake in the rituals that Jesus told us to do that proclaim His death, resurrection, and all the good things that He is prophesied to do; that's the purpose of gathering together and being a body.
Again, the absolute minimum number to be able to do this is "two" according to how Jesus defined a gathering in His Name:
Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Again, not an arbitrary number, but logically, the moment you have more than one in His name, you now have believers (plural) gathered. Also, there is more strength in numbers,
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NIV)
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
...by the way, Jesus' stated minimum—two to three in His Name—a.k.a. the actual minimum reflected by what is written, is in contrast to the self-imposed tradition made up by the Rabbi's (despite their "taking inspiration" from Scripture for their idea) which put the minimum at ten or more (erroneously and illogically, deviating from Biblically-stated precedent and reality); their yeast:
Quote:
Only in a group of ten or more is there sufficient sanctity to recite certain public prayers. [...] What constitutes a congregation? The answer is a minyan, a minimum of 10 adult Jews (an adult Jew is any Jewish male who has passed his 13th birthday). The number 10 was derived from the first verse of Psalm 82, which reads: “God stands in the congregation of God.” The word edah (congregation) is also applied to the 10 spies who, in the days of Moses, rendered a negative report on the land of Canaan. Hence it was established that a “congregation of God” consists of at least 10 men.
from: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/minyan-the-congregational-quorum/
Hence, the synagogue tradition above. And in that light, man's self-imposed traditions (customs) or traditional interpretations of Scripture are not necessarily what sets the truthful definition of a gathering , but how God reveals and defines in the full scope of His Word.
Matthew 16:12 (NIV)
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
...who only limit their scope to a few verses, not the entirety of what's written.
(ergo, whether the smallest number as set by Biblical precedent—[two]—or a greater size [e.g. two thousand], they are both congregations)
---
As it relates to the Command to gather, no, you are not obligated to attend a specific local building outside of your home. He never Commanded for a permanent building to be dedicated to Him and be built amongst us (all the more amongst the gentiles/the nations), so any attempt to make one will only ever be a self-imposed tradition that no one is obligated to keep, though many people want to (and they're free to do so). Even the temple tradition was a self-imposed tradition by King David (the only building YHWH ever Commanded, in contrast, was the tent, which, in Spirit, is equivalent to our bodies).
2 Samuel 7:5-7 (NIV)
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
2 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
But because David wanted to make a permanent building, God allowed him to make plans for it, and God even inspired the design (however, the permanent building would be built by Solomon, David's son, not David himself):
1 Chronicles 28:12 (NIV)
12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
1 Chronicles 22:7-10 (NIV)
7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon,[a] and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
Footnotes:
a. 1 Chronicles 22:9 Solomon sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for peace.
But it's not Commanded to have a permanent building such as this, nor a church building (nor a synagogue) in order to gather and commune with other believers. Gathering, praying, reading from the Word, singing psalms of encouragement in sound doctrine, meeting each other's needs, partaking of the Lord's Supper, etc, as outlined above, can be done without such buildings.
I'm not condemning their existence however despite their construction not being obligated. I see the practicality, especially when there's a divided household, and interruption in the house. A place outside the home, set apart for spiritual tasks alone, where no one will interrupt you and everyone who goes there goes for the same purpose, is nothing to be condemned in and of itself. Besides, Jesus and Paul (along with Greeks) kept the self-imposed synagogue tradition that is commanded nowhere. So, self-imposed building traditions are not inherently a problem.
Luke 4:16 (NIV)
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
Acts 17:2 (NIV)
2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Acts 17:17 (NIV)
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Why synagogues started up by the way:
Quote:
Indeed, there is no mention of the Synagogue in the “Written Torah” (i.e., the Five Books of Moses). The institution of the synagogue is of later, Rabbinic origin.1
The purpose of the synagogue is to provide a venue to facilitate and enhance the Biblical obligation of prayer by adding a communal element.
From Moses’ times until the restoration of the Second Temple, we fulfilled the obligation to pray daily by composing our own prayers, and praying privately.
[...]
There arose both in Israel and the Diaspora3 places set aside to pray communally. Thus was born the “Place of Gathering”—Beit Kenesset in Hebrew, and synagogos in Greek.
The primary public worship experience remained the journey to Jerusalem to participate in and be inspired by the Temple service.
