I have always wondered about medieval cathedrals. There are several extremely large buildings all over Europe. The majority of the funding came from peasants. Yes, there were some funding from royalty, but the vast majority came from ordinary people.
Why would they do that? Why spend all that time, money and resources to build such an unnecessary building?
I think it was to glorify God. It is telling that most cathedrals were works of art as opposed to plain ugly fortress castles. It was to show how important God was in everyday life.
I think the same thoughts occurred to the people who carved the temple out of stone. They weren’t Christians, but they were strong in their beliefs.
“I think it was to glorify God.”
I don’t, even if some THOUGHT that was the reason.
“It was to show how important God was in everyday life.”
No. It was to get the people’s allegiance to the importance of the institutional church, as it was by and for the institution, and motivated by the institution’s desire for the people’s affection towards IT.
G-d made something far greater - the Earth, and that is a greater lesson for the people.
Why would they do that? Why spend all that time, money and resources to build such an unnecessary building?
I would suggest they are a statement of mans power and glory. They were/are political because that is the nature of man.
God destroyed the Temple, there was a reason for that but man rebuilds them. There were Temples built to honor God in the OT but anything after?
It might appear that God’s bulding strategy changed a bit?
2Co_6:16 ..................... For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/learn/architecture/cathedral/construction
Cathedral chapters financed the construction by actively raising money from their congregations, by creating systems of fining clerics for transgressions such as tardiness, and by arranging for relics to go on tour. Taking relics on tour was a very lucrative means of fund-raising.