Why God not Dwelling in Temples made with Hands is so Important

Many times when talking about the practices of Christianity - especially what are wrongly called "churches" - referring to buildings, it can seem to be a irrelevant point, as it was just the way things were done back at the beginning of the church.

That would be wrong thinking, as the revelation that God doesn't dwell in special buildings wasn't something related to the culture of that day, or lack of money to build some type of special building, it is something that has always been part of the very heart of God.

Steven died defending this fact, with Saul - whose name would be changed to Paul - listening and looking on. He would have never done that if it wasn't crucial to the people of God.

Calling a building a church is a horrid idea and thought, and needs to be wiped out of our way of life and thinking. It contradicts "everything" the New Testament says about what the church is.

God always had the eternal thought in Him that He would dwell within a people; to be in intimate union with them, fellowshipping on an ongoing, daily basis. What does that have to do with a building? Absolutely nothing.

So what these buildings do is take away from what it is God really wants to experience together with us, which is sharing and living His life within a people, i.e. dwelling.

When people think going to a building has anything to do with what the church is, they think they've discharged the will and purpose of God during a couple hours a week, and then go on living in a false sense of personal satisfaction and gratification, thinking God is pleased with them.

God is after much more than going to an edifice, He created us so that He could live in an intimate relationship with us: individually and corporately. That's why there was never a special building with the idea of it being a church. That idea never entered into the thought of Christians before Constantine turned them to it.

While early Christians got off track in other areas before Constantine, this wasn't one of them. He built what was the first special buildings eventually called a "church." It was an historical, monumental disaster.

The point in continuing to talk about this? We must open ourselves to what it is that God intended before creation and time. These buildings and what is practiced in them is one of the greatest hindrances to that happening.