Church

“To show proper reverence to God, we must be quiet and somber.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / Leave a comment
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They say, “To show proper reverence to God, we must be quiet and somber.” Is it true? No.

There will certainly be times to be quiet before God, but the Bible says we are to “rejoice in the Lord always.”

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4 The Greek word translated as “rejoice,” chairó, means to rejoice, be glad, be cheerful.* We are to rejoice “always;” the Greek word, pantote, means, at all times. That would include when we’re in church. And yes, we’re to rejoice even in the face of suffering and persecution.

The Hebrew word translated as praise, from which we get hallelujah, means to shine; hence, to make a show, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate; also to stultify:—(make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool(-ish, -ly), glory, give (light).”**–even dance and spin around! No straight faces and sitting still!

*https://biblehub.com/greek/5463.htm

**https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1984/kjv/wlc/0-1/

“The church isn’t  a building.” “The church is in the office, the marketplace, the school—wherever the individual is.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / Leave a comment

Is it true? No.

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The word translated as church in the New Testament of the Bible is “ecclesia,” a decision making body. While it’s true that the building isn’t the church, and the church can be any type of building, home, even a tent or a tree to gather under, individuals in the office, marketplace, school, etc. are not, by themselves, the church. The gathering of believers to worship, fellowship and learn together is the church.

They say, “If a church doesn’t have a fancy building, they must be a cult.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / 1 Comment

Is it true? No.

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The first churches—until the late 200’s, met in homes and did not have separate buildings. It takes hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars to build, buy and maintain church buildings, taking resources away from proclaiming the gospel. In many countries, church buildings make the Christians there a target for persecution and terrorist attacks; in those settings, house churches or night meetings in the woods work better, are closer to the original church and are no less real.