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Dedication of Churches


Jake Huether

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Jake Huether

Matthew 17

[quote]4Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."[/quote]


This indicates that the Apostles already had the Tradition of raising places of worship in dedication to certain Holy People...

It wouldn't be odd, then, to believe that the first churches built would have been dedicated to some Saints.

Just something I had observed...

Thoughts??

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[quote]Thoughts?? [/quote]

Well, the actual context of the verse is not about dedication of Churches. They meant what they said literally. They thought Jesus, Moses, and Elijah needed a place to stay. (I guess we should cut 'em some slack; they were just fisherman :) )

I do find what you propose very interesting, though, as a symbolic drawing out of the text. But I wouldn't go around using this text when Protestants question the Catholic tradition, at least not in a way that suggests the original intent of the text was the naming of Churches.

Edited by Era Might
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Jake Huether

[quote name='Era Might' date='Aug 23 2005, 03:52 PM']Well, the actual context of the verse is not about dedication of Churches. They meant what they said literally. They thought Jesus, Moses, and Elijah needed a place to stay. (I guess we should cut 'em some slack; they were just fisherman  :) )

I do find what you propose very interesting, though, as a symbolic drawing out of the text. But I wouldn't go around using this text when Protestants question the Catholic tradition, at least not in a way that suggests the original intent of the text was the naming of Churches.
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Indeed the context of the verse is not dedication of [b]Churches[/b], as the Christian Church hadn't even been born. But it gives us an insite into the Jewish customs. It does indicate that they erected monuments or "shelters" to commemorate certain things. The OT is rich with this - and it carries over to the Apostles. But to suggest that Peter and the others wanted to build "shelters", as in a place to stay, is simply unreasonable. They knew that Moses and Elijah were in heaven. They hadn't come to "visit". Peter wanted to erect what we refer to as shrines. It would make no sense at all if it were to mean a literal "shelter". Otherwise, why wouldn't he simply have suggested erecting one shelter for the three of them - Jesus already having his own shelter anyway.

I don't think it is a symbolic draw out. I think that the Apostles would have been more than accustom to building places of worship in the name of Holy People.

It would be cool to hear from a Jewish scholar.

Anyway.

Thanks for the feedback.

God bless.

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