My OperaTemples of God
By Valiusvalius324. Monday, December 31, 2007 9:53:58 PM
CONCORD, N.H.—Police in Concord are investigating the theft of a baby Jesus figurine from a church nativity scene.
Workers at St. Peter's Church discovered the theft on Christmas morning. Police said vandals pried a Plexiglas shield from the front of the outdoor nativity scene and removed the foot-long figurine of the Christ child.
Police say evidence at the scene suggested the figurine of baby Jesus had been damaged and they're investigating the incident as a robbery and vandalism.
No doubt that whoever STOLE the Jesus figurine was such a good Christian that they just had to have that figurine of Jesus.
Sometimes people just don't think. That includes pastors and religious leaders throughout the world. There are many denominations that claim their church is the only true temple of God. I outright challenge their their reasoning or lack of it. The only true temple of God is within. Each of us is the temple of God. The buildings which are so called temples of God are a place to share and commune our faith. It is also a place where God meets with us as a group. The claims of high leaders of churches reminds me of a joke.
One day I went to heaven to visit and St. Peter met me at the gate. He was very impressed with my want to know more of heaven and immediately took me on a tour. We walked and he showed me lots of heavenly things. He went on saying..."over here are the Eventfulist and there in that small group are the Proctors...and there you see the Baptist". I interrupted him and shouted, "what's on the other side of this big high wall?" He said."Shh...the Unipews are on the other side...they think they are the only ones up here".
The very nature of God's temple lies within each of us and not within a building that is run by man. I checked the dictionary meaning of "temple" and found...
TEMPLE1, TEMPLE3; CONTEMPLATE, from Latin templum, temple, shrine, open place for observation...temple also refers to a place on each side of the head. Maybe it suggest that inside where the brain is is also the temple of God as in the seal of God.
Almost all of the bible passages that refer to the temple of God speak of the physical buildings made as a temple to God:
1. 1 Chronicles 28:12
He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
1 Chronicles 28:11-13 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
2. 1 Chronicles 28:21
The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing man skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command."
1 Chronicles 28:20-21 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
3. 1 Chronicles 29:7
They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron.
1 Chronicles 29:6-8 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 29 (Whole Chapter)
4. 2 Chronicles 3:3
The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard).
2 Chronicles 3:2-4 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 3 (Whole Chapter)
5. 2 Chronicles 4:11
He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God:
2 Chronicles 4:10-12 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 4 (Whole Chapter)
6. 2 Chronicles 5:14
and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 5 (Whole Chapter)
7. 2 Chronicles 7:5
And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 7:4-6 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 7 (Whole Chapter)
8. 2 Chronicles 15:18
He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
2 Chronicles 15:17-19 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 15 (Whole Chapter)
9. 2 Chronicles 22:12
He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
2 Chronicles 22:11-12 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 22 (Whole Chapter)
10. 2 Chronicles 23:3
the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, "The king's son shall reign, as the LORD promised concerning the descendants of David.
2 Chronicles 23:2-4 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 23 (Whole Chapter)
11. 2 Chronicles 23:9
Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 23:8-10 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 23 (Whole Chapter)
12. 2 Chronicles 24:7
Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
2 Chronicles 24:6-8 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
13. 2 Chronicles 24:13
The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it.
2 Chronicles 24:12-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
14. 2 Chronicles 24:27
The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles 24:26-27 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
15. 2 Chronicles 25:24
He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
2 Chronicles 25:23-25 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 25 (Whole Chapter)
16. 2 Chronicles 28:24
Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 28:23-25 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
17. 2 Chronicles 31:13
Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors under Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 31:12-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 31 (Whole Chapter)
18. 2 Chronicles 34:9
They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the doorkeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 34:8-10 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 34 (Whole Chapter)
19. 2 Chronicles 36:18
He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials.
2 Chronicles 36:17-19 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 36 (Whole Chapter)
20. Ezra 1:4
And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "
Ezra 1:3-5 (in Context) Ezra 1 (Whole Chapter)
21. Ezra 6:3
In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide,
Ezra 6:2-4 (in Context) Ezra 6 (Whole Chapter)
22. Ezra 6:7
Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.
