Church. Buildings, and Titanic.

You dont have to go to church to be spiritual.

But church does help you in getting close to God. Because spirituality on its own is a vacuum, I think you do need the guardrails of hymn and sermon that keep you in oneness with God. I could be wrong.

We can perhaps argue the point that someone can fellowship and worship on their own. Without being in community with others at any scheduled time. But what is the fun in that?

But yes, most charismatic churches of our time are full of lies. Is that a fulfilment of the prophesies? Phela sokugcwele abafundisi bamanga, ushonjalo uSjava.

I guess you just have to be more discerning in how you choose the community that you fellowship with. There is so much that is wrong with organised religion, and Christians/Believers are endangered, and are perhaps participants in a game of loaded dice, at the hands of mercenary pastors.

I got the sense, while watching the movie Titanic the other night, that our forms of worship also reflect on us in a way. I mean, you go to church in a particular type of building. And you feel at home there, in the ceremony of the praise and worship.

There is a church scene in the movie, Titanic, before the ship sinks, when the aristocracy are dressed in their finery, seemingly the morning after Jack Dawson (Leo Di Caprio) has been celebrated with a dinner for saving Rose from falling over the back of the ship. Jack is not allowed to enter the aristocratic part of the floor, at the time of the church service, as his privileges had been revoked, and he could only watch from the outside while Rose, and the elite, carry on singing hymns in the manner befitting a higher table.

Does a form of worship carry different weight? If you praise under a tree, are you more closer to God than if you sing out the hymn thats projected to the screen thats mounted to the back of the pastor’s pulpit/podium? Should there even be a comparison of the forms of worship? Does church have to be a constructed church.

Turns out you can church out in the fields.

And I think a church that has no walls and no ceremonial rites is actually a little closer to being puritan and perhaps more protestant in a sense. Because they discard all the constructs of ceremony and just worship in the open.

I haven’t experienced if this relates closer to transparency, but Im interested in the philosophy that exists in such apostolic religious institutions and if they have a higher order of belief and faith.

So this got me thinking, actually. I would love to know if tithing is done here, and what happens to the tithe money if the church community participate in tithing. Is there a church building fund? I would hope not. Because surely that comes with the trappings that build up to aristocrastic worship as evidenced in that church service scene on Titanic.

But none of this is in any way suggesting that I have no appreciation for the sturdiness of the built environment that is my church, I suppose it becomes a question for the ages.

Is the churches that Paul wrote profusely to in the New Testament, when he was writing for them and to them, were those to be housed in physical buildings, or were they communities of worshippers, that only just needed to be fortified by the Word, and the scriptural guidance? Is church a building?

Conversations:__________

It’s not really about buildings but the human connection with fellow worshipers. For you to grow as a Christian you need to read, study and share the word. How do you do that if you 'fellowship' on your own?

I used to be one of those who are in and out of church not putting much of my time towards church activities. Then I had to care for a terminally ill person for months. I could have broken down but I had a few people from church coming through for me. My pastor became the patient’s pastor even though he never set foot in that church. From then on I have changed my attitude completely.

If you decide to choose a path other than God then you may live to regret that for a long time.

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I so love this... God is in the process of restoring his church. Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting him? He wasnt referring to the church. He also said that the temple (referring to his body) will be destroyed and in 3 days he will rebuild his temple... this is so resounding in my spirit! 🙇🏽‍♀🙇🏽‍♀🙇🏽‍♀

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I am Christian, Anglican Church. I battle with the duplicity of some Christians. The casting of judgement. The failure to act when humane reach out is required. To name a few.

But I would never not be a Christian. It’s just that it’s sad days when acts of kindness are often undertaken by people who make less noise about going to Church and being Christian.

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The weird thing about it is that I don’t doubt that God exists. I’ve seen enough to know that He does. I just question some of the teachings in church, and I question His logic.🙈

I also started feeling like “what’s the point really because He will do what He wants to do anyway?”.

It just feels like there’s always a hoop to jump through, and just when you think you’ve done it then there’s another.

When things are positive then it’s your faith, when things are negative then you didn’t do enough.

Or “it was God’s will” in the case of a tragedy.

It just feels like He will do what He wants anyway. All we can do is live our lives the best way we can, be positive, be good and work hard.

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A very enlightening read. For me church is the people and not the building. My greatest fear is indoctrination. As such I dont belong to a particular church. I attend which ever church resonates with the seasons of my life. I could never not be a believer and the point of meeting with others sharpens one and acts as a mirror on which you can reflect and mend your ways on an ongoing basis.

I dont think God cares where people meet but for us as humans there is no harm in meeting in a nice cozy place. The greatest danger for a Christian is to become conceited and to put God in a box and as such unknowingly reject him if He reveals himself in a way that is outside your doctrine...just like the Pharisees did.

You can fellowship by yourself and still make it to heaven. But humans were made for love and community right here on earth. We were meant to be something to someone, I think that is our highest call whilst in the physical body. We are called to be of service to the next person, otherwise life becomes a real drag.

So you are right...we need to fellowship...doesnt matter whether under a tree or in a building. And being accepted is an important part of it. So Jack needed to find people to fellowship with, if he needed to be at church, but he would be wise to chose those who accepted him!

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…all the things we do in church we seem to have incorporated from other religions. Things which were not practiced by the guys in the book of Acts. How Constantine, mainly, wanted peace in his empire and so amalgamated the religions to rid himself of religious conflicts.

Dude, I’m the guy who raises his hand in church whilst the preacher is preaching... I figure... You’re teaching, right? So, teachers take questions to clarify understanding. Jesus did that himself... Why not my pastor? But. That doesn’t go down well... 🤷🏾‍♂

So, I agree with you...but understand why you’re going to church and what you will get from church. Fellowship is just about the only thing I can get from church these days.

To learn and such... You can find a lot of learning on YouTube and Miles Munroe app with sermons.

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... I’m of the opinion that an individual can praise and worship and feel closer to God. However I do appreciate that if there are people of a similar ilk and belief, there can be a powerful worship session that could bring God nearer.

I strongly believe that individuals are different when with people and can only be themselves in private with the Lord..

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…worship shouldn’t be limited to Saturday or Sunday when we go to church. Paul encourages us to concentrate our lives everyday. Like Enoch, every breath we take should be a worship for that is the duty of man.

However, congregation is key in our spiritual development. The bible refers to the body of Christ with different members complimenting each other. "Iron sharpens iron"

On the issue of the church leaders who exploit people or misuse the gospel for their games, that is sin. In the last days, sin will abound and by their works you shall know them.

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Convos are with friends to remain unnamed.