Even as an agnostic, I can’t argue with that!
I am my church/temple. I need no building to know the Lord. I give unto him by being kind & charitable to those who deserve it and at times to those who do not.
I think paid for before built goves the congregation more time to share the gospel and not have to worry about the building so much.
And God’s people inside and how they greet/welcome visitors is more important than the building. I give two examples”
1) I visited a small Disciple of Christ Church next to Ft. Hood, TX, after I was assigned there. I was raised as a member of the Disciples. After 3 consecutive Sundays of attendance, I received no greeting from any member of the congregation. I decided that they did not want me, an unknown person to them, as a potential member, I thus never returned. I was not married at this time.
2) I was assigned to the Pentagon a few years later and visited a Disciple of Christ Church that was 2 miles from the house we bought near Andrews Air Force Base. My family and I were welcomed as soon as we walked into the foyer. Several people introduced themselves, showed us where the nursery was as we had our 3 year old daughter with us and we were introduced to the interim pastor. Afterwards we were invited into the fellowship hall for coffee. I chatted with the interim minister mentioning that I had grown up in a Disciple congregation in Indiana and found out that he had several churches there many years previously and, wonder of wonders, knew of my home congregation and the minister who married my parents. I moved my membership to Bethany and joyfully attended and participated for 31 years until I moved back to my Indiana home town. After that first Sunday, my wife and I decided that we didn’t need to visit any other churches in the local area.
Jesus is the temple. The OT temple points to Him.
Lure them in with accoutrements, rather than biblical truths.
There are many beautiful churches around the world, and while it is true that God instructed the exact specifications of the Temple to be built, it was because it was a temporary dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. But now, WE are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 6:16. WE are the body of Christ 1Corinthians 12:27. We are His church, His temple Ephesians 2:19-22
Whether we worship in a beautiful church of stone and stained glass, a very humble frame building, or someone’s living room, it matters not, for “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I, in the midst of them”. Matthew 18:20 BTW, where Jesus says, “there ‘am I’ in the midst of them”, “am I” is the equivalent of the “I am” of the Old Testament. It denotes His eternality, His eternal existence.