church buildings Archives

Do you ever think you’ll be bored in heaven, just sitting around on clouds playing harps? Well, Genesis 2 indicates that this will not happen. Work existed before the fall of humanity into sin, and it will also exist in the future state. But don’t worry. It will be work you enjoy and love.

In Genesis 2:8-15, we see why Adam was given work to do in the Garden of Eden, and why you and I still carry on this work today. We will also look at this strange description of all the rivers that surrounded Eden, and why these rivers are listed. It’s not so that we can figure out where Eden used to be located.

We will see these things, and much more, as we look at Genesis 2:8-15.

The Text of Genesis 2:8-15

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

In this discussion of Genesis 2:8-15 we look at:

Why Genesis 2 is a temple text describing the temple of God.
What to make of the 4 rivers in Genesis 2:10-14.
Why humanity was given work to do before the fall into sin.
How humanity serves as both the statue of God and the priesthood of God in the temple.
Why the role of humanity as the priesthood involves protecting the Garden of Eden.

Resources:

Order my new book, The Atonement of God
Heiser, The Unseen Realm – Amazon
Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology – Amazon
Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve – Amazon or CBD
Zevit, What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? – Amazon
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You will never believe how Jesus spent $3,150,000,000 in 2014!

By Jeremy Myers

51 Comments

Arthur Sido recently brought to my attention that in 2014, United States churches spent $3,150,000,000 on church buildings.

$3,150,000,000

And this amount is down 80% since 2002!

I wrote about this in one of my books (I cannot recall which one), and I have written previously on this blog about how churches spend money. See:

But it recently occurred to me that since Christians are the representatives of Jesus Christ on earth, since we are His ambassadors, since we are the “Body of Christ,” this means that when we spend $3,150,000,000 on church buildings in one year, it is Jesus Christ spending this amount of money in one year.

We are spending HIS money.

And it really made me wonder … If Jesus had $3,150,000,000 to spend, do I really think He would spend it on church buildings?

Somehow, I really, really doubt it…

How Church can Solve the World Water Crisis

By Jeremy Myers

10 Comments

In a previous post, I presented a theoretical plan for solving the world’s water crisis. I proposed a way for churches to come up with that money by “taxing” themselves 1/3 of what their property taxes would be if they were paying property taxes. We could get the needed $10 Billion in one year to fully fund the work that needs to be done to solve the world water crisis.

Now, Todd Rhoades, over at Monday Morning Insight has got me thinking about another way churches can do this. He writes that according to a recent study, churches in America spent $8.1 Billion on sound and video equipment last year.

So we can either give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to every thirsty person on planet earth, thus solving the world’s water crisis, OR we can have state-of-the-art sound and video projection equipment in our churches.

Hmmm. World water crisis…. state of the art sound systems. Which to choose?

It seems like an easy choice, right? I mean, after all, to really be in touch with Jesus, we’ve got to feel the music and have our eyes massaged by the swirling lights on the screen.

If we don’t get those music-induced goosebumps on Sunday morning, how will we ever make it through the week? And besides, most people will stop coming to church if we cannot compete with the high-def surround-sound movie screens down at the Omniplex theater.

So I guess all those people around the world who just want a cup of clean water will just have to go thirsty a little bit longer.

Here’s the honest truth: When we sing worship songs on Sunday morning, we are listening to the sound of water being poured onto the idolatrous altar of music.

Of course, I’m in the same sinking ship, but on a smaller scale. I bought an MP3 player (a cheapo $30 job) last month, and purchased a few songs off iTunes. Jesus might be asking what I did with the $40 He gave me, but if He is, I can’t hear Him, because somehow, I got water in my ears.

Update: And there are so many innovative ways of helping these areas get water. Check out these:

Church Additions

By Jeremy Myers

Liquidating our Church Property

By Jeremy Myers

16 Comments

I attended a church planting Conference in Irving, TX a while back in which Todd Phillips shared that, according to current studies and using modern water purifying technology, $10 Billion could solve the world’s water crisis. This got me thinking about my earlier post related to Money, Missions, and Ministry.

Church Property Value is $500 Billion

I am not aware what the value of church property in America is currently, but I know that in 1931, the estimated value of church property in America was $4 billion. When you realize that the average home price in 1930 was $7,000, imagine how much churches are sitting on today? The average home value today is around $230,000, an increase of 3300%. So $4 billion in 1930 would be $1.3 trillion today. I have no clue how accurate this number is, but let’s say it’s less than half of that and call it $500 billion.

If only 2% of the churches in America sold their buildings, and put the money toward solving the world’s water crisis, we would have enough money.

But churches don’t want to sell their buildings. After all, where would they meet?

Churches Paying Taxes on their Property

Okay, then, here is another option. In 1930, it was estimated that since churches were tax-exempt organizations, they were being “subsidized” by the government at $250 million annually. In other words, if churches were being taxed, the government would receive $250 million from them annually (which is 6%). Again, I don’t know how tax rates have changed since 1930, but let’s say they haven’t changed at all.

If, in 1930, the government could have gotten $250 million by taxing church property (valued at $4 billion), then today, if our property value is only $500 billion, our taxes today would be over $31 billion!

So if churches in America decided that for ONE year, we would put aside only 1/3 of what we would owe the government in property taxes for that one year, we could solve the world’s water crisis in one year! Should churches do this (or something similar)?

Absolutely.

Will churches do this if made aware of the opportunity? Call me pessimistic, but probably not.

Maybe we could just spend less on sound systems.

Challenging my own Finances

So the question then becomes, “What am I doing personally to help solve the world’s water crisis (and similar needs) around the globe?” Rather than pointing the accusatory finger at the churches and their vast wealth, I need to take a hard look at my budget, and my possessions, and where my money is going. I may not have $50 million to put toward a building, but if I have $50 which I am going to spend on coffee this year (it’s probably more than that), maybe I should consider giving up my coffee so someone else can simply have water…

But that’s too convicting.

[#28] Genesis 2:8-15 – The Garden of Eden Is the Temple of God

The Text of Genesis 2:8-15

In this discussion of Genesis 2:8-15 we look at:

Resources:

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You will never believe how Jesus spent $3,150,000,000 in 2014!

$3,150,000,000

How Church can Solve the World Water Crisis

Church Additions

Liquidating our Church Property

Church Property Value is $500 Billion

Churches Paying Taxes on their Property

Challenging my own Finances

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