Cathedral vs. Temple Thinking

When Ashley presented the topic of cathedral vs. temple thinking last week I realized I had debated over it a little in the past, but when she gave it to the class I was pretty set in temple thinking. The difference between the two types of thinking is still based out of Greek and Hebraic mindsets, cathedral- Greek and temple- Hebraic. Simply explained, the cathedral thinking is we must get out of this world so we can dwell with God and when we die we are going to heaven. Essentially it is an escapism mindset that doesn't care about the earth because we are leaving it anyway. The temple thinking is we are here on earth and this is where God wants to dwell with us and when we die we aren't going anywhere. At the end of the age when Jesus comes back he will create a new earth and we will dwell there with him. Let me go into more detail.

Cathedral thinking was developed by the Greeks and the church adopted it through Greek philosophers who got saved and then started to influence the Christian church. This mindset believes the earth is only a place we are passing through and the treasure lies at the end of your life when you die and go to a giant mansion in Heaven. They display with the physical cathedrals in our cities here on earth, huge roofs, beautiful interior. They were meant to give you an out of this world experience when you entered them. Many churches today are still under this influence, they don't see the earth as a place we should take care of simply because we are going to leave it and God will destroy it.

On the opposite is the temple mindset which is what the Hebraic mindset is oriented towards, it is a biblically based mindset. When God created man He desired to dwell with man here on earth, man was never intended to die. If man was never intended to die, then the earth was never intended to pass away. But after man sinned, death entered the earth and thus the process of destruction started. As you go on through scripture you will see many times how God wants to dwell with man on earth, he lead the Israelites through the desert as a cloud by day and fire by night, He dwelt in the temple that was built for Him in Jerusalem. Of course He is never restrained to any specific roll man places on Him; He just wants to be here with us. Under the new covenant we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and He dwells in every believer, showing again that God wants to be here with us and not waiting for us to die so we can be with Him. At the end of the age Jesus is coming back and He will create a new earth on which the New Jerusalem will be built and we will live there for eternity.

I don't know about you, but I think the Hebraic mindset sounds like a lot more fun and it is way easier to believe because of the fact it is biblically based. Just as last time, if you would like to hear more about this topic you can email me at Cbergus@gmail.com.