Posted on 02/13/2010 1:13:42 PM PST by Graybeard58
It was the talk on a local Christian radio show the other morning: An Alabama congregation's plan to build a giant cross to the tune of more than $230,000. It would overlook Interstate 22 as a monumental testament to the risen Christ and also a potential drive-by witness to lost souls.
The question being bantered about on WMBI radio was, "When some in the world suffer religious persecution and worship in mud huts, should American Christians build expensive monuments?" Hmm, I wondered.
Illinois has its own -- "world's largest cross" -- a nearly 200-foot stunner that emerges along I-57 in Effingham and glows surreally at night. The first time I saw it, it scared the hell out of me. It also made me reflect on my faith, at least until it disappeared from sight as I continued my journey.
As I considered whether churches should build giant crosses in fiscal times like these, I was reminded of other glaring excesses across Christendom, some of which stand majestically as reminders of the existence of a heavenly father and his gift to mankind. But I wondered about their utility to those here on Earth and ultimately to the true calling of Christianity -- to help the poor, to love one another.
I also wondered whether such good intentions, fueled by a good heaping of congregants' financial sacrifices, don't simply fall by the wayside when it comes to affecting the world by the Gospel.
I'm not talking just about giant crosses, but mega-churches with their mega complexes, like the three large churches not far from where I live, which lie within a stone's throw of each other. It's the extensions being added to church structures, even in these times, the push for members to contribute to "building funds," the fact that for many churches the lion's share of their budget goes to the upkeep of the church building and salaries of ministerial staff.
It is the shiny, new luxury automobiles I have seen over the years purchased for pastors by congregations, many of them in poor neighborhoods. It is the suburban homes built for shepherds who live far from ghetto fields of the sheep they pastor, the "airplane fund" at my mom's old church to buy their pastor a personal jet. It is the focus, even at small churches, on teas, banquets, church anniversaries and other frivolity. It is even the replacement of a simple old cross in a sanctuary with a slew of big-screen TVs.
It is the apparent widespread infection of materialism within the Christian church in America -- a church that appears cloaked in prosperity yet at times fails to address people desperately in need beyond the church's walls.
I cannot help but wonder whether erecting a $50 million structure in a poor urban neighborhood, or building extravagant symbols of that faith, isn't really a perversion of that faith -- either in lean economic times, or at any time for as long as there are poor and needy.
I like a pretty church as much as anyone. Growing up at my grandparents' storefront on the West Side, I was fully aware that many good Christian folk saw our little ministry as "less than" without a steeple or bell tower and stained glass, even if we were a miniature church with a mega ministry.
I also understood that it was not giant crosses, stained glass or Gothic architecture that ushered my grandmother and other little old ladies into intimacy with their eternal and living God, but this truth: It isn't the size or majesty of the building that brings worshippers into his presence, but spirit and truth, and that he seeks not a building in which to dwell, but living temples.
This is the truth that speaks to me, no matter how far I stray. Not another giant cross.
Or on the other hand, when you have a rich president in office why should his step-brother live in a shack?
There are large churches that are meeting the needs of the world in Christian love, and there are small churches that are only meeting the needs of their congregants. This author paints with a broad brush.
Is a giant cross frivolous? Yes. But we live in a country where people expect their handouts. They want your food and money and don’t want to hear about Jesus or the reason why you are feeding them or paying their power bill.
Studies show that the 18-34 demographic expect glitzy presentations when they do attend church. They want comfortable seats, professional and free day care, air conditioning, TV screens and professional PowerPoints. They want a full rock band with a good sound system. They don’t want a humble little church with a good message. It’s sad, but its a fact of life.
So, if a mega-church wants to build a $50M “campus” and it attracts followers who come to know Christ, then good! If it takes a giant cross to make someone in our commercialized culture ponder the fate of his or her soul, then that’s a good thing. Perhaps they can attract these new followers and one day they will mature and decide that the message is more important than the presentation, and they’ll migrate to the humble little church. We’ll still be there waiting for them.
This author is pulling the class envy card. If that church feels directed to put up that cross they should do it. That’s the important thing. Pray about it and if it’s what God wants then do it.
Some of these people would begrudge Jesus sandals when He was walking the Earth.
I'm not trying to paint with that broad brush--maybe they are doing it already. Even so, it this the wisest use of God's resources?
There is a logical fallacy here. Building a large cross is not going to stop persecution or people from living in mud huts. This is the same line of thinking that goes, eat all your vegetables because people are starving in China. The other fallacy is that building a large cross is going to produce Christians. It has value to the people building it in that it makes them feel good, but other than that there is no effect from the cause. If looking at a cross converted people to Christianity, almost everyone would be a Christian.
“Or on the other hand, when you have a rich president in office why should his step-brother live in a shack?___________________________________________________________
No charity of heart, a cold shoulder is what the President is displaying. It took a year for him to get running water to his grandmother's village hut.
$230,000 is not a lot of money when it comes to construction. It’s not like their adding another wing to the Vatican, here. It’s the cost of a modest tract home.
I’m not arguing for or against the cross. I do believe that good churches seek God’s guidance in the use of their resources. So perhaps this is what this church is called to do. I do wonder when we put the church’s resources only toward the physical needs of the people around us, be it food and clothing or private school tuition, are we advancing the work we as Christians were called to do, or only half of it? We are charged to do such things, but if we are only meeting physical needs and not spreading the Good News along with it are we delinquent in our charge?
Texas has a large one on I-40 just outside Amarillo close to the Cadillac Ranch sculpture.
Right there is worth the price of admission.
The author clearly has not been saved, and offers a pathetic excuse for his miserable life.
He covets all material objects that Christians may have, but is not going to take efforts such as giving, helping, praying, and opening his heart to Jesus that would bring him riches that he obviously doesn't know exist.
Hopefully someone will invite him to that church he fears so much.
Maybe he'll notice that he's the only one there overcome by fear.
Maybe he'll be so bugged by it that he asks someone about it.
Maybe if we all pray that the little buzzard thinks of nothing else from now on, he'll take that 1st step.
“How dare you not eat your lutefisk, chard, Limburger and liver casserole, when there are children in Lower Slobbovia with nothing to eat but gravel?”
“How about you package it up for them, parcel post. I doubt it will get any worse if sent by unrefrigerated cargo ship.”
Seriously, only a liberal idiot says that Americans should never have pleasure, because somewhere, someone else is miserable.
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