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To: Heart-Rest

God says plainly that he does not DWELL in temples made with hands.

I believe him!


824 posted on 09/16/2014 2:54:48 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor
"God says plainly that he does not DWELL in temples made with hands. I believe him!"

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You are missing the true, full dimensional sense of these texts, which is referring to God's Special Presence (as opposed to the impossibility of God being "confined" by anything manmade).

What you have to keep in mind as you study the scriptures, is that, in the Bible (Matthew 21:12-13), it also says,

And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you make it a den of robbers'."
The Temple was built by human hands, but it was God who made it "His House" -- can you see the subtle but real distinction, and the compatiblitiy of those seemingly (but not really) contradictory statements?

We cannot "confine God" (just like our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit cannot confine the Holy Spirit), but God can and often does make use of things made by human hands and consecrated to God, just like He said. (That is obviously true, unless you think God lied in Exodus 25, or you think Jesus lied in Matthew 21.)

Acts 7:28 and its reference to Isaiah is explained in more detail here in "Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary", as also shown below, and this may be more helpful to you when studing all theses texts in context.

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Acts 7:48 Commentary.

But the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands. God is every where, nor is his presence confined to the temple, which was already once destroyed; and what if it be destroyed again, as Christ foretold? God must still be adored, worshipped and served, as he was before the temple was first built, which was only by Solomon. (Witham) --- Dwelleth not in houses. That is, so as to stand in need of earthly dwellings, or to be contained or circumscribed by them. Though otherwise, by his immense divinity, he is in our houses, and every where else; and Christ in his humanity dwelt in houses: and is now on our altars. (Challoner) ---It is not so much for God, as for ourselves, that we build temples, and it is a pure effect of his goodness and mercy, that he permits us to build them to him. Places consecrated in a particular manner to his service, where he gives the most sensible marks of his presence, are of assistance to us, when we render our homage, address our vows, and offer our prayers to the Deity. St. Stephen's design in this part of his discourse, is to prove that the true religion may subsist without the temple; therefore, that he could not be guilty of blasphemy, supposing he had even used the words which the malice of the Jews put into his mouth, that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy this place. (Chap. vi. 14.)

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It is God who chooses to make a human being, or a place (like a mountain), or a manmade object (like a temple, or a chapel) a special place for humans to approach God in a special way. God is omnipresent, so He cannot be confined anywhere, but He can choose to make His Holy Presence more available and approachable for humans at a specific, particular, special location, wherever and whenever He wants to.

(I have to leave this discussion now, but I urge you to contemplate those thoughts carefully.)

838 posted on 09/16/2014 6:30:25 PM PDT by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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