When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 69 CE, the only place for public worship remained the synagogue, which then acquired increased importance as the center of Jewish communal life.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/74339/jewish/Who-Invented-the-Synagogue.htm
Hence:
Matthew 6:5-6 (NIV)
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
For the record, what was done in these extra buildings (synagogues) wasn't merely praying—even before the temple's destruction (which actually was destroyed in 70 A.D. or 70 CE [source A],[source B], [source C]); they also did the following there:
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 4:19 Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6
Acts 13:14-16 (NIV)
14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”
16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!
They would pray, and read from the Word (the Law and the Prophets, Scriptures), and give words of exhortation. The problem becomes when they start teaching and doing unsound things (I would also say: considering it's an accessory building, not obligated, if they're millions of dollars in debt for trying to maintain the building, that's a bad stewardship of resources).
Needless to say, attending a particular type of building (even if it identifies itself as church) is not what makes it the church. Church is/are the individuals who comprise it, what they believe/teach and what they do, how they function, and how they relate to one another and to YHWH.
John 15:8 (NIV)
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Luke 3:8 (NIV)
8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The Holy Spirit led you into the truth; I'm merely providing the Scriptures (and both the Biblical history and extra-Biblical history) so that you have a firmer foundation on the Living Word of God for why it is true. One of Satan's tactics in the last days will be to guilt trip the babes in the faith to stay under the teaching of demonic doctrine for the sake of a false pretense of "unity" (despite teaching lies) or for the love of art, but that is idolatrous. Don't be led astray by that tactic, as addressed in reply to the topic [Congratulations, YOU are doing the work of the devil].
Also relevant: [Idolatry]
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 4:27 pm
cristobela How the term "church" gets tossed around in the culture (both secular and religious circles) is not 100% concurring with how the concept is found in the Bible: Biblically, it's not a particular building nor a type of building, but the people who share the belief of YHWH/Jesus):
1 Corinthians 16:19 (NIV)
19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla[a] greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 16:19 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla
Romans 16:5 (NIV)
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
Acts 7:38 (KJV)
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Doesn't matter if they meet inside a house, or outside in the desert, they are the church, regardless of permanent building or lack thereof.
---
What's more: even if they don't all gather at close proximity to everyone else, they're still considered the same gathering by Biblical precedent:
Numbers 11:24-26 (NIV)
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.
26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.
As hinted at above, however, there is a minimum that Jesus/YHWH set (not just by the above example, but also in the Gospels) for what entails a "gathering":
Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Just like the two, Eldad and Medad, in the Old Testament. That's not an arbitrary number, but logically consistent with objective Truth: the moment you have more than one believer in His Name, you have a gathering (plural number) of believers.
---
The purpose of gathering with believers is the following:
To Encourage One Another To Do Good
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Romans 7:12 (NIV)
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
To Guard Sound Doctrine (related to encouragement)
Titus 1:9 (NIV)
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Proverbs 4:2 (KJV)
2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
To Meet One Another's Physical Needs
Acts 4:34-35 (NIV)
34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Acts 6:1 (NIV)
6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 6:1 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture
1 Timothy 5:3 (NIV)
3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
1 Timothy 5:9-10 (NIV)
9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
To Partake of the Lord's Supper
1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV)
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (NIV)
7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So, encourage one another to love, good deeds, and sound doctrine, help meet one another's physical needs, and partake in the rituals that Jesus told us to do that proclaim His death, resurrection, and all the good things that He is prophesied to do; that's the purpose of gathering together and being a body.
Again, the absolute minimum number to be able to do this is "two" according to how Jesus defined a gathering in His Name:
Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Again, not an arbitrary number, but logically, the moment you have more than one in His name, you now have believers (plural) gathered. Also, there is more strength in numbers,
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NIV)
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
...by the way, Jesus' stated minimum—two to three in His Name—a.k.a. the actual minimum reflected by what is written, is in contrast to the self-imposed tradition made up by the Rabbi's (despite their "taking inspiration" from Scripture for their idea) which put the minimum at ten or more (erroneously and illogically, deviating from Biblically-stated precedent and reality); their yeast:
Quote:
Only in a group of ten or more is there sufficient sanctity to recite certain public prayers. [...] What constitutes a congregation? The answer is a minyan, a minimum of 10 adult Jews (an adult Jew is any Jewish male who has passed his 13th birthday). The number 10 was derived from the first verse of Psalm 82, which reads: “God stands in the congregation of God.” The word edah (congregation) is also applied to the 10 spies who, in the days of Moses, rendered a negative report on the land of Canaan. Hence it was established that a “congregation of God” consists of at least 10 men.
from: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/minyan-the-congregational-quorum/
Hence, the synagogue tradition above. And in that light, man's self-imposed traditions (customs) or traditional interpretations of Scripture are not necessarily what sets the truthful definition of a gathering , but how God reveals and defines in the full scope of His Word.
