Does God care if one temple has had more money spent on it than the one next door?

Churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, basilicas, and most other religious establishments are still businesses. They have been all through history. Even in ancient times, temples accumulated vast amounts of treasure and money which often enabled them to manipulate local politics. Many religious buildings even today do show the trappings of wealth. Some think it appropriate, dignified, and sanctimonious to have rituals and ceremonies adorned in such a way. Others think it excessive and sinful. I suppose it’s a matter of the congregation’s opinions.

I’ve seen some religious institutions use their donated money for noble causes, such as helping the poor. I’ve seen others use them for construction projects or worse, to line the pockets of clergy. I will say, however, as someone living in Europe, that visiting the cathedrals of this continent leaves one standing in pure awe, gazing at beautiful paintings, stunning glass windows, massive organs, and incredible architecture. Suffice to say my hope is that, since religion appears to be here to stay, it will evolve into a benevolent force that always uses its power to gather wealth for good causes. But while I may disapprove of what religion has done with its wealth in the past, one still has to appreciate it in some ways.

I highly doubt it… If you’re talking about the Xian God, why should he care which temple is bigger or more expensive? People are still devoted to him either way. Sounds more like a situation I’ve heard of with Roman temples and such, with a more polytheistic religion. Then, it was said that the gods would get p*ssed off if say, Jupiter had a bigger temple than Mars, or more temples.

I completely agree with this.

Agreed!

Think emotional architecture. From Stonehenge to the (monolithic - think 2001) high rise blocks in a resort, to the view from a cliff/mountain/etc, humans are awed and inspired (we take a breath in wonder) by big structures. Remem that we evolved from tree dwellers used to a relatively enclosed space and our genes still equip us to perceive our tribal space (remem we started as small communities/colonies) on a small scale - hence a house sized space forms an instant comfort zone; think how you feel as you open your front door, the feeling is palpable and your whole body relaxes - it’s the modern substitute for our safe zone in the forests we walked out from. Emotional architecture can be used deliberately to induce a specific set of emotions and mood enhancements - add a grand church organ with lots of low frequency vibrations and an angelic choir of soaring sopranos and you have an exquisitely tuned emotion generator that plays us like a fine instrument. You have to admire human ingenuity. When we work together, we can achieve whatever we wish….

I think you’re close here. The original tradition-starting idea, across several relgions historically, seems to be that if your god doesn’t appear to be listening, it must be displeased with you. The Aztecs threw more sacrifices on the slab to appease a god who didn’t appear to be helping feed the burgeoning city population (drawn there by the awesome buildings and trade opportunites to fleece the pilgrims) by providing enough sun and rain to the outlying fields and herds. They blamed their sinfulness rather than their inability to administer above a certain size of population, and would doubtless have blamed their sinfulness for the city’s inevitable collapse from famine - which could only signal their god’s abandonment, of course. The Catholic solution to the Medici’s industrial-level sin of usury was to allow the Medici to fund some pretty fine buildings, despite the fact that rich people don’t get to heaven; period. The same pattern runs through the grander Greek structures and vibrates through the Eastern religions as well.

agreed:D

See my comments below, I think the reasoning is probably atonement or appeasement (though I can’t help noticing a lot of sinful pride on the faces of many churchgoers as they regard their buildings!) One can’t escape the possibility that better buildings bring in more paying customers - which was Pugin’s published view on reviving the Gothic style in Victorian England. His buildings failed to achieve this objective however, just as Catholic cathedrals across Europe had done when Calvinism swept in and took over the market. The mediaeval Catholics seem to have blamed an increase in European sinfulness rather than their corrupt financial practices - which were upsetting everyone at the time, however. The old guard of the period would doubtless have claimed they had not burned enough heretics, but that’s history for you!

ive never liked church. they take ur money, and than preach to you telling you how to behave, saying you cant do this and u cant do that, and they basically write out ur whole life for you.ive never understood why people go. ive never trusted it, and what God thinks about it well i dont know.

