Of Temples and Churches

Picture courtesy thejewishmuseum.org

Does the temple of ancient Judaism provide a pattern to be followed by modern Christianity?

My recent reading of my daily Bible reading plan has brought me to the part of the Bible that depicts the provisions for, and the building of, Solomon's temple (which can be found in 1 Kings 5-8).  Reading this account got me thinking again about the concept of how to build places of worship.  For a long while I have often thought about awe-inspiring places of worship only in the context of medieval cathedrals, but as I am writing this, thoughts of other buildings come to mind:  places such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Parthenon in Greece, or the Dome of the Rock in Israel.  Regardless of who built them, and for what deity (or deities) they were built, they all have something in common, they all sought to give humanity a taste of the divine.

Solomon's temple certainly sought to inspire those who entered with the greatness of God.  The elements that struck me was the pair of golden angel statues in the Most Holy Place of the temple.  These statues were about 15 ft (4.5 m) tall, and each had a wingspan which was also 15 ft.  To give it some perspective, that is the same width of the average two-car garage in the U.S.  Now picture these statues standing side-by-side as you enter the room with a ceiling approximately 30 ft. (9 m) tall, and be sure to note that these angels were overlaid with gold.  Gold and bronze were used extensively throughout the temple complex, as well as polished stone and various types of wood.

Now how does one translate such impressive display to modern Christianity?  Now I am not advocating that Christians should model their churches after such a pattern.  By doing so, we could set up an obstacle between  people and God.  Those who are not Christians could see us as trying to show off in a world that so many people are struggling simply to survive, or as in the case of ancient Israel, the believers could become so focused on the structure as to lose sight for Whom it was built to honor.  In the same way, we should not go so far the other way so that our churches would be shabbily constructed that people would wonder if it would be safer to worship outside.  Hence the tension that is Christianity.

In a more figurative sense, the Bible states that believers are "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19).  We then have to stop and think, "What kind of temple am I?  Am I one that seeks to draw attention to myself rather than God?  Am I so 'shabbily constructed' in the way I act and talk that people wonder if it would be better to leave me alone?"  The only true solution to these questions is the Lord Himself.  As Solomon himself wrote in Psalm 127, "Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain."