NO Scriptural Requirement Of A Physical Church, A Pulpit, Or Choir
I am a Christian … I am not either a hater or lover of physical churches, preachers or church choirs … but I am a Christian who recognizes that Christian faith has NOTHING WHATSOVER TO DO with physical churches, preachers, or church choirs … these things are fine, but they are not required for the Christian faith AND they should not recieve any sort of special tax treatment, ie they should be taxed in the same manner that any other club or organization that operates for the purpose of entertainment or socialization is taxed.
There is NO scriptural requirement of a physical church, a pulpit, or a choir to be a Christian. A Christian must accept the gift of salvation made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Christianity is about believing that Jesus Christ is the only path to God. Christians must first accept Christ as our savior and then we pray that the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and transforms us. Scripture is absolutely clear that the church is built on the the body of Christians, NOT constructed as a physical building … the church is a spiritual community of believers who have been transformed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ, there is no scriptural need for a physical building. The physical building is only there to serve as a club … there’s nothing wrong with Christian clubs, but there is no scriptural basis for requiring participation in and funding of physical buildings, or places for preachers or choirs to perform.
Physical Church
The Bible NEVER ONCE refers the church as a physical building, but as a community of believers. Remember … NOT ONCE!
Ephesians 2:19-22 uses the analogy of a building to describe the church, but it’s not referring to a physical structure of bricks and mortar. Instead, it speaks of Jesus’ presence in the church. PEOPLE are the building blocks of the church … and we see the SAME model over and over and over again in the New Testament … two or more people gathering together in Jesus’ name … sharing the Gospel … and the Holy Spirit is there with them.
Pulpit
The use of a pulpit is neither commanded nor prohibited in the Bible … it’s just NOT mentioned … AT ALL. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered by Jesus on a hillside, NOT FROM A PULPIT. John the Baptist preached the message of the coming Messiah in the wilderness … NOT FROM A PULPIT. The Apostle Paul preached from a window sill; the apostle’s shared their message in jail cell … NOT FROM PULPITS.
Pulpits are just NOT mentioned.
The pulpit is often associated with MODERN preaching in physical churches that we grew up with OR especially with televangelists on the teevee … so this key aspect of worship has a much scriptural basis as doing your taxes with tax software OR mowing your lawn with zero-turning-radius mower OR with driving to a large box store and grabbing a shopping cart to go through the superstore so that you can get your daily bread.
The Apostle Paul instructed the Colossians to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. However, it’s important to note that the PHYSICAL BUILDING … with a pulpit for preachy types to use to command respect from an audience … is a completely MODERN, totally artificial, manmade addition to Christian CORPORATE HUMAN-INSTITUTIONALIZED formal worship … there is ZERO scriptural requirement for a pulpit or physcial sanctuary built like an auditorium so that all of the crowds attention can be focused on one narcissist … there’s NO REASON TO FEED NARCISSISTIC PREACHINESS whatsoever.
Jesus commanded attention because he spoke with authority … “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” - Matthew 7:28-29
Choir / Musical Infrastructure Investment
There are several references to music and singing in the Bible, ie usually a spontaneous exhibition of JOY and unbounded LOVE of the Lord … as with Paul and Silas praying and singing praises in their jail cell, Acts 16:25-34 … these spontaneous exhibitions of JOY and LOVE are somehow twisted into something like a scriptural basis for a formal, funded, institutionalized, CAREFULLY-ORGANIZED choir. Obviously, there is nothing particularly WRONG with a practiced, rehearsed, organized, institutional musical ministry … BUT there is no more basis for a REQUIRED musical ministry in scripture than there is for a REQUIRED, WELL-FUNDED, PARTICIPATION-REQUIRED prison or jail ministry.
Moreover, the specific organization and function of choirs can vary widely among different Christian traditions, but a pattern always emerges. The best choir is arguably the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; the southern gospel choirs are probably a close second; these INSTITUTIONS are a matter of organization PRIDE and funding is demanded of the congregations to support these things, ie even in POOR churches, the collection plate is passed to fund the organ or piano “so that our kids can have a choir they can take pride in.” We all know that there is definitely a strong degree of music envy or competitive pride in church choirs, but the Bible is could not be more clear on whether pride or envy are good things.
What Actually MATTERS
REQUIRING congregations to fund a physical building, a pulpit, and a choir is a matter of PRIDE and ENVY … accordingly, this sort of demand to fund these things, rather than assisting the poor or using more effective, efficient methods to spread the Gospel, is an abomination … because it’s one thing for people to take pride in what they do OR to be envious of others musical or public speaking abilities or competencies as an entertainer, but it is absolutely REPRESENSIBLE in a spiritual sense to demand that members of a congregation are obligated to fund the sources of PRIDE and ENVY of church officials.
The Bible could not be more clear on this. Jesus was NOT at all fan of Pharisaically ostentacious grandiosity of such narcissistic and pride-filled ways supported by those who were emotionally-coerced into funding the Pharisees.
It’s NOT that there’s a problem with the structure, the pulpit or the choir … but REQUIRING or EMOTIONALLY COERCING congregation members to open up their wallets to fund these these things is equivalent to THEFT … from the poor, from the body of believers working to spread the Gospel … if church members want to fund the accoutrements their church, it’s fine … but there should not be tax advantages for clubs that are dedicated to supporting a particular form of ENTERTAINMENT.