Ezra 6:6-8 (in Context) Ezra 6 (Whole Chapter)
23. Daniel 1:2
And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
Daniel 1:1-3 (in Context) Daniel 1 (Whole Chapter)
24. Daniel 5:3
So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
Daniel 5:2-4 (in Context) Daniel 5 (Whole Chapter)
**25. Matthew 26:61
Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' "
Matthew 26:60-62 (in Context) Matthew 26 (Whole Chapter)
**26. 2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2 Corinthians 6:15-17 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 6 (Whole Chapter)
27. Revelation 11:1
[ The Two Witnesses ] I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.
Revelation 11:1-3 (in Context) Revelation 11 (Whole Chapter)
The two passages amoung all of these that do speak to what I mean are:
**25. Matthew 26:61
**26. 2 Corinthians 6:16
We may call him by many names. We may be of many denominations but we have one thing in common. We were all created by God and share that we are in fact the temple of God, each and every one of us. For those that choose of the free will given to us by God, to disfigure this temple and steal from it may common sense one day prevail. To attempt to commit suicide, do drugs or anything excessively, to carve into the body, or any other damage to a temple of God is a sin. It can be forgiven with repentance but is a sin none-the-less until that time. Your body is a temple of God and as such belongs to him.
Speaking of common sense and maybe even faith before sense it reminds me of another joke:
A priest, an evangelist, and a minister were in a row boat in the middle of a pond fishing. None of them had caught anything all morning.
Then the evangelist stands up and says he needs to go to the bathroom so he climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He comes back ten minutes later the same way.
Then the minister decides he needs to go to the bathroom, too, so he climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He, too, comes back the same way ten minutes later.
The priest looks at both of them and decides that his faith is just as strong as his fishing buddies and that he can walk on water, too. He stands up and excuses himself. As he steps out, he makes a big splash down into the water.
The evangelist looks at the minister and says,"I suppose we should have told him where the rocks were."
Sometimes common sense dictates that we are all but one. There is no such right or wrong religion as long as we stay in the word of God it matters not which language it is spoken. It doesn't even matter by which name you call God...he will answer to all and one day we will all answer to him.
To thieves that STEAL Christian relics and symbols; it may be a small thing but common sense should tell you where your heart is.
To dogmatic religious leaders it is a big thing but it also shows where your head is.
To the rest of us it welcome your brothers and sisters no matter what religion under God they practice. It shows where our souls are.
Workers at St. Peter's Church discovered the theft on Christmas morning. Police said vandals pried a Plexiglas shield from the front of the outdoor nativity scene and removed the foot-long figurine of the Christ child.
Police say evidence at the scene suggested the figurine of baby Jesus had been damaged and they're investigating the incident as a robbery and vandalism.
No doubt that whoever STOLE the Jesus figurine was such a good Christian that they just had to have that figurine of Jesus.
Sometimes people just don't think. That includes pastors and religious leaders throughout the world. There are many denominations that claim their church is the only true temple of God. I outright challenge their their reasoning or lack of it. The only true temple of God is within. Each of us is the temple of God. The buildings which are so called temples of God are a place to share and commune our faith. It is also a place where God meets with us as a group. The claims of high leaders of churches reminds me of a joke.
One day I went to heaven to visit and St. Peter met me at the gate. He was very impressed with my want to know more of heaven and immediately took me on a tour. We walked and he showed me lots of heavenly things. He went on saying..."over here are the Eventfulist and there in that small group are the Proctors...and there you see the Baptist". I interrupted him and shouted, "what's on the other side of this big high wall?" He said."Shh...the Unipews are on the other side...they think they are the only ones up here".
The very nature of God's temple lies within each of us and not within a building that is run by man. I checked the dictionary meaning of "temple" and found...
TEMPLE1, TEMPLE3; CONTEMPLATE, from Latin templum, temple, shrine, open place for observation...temple also refers to a place on each side of the head. Maybe it suggest that inside where the brain is is also the temple of God as in the seal of God.
Almost all of the bible passages that refer to the temple of God speak of the physical buildings made as a temple to God:
1. 1 Chronicles 28:12
He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
1 Chronicles 28:11-13 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
2. 1 Chronicles 28:21
The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing man skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command."
1 Chronicles 28:20-21 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
3. 1 Chronicles 29:7
They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron.
1 Chronicles 29:6-8 (in Context) 1 Chronicles 29 (Whole Chapter)
4. 2 Chronicles 3:3
The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard).