Like most things in life, there’s a plus side and a minus. Most of these are not obvous when ur young, because ur folks and friends look out for you. But for adults, well, there are so many pluses and minuses that it can make life seem unreadable and uncertain. Some folks need reassurance about what’s good and bad, some don’t; others try to make out that the bad things they do are ok really - and they’re the ones that scare everyone else! In the old days, there were no police and few public laws, so there was just the churches/mosques/temples. It’s the change from holy to public laws that has caused most of the debate about religions in general, coupled with the many recent wars in Asia and Africa that have a religious basis. Locally, religious groups do real good stuff in helping people who need a little more direct help than city hall can provide. Some of the donations also go to helping people in other countries. On the minus side, equality issues were not very important 2000y ago, because the population was real small and not many people were affected. Today, the population is mega - and there are millions who now face prejudice because the holy books don’t really recognise them as humans. This creates much unhappiness, but most church/mosque/temple people are stuck with words in books they cannot change because unlike public laws, they do not feel they have the authority to do so. Our planet will remain in uncertainty until this fundamental issue is resolved. In the meantime, this uncertainty will result in people continuing to go to their meetings because it helps them feel better, even though this results in good and bad stuff happening elsewhere. The more you study the world - not just the US! - the more you’ll understand.

Stand firm and even though it may hurt sometimes, stand up for what you believe in no matter where you think you might end up!

couldn’t say it any better myself Mandyloo

i dont think He cares about how much money, necessarily, but on the motives in which the money was given. if people gave bcuz they “had” to or felt like that, then why give at all. God loves a cheerful giver, and if money for the church, temple, whatever, isnt given cheerfully, why is it being given? it all depends on the motive :p

There’s a sense of habit here, I think. [1] Tradition and ritual are very powerful things. When you start a new job, you check how the previous person did it and use that as a template for your actions. So long as it appears to work, you don’t ask questions like ‘is this right?’ or ‘is this really the best way’, particularly if to do so requires challenging centuries of apparently wiser people doing the same thing. [2] The meaning of words changes over time. ‘Sacrifice’ used to mean giving up something that led to genuine hardship - giving up a lamb was to give up a whole generation of sheep, and that meant hunger. Pagans saw that hardship as a way of appeasing the sky spirit in the hope it would make your troubles go away. Human sacrifice likely stemmed from a time when eating each other was more common. There is archaeology that strongly suggests this. Giving money is no longer a sacrifice, and the Catholics stopped sacrificing lambs on the altar (a carry-over from the pagan conversion period) once sheep became plentiful (the most embellished English churches are to be found in towns which grew rich on the burgeoning wool trade). Instead of catching the blood in a cup, they switched to wine. Magic was highly fashionable in England and the pagan world, right up through the middle ages - and still amazes many today. Put yourself in the position of an evangelic missionary selling alternative Hope products to the pagan believers, who strongly believed in the supernatural. Like them, we still want to believe in a soul (our consciousness) that magically goes through an inter-dimensional portal to an alternative universe on death. And they call evolution science fiction lol. I just love humanity, so cute! You recognise their most redeeming feature, tho - it’s what we do in our heart that matters most, but most folk can’t distinguish between head and heart because they have not yet come to understand themselves, or to see what’s staring them in the face. Till then, the yellow brick road continues to lead to the great wizard with the answers….

…and if it turned out you were mistaken, and that millions of people - entire cultures and races (not to mention many potential messiahs) had died needlessly over the last 2000y as a result of what you believed in?

of course, only the early Pharoahs and their intimiates went to heaven, the rich did not go to heaven, well not till Ankhenaten’s sort of time. The ‘eye of the needle’ was the entrance to the Pharosh’s private rooms. To get monotheism accepted, I suspect he had to buy off the wealthy by letting them have access to the Books of the Dead so they too could also enter afterlife with their families, who would undoubtedly be friends. CHeckout the god Maat.

I disagree Mandyloo My Church gives God the best for worship the tabernacle is Gold Vestmants are laced in gold But our church helps the poor so much we have a soup kitchen every day we donate a lot for Christmas every family that asked for got it which in my area is a lot so i think its a good idea for churchs to give the best but some arnt so to answer you question It’s not about quantity but quality If the church worships God the way it should God won’t look on it any different