Matthew 16:12 (NIV)
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
...who only limit their scope to a few verses, not the entirety of what's written.
(ergo, whether the smallest number as set by Biblical precedent—[two]—or a greater size [e.g. two thousand], they are both congregations)
---
As it relates to the Command to gather, no, you are not obligated to attend a specific local building outside of your home. He never Commanded for a permanent building to be dedicated to Him and be built amongst us (all the more amongst the gentiles/the nations), so any attempt to make one will only ever be a self-imposed tradition that no one is obligated to keep, though many people want to (and they're free to do so). Even the temple tradition was a self-imposed tradition by King David (the only building YHWH ever Commanded, in contrast, was the tent, which, in Spirit, is equivalent to our bodies).
2 Samuel 7:5-7 (NIV)
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
2 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
But because David wanted to make a permanent building, God allowed him to make plans for it, and God even inspired the design (however, the permanent building would be built by Solomon, David's son, not David himself):
1 Chronicles 28:12 (NIV)
12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
1 Chronicles 22:7-10 (NIV)
7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon,[a] and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
Footnotes:
a. 1 Chronicles 22:9 Solomon sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for peace.
But it's not Commanded to have a permanent building such as this, nor a church building (nor a synagogue) in order to gather and commune with other believers. Gathering, praying, reading from the Word, singing psalms of encouragement in sound doctrine, meeting each other's needs, partaking of the Lord's Supper, etc, as outlined above, can be done without such buildings.
I'm not condemning their existence however despite their construction not being obligated. I see the practicality, especially when there's a divided household, and interruption in the house. A place outside the home, set apart for spiritual tasks alone, where no one will interrupt you and everyone who goes there goes for the same purpose, is nothing to be condemned in and of itself. Besides, Jesus and Paul (along with Greeks) kept the self-imposed synagogue tradition that is commanded nowhere. So, self-imposed building traditions are not inherently a problem.
Luke 4:16 (NIV)
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
Acts 17:2 (NIV)
2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Acts 17:17 (NIV)
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Why synagogues started up by the way:
Quote:
Indeed, there is no mention of the Synagogue in the “Written Torah” (i.e., the Five Books of Moses). The institution of the synagogue is of later, Rabbinic origin.1
The purpose of the synagogue is to provide a venue to facilitate and enhance the Biblical obligation of prayer by adding a communal element.
From Moses’ times until the restoration of the Second Temple, we fulfilled the obligation to pray daily by composing our own prayers, and praying privately.
[...]
There arose both in Israel and the Diaspora3 places set aside to pray communally. Thus was born the “Place of Gathering”—Beit Kenesset in Hebrew, and synagogos in Greek.
The primary public worship experience remained the journey to Jerusalem to participate in and be inspired by the Temple service.
When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 69 CE, the only place for public worship remained the synagogue, which then acquired increased importance as the center of Jewish communal life.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/74339/jewish/Who-Invented-the-Synagogue.htm
Hence:
Matthew 6:5-6 (NIV)
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
For the record, what was done in these extra buildings (synagogues) wasn't merely praying—even before the temple's destruction (which actually was destroyed in 70 A.D. or 70 CE [source A],[source B], [source C]); they also did the following there:
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 4:19 Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6
Acts 13:14-16 (NIV)
14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”
16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!
They would pray, and read from the Word (the Law and the Prophets, Scriptures), and give words of exhortation. The problem becomes when they start teaching and doing unsound things (I would also say: considering it's an accessory building, not obligated, if they're millions of dollars in debt for trying to maintain the building, that's a bad stewardship of resources).
Needless to say, attending a particular type of building (even if it identifies itself as church) is not what makes it the church. Church is/are the individuals who comprise it, what they believe/teach and what they do, how they function, and how they relate to one another and to YHWH.
John 15:8 (NIV)
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Luke 3:8 (NIV)
8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The Holy Spirit led you into the truth; I'm merely providing the Scriptures (and both the Biblical history and extra-Biblical history) so that you have a firmer foundation on the Living Word of God for why it is true. One of Satan's tactics in the last days will be to guilt trip the babes in the faith to stay under the teaching of demonic doctrine for the sake of a false pretense of "unity" (despite teaching lies) or for the love of art, but that is idolatrous. Don't be led astray by that tactic, as addressed in reply to the topic [Congratulations, YOU are doing the work of the devil].
Also relevant: [Idolatry] well I do feared crosses and garlic. And I rather walk with Jesus
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