2 Chronicles 3:2-4 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 3 (Whole Chapter)
5. 2 Chronicles 4:11
He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God:
2 Chronicles 4:10-12 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 4 (Whole Chapter)
6. 2 Chronicles 5:14
and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 5 (Whole Chapter)
7. 2 Chronicles 7:5
And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 7:4-6 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 7 (Whole Chapter)
8. 2 Chronicles 15:18
He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
2 Chronicles 15:17-19 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 15 (Whole Chapter)
9. 2 Chronicles 22:12
He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
2 Chronicles 22:11-12 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 22 (Whole Chapter)
10. 2 Chronicles 23:3
the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, "The king's son shall reign, as the LORD promised concerning the descendants of David.
2 Chronicles 23:2-4 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 23 (Whole Chapter)
11. 2 Chronicles 23:9
Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 23:8-10 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 23 (Whole Chapter)
12. 2 Chronicles 24:7
Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
2 Chronicles 24:6-8 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
13. 2 Chronicles 24:13
The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it.
2 Chronicles 24:12-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
14. 2 Chronicles 24:27
The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles 24:26-27 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 24 (Whole Chapter)
15. 2 Chronicles 25:24
He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
2 Chronicles 25:23-25 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 25 (Whole Chapter)
16. 2 Chronicles 28:24
Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 28:23-25 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 28 (Whole Chapter)
17. 2 Chronicles 31:13
Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors under Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 31:12-14 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 31 (Whole Chapter)
18. 2 Chronicles 34:9
They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the doorkeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 34:8-10 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 34 (Whole Chapter)
19. 2 Chronicles 36:18
He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials.
2 Chronicles 36:17-19 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 36 (Whole Chapter)
20. Ezra 1:4
And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "
Ezra 1:3-5 (in Context) Ezra 1 (Whole Chapter)
21. Ezra 6:3
In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide,
Ezra 6:2-4 (in Context) Ezra 6 (Whole Chapter)
22. Ezra 6:7
Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.
Ezra 6:6-8 (in Context) Ezra 6 (Whole Chapter)
23. Daniel 1:2
And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
Daniel 1:1-3 (in Context) Daniel 1 (Whole Chapter)
24. Daniel 5:3
So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
Daniel 5:2-4 (in Context) Daniel 5 (Whole Chapter)
**25. Matthew 26:61
Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' "
Matthew 26:60-62 (in Context) Matthew 26 (Whole Chapter)
**26. 2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2 Corinthians 6:15-17 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 6 (Whole Chapter)
27. Revelation 11:1
[ The Two Witnesses ] I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.
Revelation 11:1-3 (in Context) Revelation 11 (Whole Chapter)
The two passages amoung all of these that do speak to what I mean are:
**25. Matthew 26:61
**26. 2 Corinthians 6:16
We may call him by many names. We may be of many denominations but we have one thing in common. We were all created by God and share that we are in fact the temple of God, each and every one of us. For those that choose of the free will given to us by God, to disfigure this temple and steal from it may common sense one day prevail. To attempt to commit suicide, do drugs or anything excessively, to carve into the body, or any other damage to a temple of God is a sin. It can be forgiven with repentance but is a sin none-the-less until that time. Your body is a temple of God and as such belongs to him.
Speaking of common sense and maybe even faith before sense it reminds me of another joke:
A priest, an evangelist, and a minister were in a row boat in the middle of a pond fishing. None of them had caught anything all morning.
Then the evangelist stands up and says he needs to go to the bathroom so he climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He comes back ten minutes later the same way.
Then the minister decides he needs to go to the bathroom, too, so he climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He, too, comes back the same way ten minutes later.
The priest looks at both of them and decides that his faith is just as strong as his fishing buddies and that he can walk on water, too. He stands up and excuses himself. As he steps out, he makes a big splash down into the water.
The evangelist looks at the minister and says,"I suppose we should have told him where the rocks were."
Sometimes common sense dictates that we are all but one. There is no such right or wrong religion as long as we stay in the word of God it matters not which language it is spoken. It doesn't even matter by which name you call God...he will answer to all and one day we will all answer to him.
To thieves that STEAL Christian relics and symbols; it may be a small thing but common sense should tell you where your heart is.
To dogmatic religious leaders it is a big thing but it also shows where your head is.
To the rest of us it welcome your brothers and sisters no matter what religion under God they practice. It shows where our souls are.
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