"Christianity has become a tremendous buildup of things which were not at the beginning."

[TheBlade]

Seems it depends on just who is doing the seeing. I agree in part yet two things that stand out.. that you just really need to be careful with  I disagree on "To God that is all nonsense." "The only thing that matters to God is"  That's a good big broad brush.

 

[Solus Christus]

On 7/28/2023 at 5:34 AM, Neighbor said:

Hi, Actually the spirit is moving strongly amongst the organized and  structured churches with which  I have some limited familiarity!  Not only here in  my  'neck of the wood" but around the world too.

When individuals are led by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world it is not necessary for the Holy Spirit to first find those that reject organized structured church bodies with decent or even very nice buildings  to use for corporate worship. 

Some individuals, many in fact, either go physically or support sacrificially those that do go for the sake and task of sharing  of the gospel of Jesus  by the word and by the deed. Each  group and individual within it doing so by faith, not by sight, that this is the call from the Holy Spirit to each of them individually to go as well organized and structured  groups to places as different as Benin, Papua New Guinea, Croatia, Italy France, Connecticut USA,  and yes the rural woods of North Carolina.

This is glorious news! So glad our LORD is working in the organized churches!  

[Neighbor]

On 7/25/2023 at 4:09 PM, Vine Abider said:

You will go about this country, you will go about this city, and you will see these great religious buildings with a cross at the top. And when people enter those buildings, they bow themselves; they look very reverent. And they think that this is a sacred building.

The quote seems to be a fallacious "strawman" to me. The presentation is simply not true, not at all. It is not at all representative of the several local bodies of Christ that I have some serious acquaintance with, and certainly not the individuals that gather together in worship of God that I know.

 

[Vine Abider]

On 7/30/2023 at 2:08 AM, Neighbor said:

The quote seems to be a fallacious "strawman" to me. The presentation is simply not true, not at all. It is not at all representative of the several local bodies of Christ that I have some serious acquaintance with, and certainly not the individuals that gather together in worship of God that I know.

 

After reading what you've posted on various things, I'm sure that is true in your experience, and that is great! I'm certainly not an expert who has done empirical studies on the matter, but I strongly suspect that there are many who do experience this kind of rote and outward worship of the ornate - in my lifetime I've heard people say a number of times things like, "Oh such & such house of God is so beautiful along with all the religious artifacts & artwork, I can just feel Him whenever I go in it!"

Might they actually be feeling God as a results of these things? Sure, I guess, but that's not how I experience Him . . .

[Michael37]

2 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

After reading what you've posted on various things, I'm sure that is true in your experience, and that is great! I'm certainly not an expert who has done empirical studies on the matter, but I strongly suspect that there are many who do experience this kind of rote and outward worship of the ornate - in my lifetime I've heard people say a number of times things like, "Oh such & such house of God is so beautiful along with all the religious artifacts & artwork, I can just feel Him whenever I go in it!"

Might they actually be feeling God as a results of these things? Sure, I guess, but that's not how I experience Him . . .

On the subject of Religious Habits:

In Christian monastic orders of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Churches, the habit often consists of a tunic covered by a scapular and cowl, with a hood for monks or friars and a veil for nuns¹. [BingChat]

Being identified as authority figures, dressing up, putting on performances, and having a company house and guaranteed income, are what attracts many to become clergy.  

Women have taken to it in droves since their prohibition has been dispensed with.

[Marathoner]

Habits are funny.

Funny hats are part of the habit for some. So are dresses, it seems. A long time ago, I witnessed a man wearing a flowing dress sprinkling water in an old cemetery. Curious, I asked the fellow what he was doing. 

He was a priest from the Catholic mission chapel in the nearby village. Apparently, locals believed that the spirits of their deceased ancestors were trying to escape those graves. So, he was there to sprinkle holy water on those graves to appease the spirits of the departed. 

Did this man believe this to be true, I asked? Oh yes, he replied. Just look at the ground: the headstones were crooked and tombs were coming out of the ground. Mmhmm. 

Have you ever heard of a geological phenomenon called "uplift?", I asked this guy in the dress. The soil in this area is rough and rocky, and so subterranean rocks and boulders move upward toward the surface; when large stones migrate toward the surface via uplift, this disturbs things like tombs and headstones. This is what's happening in this old cemetery.

He ignored me. Funny habits, I suppose. 

[Solus Christus]

3 hours ago, Michael37 said:

On the subject of Religious Habits:

In Christian monastic orders of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Churches, the habit often consists of a tunic covered by a scapular and cowl, with a hood for monks or friars and a veil for nuns¹. [BingChat]

Being identified as authority figures, dressing up, putting on performances, and having a company house and guaranteed income, are what attracts many to become clergy.  

Women have taken to it in droves since their prohibition has been dispensed with.

It also is better alternative to be homeless and hungry. Then again with the scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church, I worry what happens in cloisters.. 

[Neighbor]

Shepherding  is a calling  by God. It is a high responsibility to God.

The work load is heavy, very heavy, and  it is the position that  proves the adage "no good deed goes unpunished", often by Satan's minions. And  from what I have seen  over the years as often by the sheep of the flock too. As one Elder/Teacher that I especially was appreciative of would warn- Beware the wolves, beware the wolves in sheep's clothing.

[Solus Christus]

2 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Shepherding  is a calling  by God. It is a high responsibility to God.

The work load is heavy, very heavy, and  it is the position that  proves the adage "no good deed goes unpunished", often by Satan's minions. And  from what I have seen  over the years as often by the sheep of the flock too. As one Elder/Teacher that I especially was appreciative of would warn- Beware the wolves, beware the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Indeed, the apostle James warns us about being a Teacher, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1). It comes with a high level of responsibility. 

[Neighbor]

11 hours ago, Marathoner said:

Have you ever heard of a geological phenomenon called "uplift?", I asked this guy in the dress. The soil in this area is rough and rocky, and so subterranean rocks and boulders move upward toward the surface; when large stones migrate toward the surface via uplift, this disturbs things like tombs and headstones. This is what's happening in this old cemetery.

Is that why  gold, being heavy,  is always found laying on the surface, it just works it's way upward?  I know many find gold and find it uplifting but I always thought that referenced a happy emotion. 

What I do know is that of some 120,000+ burials I was familiar with over some 20+ years no one ever "popped up" once interred, whether the  soils were clay,  sandy, rocky, or even talc, or hardpan.

We did have to  disinter and reinter a few hundred over the years as people wanted to move their own deceased family members from one place to another- something I have never understood but had to arrange and even participate in. None ever just co operated by popping up.

At one time we had a "backlog" of 210  to do, moving deceased casketed human remains from RCC cemeteries to our place (Long story there). Grounds workers absolutely hated doing that work! I would try to talk families out of it, but to no avail. once the emotion that was driving them to their decision took hold that was that. 

We had a lot of meetings trying to figure out  how to satisfy the family's desires without having to  disinter a remains. Eventually the RCC changed it's whole policy on requiring burial at only Catholic cemeteries.