If respect to God is acceptably shown, it must be according to His guidelines and regulations, not men's (Mark 7:6-8). It doesn't matter who the people are, or where or when they live, God has always made it clear what pleases Him. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6), thus God's word makes faith possible (Mark 11:22; John 17:20; 20:30-31). In every nation, those who please God are those who do His commandments (Acts 10:34-35; Revelation 22:14).
The Purpose Of A Shrine Does Matter. One must remember that the tower of Babel was to be an impressive edifice designed only to "make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:1-9). "Babel" and "Babylon" have since always referred to their "confusion" of languages by which God scattered them over "all the earth." But note that "they ceased building the city." It is thus ever true that those who are determined to make a name for themselves through whatever means, and not give God the glory: 1) are opposed to God's purposes; 2) are destined for God's rejection; and 3) are living in "confusion" not cooperation with God's will (Cf., 1 Corinthians 14:33).
God gave a moveable location (a.k.a. "tabernacle") to which Israelites should come for worship under Moses' Law (Exodus 40:34-38), and every encampment in their wilderness wanderings had this as its center (Numbers 2:17). Not until King David did God reveal where His permanent place for worship was to be built, i.e., in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 7:1-11), and by whom, i.e., Solomon, who was David's son (1 Kings 8:14-21). Israel so corrupted themselves that God removed them from the "Promised Land" many years later, by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who "burned the house of God" (2 Chronicles 36:15-21). After the ensuing seventy year exile, God restored the first of them to their land that they might rebuild the Temple, which thing was accomplished under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:1-13; 6:14-18). Later the Temple was ruined again but rebuilt by Herod the Great who took forty-six years to finish it prior to Jesus birth (John 2:20). Though Jesus used this temple to observe Moses Law while He lived, He taught the Samaritan woman that Jerusalem would not continue to be God's center of worship (John 4:19-26). When Jesus cleansed the temple of its defilers, John shows readers that Jesus' body would be the new temple (John 2:13-22).
What Is God's "Shrine" Today? The church of Christ is Christ's spiritual body, for Paul wrote to "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2). Paul preached the "gospel" and many Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized to establish it (Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11). Their baptism had enabled them to be members of the one body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 18, 27), which is the church (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18, 24). Christians (Acts 11:26; Matthew 28:18-20) are baptized believers who comprise the body of Christ, the church of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit-which are all one and the same (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:18-20).
God's Temple today is not a building made of brick and mortar, gold, silver, bronze or iron but is only His blood-bought church (Acts 20:28), the saved. Paul easily made this point to pagan idolaters when he said, God "does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things…Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising" (Acts 17:24-25, 29). Since "God is Spirit" (John 4:24), and "spirit does not have flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39), then there is no physical location that is the habitation of God. God has no fleshly body but He may use any physical body offered to Him for His purpose (Romans 6:11-14). There is physically no "Holy Land," "temple," "shrine," or "sanctuary" that represents God's presence more than any other place.
The Church Is Not For Men's Glory. God did not want altars used to worship Him that in any way glorified men. He instructed Moses in Exodus 20:22-26, that altars of stone should not be hewn with men's tools lest it be profaned; and that steps going up to the altar not be used so as to expose the priest's nakedness. It should not be used for showing-off man's craftiness or as a stage for sensual entertainment. The artisans selected to make the tabernacle, furnishings, and priestly clothing at Sinai were miraculously gifted to accomplish their work for the glory of God (Exodus 31:1-11). Thus, the tabernacle service was not to show man's craftsmanship but God's work.
In the New Testament church, Paul worked "within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us…not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors" (2 Corinthians 10:12-18). He tried to avoid adding to another man's preaching labors lest he appear to receive glory for greater work than his own. A Christian must not "[be] vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head…[or to] subject yourselves to regulations-Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle…according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:18-23). Either through the Old Law of Moses before Christ came, or now through the New Law of Jesus Christ and His church since His death and resurrection, it is clear that in serving God emphasis must always be on God's powerful plan to save sinners, Jesus Christ's peerless presentation of that plan, and the Holy Spirit's precise preservation of that plan. The emphasis should not be centered on the works of the saved ("Look what we have done"), the sacrifices of the worshipers ("Worship must entertain us"), or the beliefs of the church ("All must believe what we teach by mantras, rituals, ceremonies, catechisms, creeds, manuals, or disciplines"). Christians are to be liberated from devotion to an opulent, ornate church building; debasement by worldly, profane, idolatrous displays; the disgrace of "holy" seasons or services; or other ungodly distractions from the real spiritual objectives of the church.
Shrines To Apostasy. Having this Bible truth before us, to what degree does one apostatize who turns buildings into "religious relics," "shrines," or "temples?" Those religions opposed to God may have such, and even name these edifices for living, dead, mythological or beautified personages. People who have been steeped in traditional, mystical, ritual, or material religions seek this recognition and thus there are temples or shrines to Buddha, Shiva, Diana, Apollo; mosques in memory of Muhammad; cathedrals to "Saint Paul," "Saint Peter," "Saint Mary," or "Saint John." One has but to walk through the historic church buildings of England (Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, or similar structures in Canterbury, Cambridge, York, or throughout England) to learn why its religion has died, for their buildings are memorials to men rather than God. Walls, pews, stones, plaques, steps, stained glass windows all are devoted to men and movements and not to God. England's church buildings have become mausoleums, museums, marketplaces, or manageries whose rituals are but funeral cosmetics for church corpses. They are headstones of human history rather than awesome altars for the Almighty!
It is sad, indeed, when any church of Christ adopts this deadly trait, and also "teaches men so" (Matthew 5:19). Leaders in apostasy always seem to point the finger of accusation at other apostates and say, "We're not like them." But they are. It matters not whether the direction of apostasy is to the "right" or to the "left" but only that it is "away from" Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 4:1-"depart from the faith"). Let us not divide over men's names, men's doctrines, men's buildings, or men's methods, but rather let us "be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement" (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Our Lord prayed that it be so "that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20-21).-125 The Trace, Dover, TN 37058