The EWTN churches

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When i changed my tv channel over to EWTN and watched a daily mass…i couldn’t belive my eyes when i saw how much gold there was in the church.

Even there religious dress seemed too much for me.Big old gold looking dress.

To be honest,i would MUCH prefer it if it was just a simple goldLESS church,with statues and stained glass windows.i don’t think jesus will think much for the gold…apart from us showing that we think gold will impress him or show him how much we love him…but quite frankly pray shows him,not gold or material things.
 
Remember that it was God who ordered the specifications of the Old Testament tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant and all the other gold items used. God also ordered the building of the Temple of Solomon. Only the best materials were used, because these buildings were to house God himself. The same is true of our churches today. In the Eucharist, God himself is present in our churches and so we should give him all the honor and glory he deserves.
 
All that glitters is not gold remember. Most of what you see, except for the sacred vessels, is polished brass or gold gilted items.
 
What about in the NT…are there any scripture passages which show god ordered gold in his churches?
 
Don’t ya think Jesus is worth it?

The REAL PRESENCE deserves all we can muster.
 
godsent said:
To be honest,i would MUCH prefer it if it was just a simple goldLESS church,with statues and stained glass windows.i don’t think jesus will think much for the gold…apart from us showing that we think gold will impress him or show him how much we love him…but quite frankly pray shows him,not gold or material things.
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As pointed out above, God Himself commanded that the Ark of the Covenant be made of gold, and that even the tent that housed the Ark be made with gold, sliver and rare hardwoods. (Ex 25)

The lampstands that lighted the tent were to be made of pure gold.

Inside that golden Ark were symbols of the Christ that was to come.

But if gold was commanded to be used for plain symbols of Christ, and for a altar that was used to sacrife plain lambs how much more for an Ark that houses the Real and Present Christ, and for an altar upon which the Lamb of God Himself is sacrificed.

Even the altar in Heaven, the one which our parish altars emulate, is made of gold (Rev 8:3), and surrounded by golden lampstands (Rev 1:12).

Christ Himself, in Heaven, is adorned with a golden sash (Rev 1:13), and the saints are crowned with gold (rev 4:4) and carry golden bowls of incense (Rev 5:8).
 
Human beings place great value on gold. We want to show in some external way that Jesus and God have great value. Therefore we use Gold. When others who are not God-fearers see this they may think ,“Wow, this God must be someone important! They use all that Gold!” Maybe then they discard there “wooden” gods.
 
It has very little to do with our preferences. The Book of Revelation is our standard. Heaven is full of gold. Worship is heaven on earth. Ergo, gold should be everywhere. This isn’t sociology, or Marxism, or politics. This is Heaven on Earth. Enjoy it.

CDL
 
godsent said:
When i changed my tv channel over to EWTN and watched a daily mass…i couldn’t belive my eyes when i saw how much gold there was in the church.

Even there religious dress seemed too much for me.Big old gold looking dress.

To be honest,i would MUCH prefer it if it was just a simple goldLESS church,with statues and stained glass windows.i don’t think jesus will think much for the gold…apart from us showing that we think gold will impress him or show him how much we love him…but quite frankly pray shows him,not gold or material things.
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Why did God give us these precious things? Are things like gold bad?
 
For that matter, who builds these churches? No one forces people to build beautiful Churches. Pious people tend to put money and effort into God’s house. Others tend to put their money into elaborate houses for themselves and let God’s house take the scraps.

I’ll side with the pious.

CDL
 
Be careful what you complain about…
John 12:1-8
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Laz’arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Laz’arus was one of those at table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. 8 The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
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If I remember correctly, Mother Teresa was once criticized for donating a beautiful chalice to a church in India. When it was pointed out that the money should have went to the poor she said referrred to this passage and added “If it is within our means, nothing is too good for Jesus.”

As for the NT not referring to adorning houses of worship, recall that at the time it was written, the Church was very small and poor, running from persecutors, and meeting in homes. I’m sure the issue of gold vs. non-gold was not foremost in their minds at the time.
 
godsent said:
What about in the NT…are there any scripture passages which show god ordered gold in his churches?
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I don’t think it even says to build Churches in the New Testament at all, it doesn’t say to do a lot of stuff Christians do today of all denominations. It definitely doesn’t say not to build astechically pleasing Churhces.
 
godsent said:
What about in the NT…are there any scripture passages which show god ordered gold in his churches?
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For the Tabernacle, God certainly ordered the use of gold for the Ark of the Covenant and for the mercy seat, the lampstands, the capitals of the pillars, the curtain fittings, the acacia pillars of the veil are overlaid with gold, there was gold in the embroidery of Aaron’s vestments and the breastplate was of gold. The altar of incense was gold, and the offering dishes, and Solomon repeated the fittings when he built the temple.
 
“Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?” John 12:5 These were Judas’s words which were shot down by Jesus.

Nothing is too good for Jesus, here Jesus confirms that we should give our best to Him. This doesn’t mean that we ignore the poor but it also doesn’t mean that we cheap out on Jesus.

We do place a lot of importance on things of this world and that is why we should always set aside some of the best to remember and glory God with, which is much better than keeping it for ourselves. So we should do both help the poor and give our best to God.

In Christ
Scylla
 
Saint_Michael said:
I don’t think it even says to build Churches in the New Testament at all, it doesn’t say to do a lot of stuff Christians do today of all denominations. It definitely doesn’t say not to build astechically pleasing Churhces.
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From what I can tell, a lot of people agree with you because some of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen are churches – of all denominations – built in the past 40 years.

OK. That was a joke but are you suggesting that we should still be meeting in the catacombs? If Jesus promised to build his church, does it not follow that the people who are counseled by the author of Hebrews ‘not to absent themselves from the assembly’ would need a place to meet to offer the Holy Sacrifice?
 
GregoryPalamas said:
For that matter, who builds these churches? No one forces people to build beautiful Churches. Pious people tend to put money and effort into God’s house. Others tend to put their money into elaborate houses for themselves and let God’s house take the scraps.

I’ll side with the pious.

CDL
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The elaborate shrine in Hanceville was paid for entirely by the private donations of 5 people.
 
Mercy gate,

Saint Michael used a doublt negative. He is telling us it does not say to build churches, and it definately does not say to build ugly churches.

At least, that is what I am getting

A lone Raven
 
corvidae said:
Mercy gate,

Saint Michael used a doublt negative. He is telling us it does not say to build churches, and it definately does not say to build ugly churches.

At least, that is what I am getting

A lone Raven
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Thanks, Lone. I saw the double negative but since it did not make sense in the context of the rest of the post and since this thread IS about aesthetically pleasing churches, I ignored the double negative.

My crack about ugly churches was a joke.
 
mercygate said:
The elaborate shrine in Hanceville was paid for entirely by the private donations of 5 people.
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This was the post I was looking for. I read the same thing in Mother Angelicas new book. The church was not built with the offerings collected from the people in the pews. I thought it said it was built by 5 families.

Beautiful churches promote holiness.
 
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