RRC Archives

it seems that for some reason we are all preoccupied with the spiritual state of climbing. Is this an inherent part of climbing or the condition of man.....so, do you guys know any "normal" people to ask if they think about this stuff?

Climbing is very spiritual for me. I've always felt the most connected when I am outdoors. Which brings me to something else that I've never understood...church. If God created the earth then why should we have to go to some stark dwelling to worship? Seems to me that true worship would be to worship that which God created, not what man created. They call church God's house but isn't God's house truly nature? It just seems arrogant to errect a structure to God instead of honoring that which God built.

I as a Christian have a problem with that too. I cannot see the reasoning or the importance of errecting structures that are nothing more than testaments to a particular persons or denominations fundraising capablities.... Better a house with crumbs and happiness than a castle with strife.....Proverbs: something

I used to drive to NC from Georgia a lot in college and right before you enter the Appalachian mountains there's a sign that reads: PREPARE TO MEET WITH GOD. I always thought that was just awesome because going into the woods is my church for sure.

nice thought.....meeting God on his turf....

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2

No offence to any one's choice. Like Michelle, I find peace and spiritual renewal in the woods, and strength in the rock.

Maybe this goes without saying, and maybe these people mean well at some level, but creating grand buildings or monuments doesn't really jive with Christ's teachings.

kato wrote:Maybe this goes without saying, and maybe these people mean well at some level, but creating grand buildings or monuments doesn't really jive with Christ's teachings.

At least for Christianity, there is a theological problem - in the early days of the religion, when the bible was written, it was an apocoplyptic religion. The 'world was about to end', so why build formal structures?

(Don't forget that there wasn't a formal cannon until about the 4th century, so the 'Book of Revelations' wasn't necessarily the vision of the end of the world that the early Christians had in mind. There were other texts that described it that were edited out of the cannon, and I'd guess that some sects didn't have a specific apocolyptic text.)

The very early church simply used people's houses. After about the first century, the houses that were used began to be modified to include a baptismal area. The first Chritain-specific architecture were cemetaries and attendant structures. It took several centuries before Christians started building what we would recognize as 'churches'.

When they did start building churches, the form they chose (and even the name) was telling about what part of the point is to having church-structures. They chose to model them on the Roman basillica - a large, open 'hall' with an apse (a rounded bulge at the back). Roman basillicas were the 'courts' of the Roman governors - the seats of Roman power. Where the altar sits in a Christian church is where the Roman governor sat in a Roman basillica. Metaphorically, the 'church' (the organization) was positioning itself to replace the collapsing Roman government.

While I'm rambling about the physical form of churches, there's an interesting twist. The shape of the typical American government building (think the Capitol Building in D.C.) is an Italian church (think St. Peter's in Rome). I'm still totally unclear on how that transposition of forms happened.

That's awesome Tomdarch. Hey...what's the meaning of life? Seriously though, you know a lot of kewl stuff.

Anyone read the Da Vinci Code? It raises a whole realm of questions that, theologically speaking, are pretty sound.

Sign that once existed on the side of the road:
"Jesus and Tomatoes Coming Soon"