Jesus and His Righteous Anger

T

tjguitarz

New Member
Jesus said:
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
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If Jesus were to walk into a Christian bookstore today, would he do this same thing? If he were to walk into a church who was selling its messages and sermons and other materials originating in Jesus' house, would he overturn the tables? How can we apply Jesus' righteous anger to our lives when it comes to our churches and how they sell materials? Is there ever a time to be angry at their practices? If so, when? How? Why? What, if anything, should we do?
 
I think that verse is more geared to the fact that people were using the holy place as a market.. Not so much the parallel to a christian bookstore.

Not wishing to derail the topic... I am fully aware of the mass consumerism that now filters into every part of the christian life. Whether it be CDs, bumper stickers or whatever. I am sure the motives of some products were true (to be a good opening point to a conversation about God with someone) .. but now all they seem to be is cheesy novelties.
 
Those are all good questions. They're also difficult questions, but important for Christians to discuss.

I don't take issue with the concept of Christian bookstores, even inside local churches. If a pastor finds a book that has helped him in his walk with Christ, he may recommend it to the congregation. Stocking that book in the bookstore makes the book immediately and conveniently available to the congregation.

The bookstore can also stock resources for Sunday school classes and small Bible study groups.

As for other merchandise: Other items, such as key chains and bumper stickers, may help Christians memorize Bible verses or help them drive more politely than they would without the bumper sticker identifying them as Christians. Others see those items as tacky merchandise.

It comes down to the motive behind the product, which we can not determine with 100% certainty. We, as Christians, should always be on the lookout for other people--Christian or not--looking to exploit us for their personal gain.

I believe businesspeople using churches for business networking or, even worse, MLM (multi-level marketing) recruiting is cause for greater concern than Christian bookstores. The practice of MLM recruiting is rampant in some churches (at least, it was in Oklahoma).

If you hear someone at your local church touting the benefits of selling Amway products, run. Jesus may have driven the merchants out of the temple, but you're not Jesus.

In all seriousness, if you see someone exploiting other church members, explain your grievance to the person privately or report the situation to a person in authority (e.g. elder, bishop, pastor, reverend, priest).
 
Were these den of robbers not selling the means to salvation so that even the poor couldn't offer up sin offerings?
 
I think he'd take issue with a lot of the new pop-culture christianity and false teachings that are being sold in the bookstores.
 
Tolkien said:
I think he'd take issue with a lot of the new pop-culture christianity and false teachings that are being sold in the bookstores.
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Agreed.

Reaching the current culture is one thing. Watering down the message to blend with the culture is another.
 
Dark Virtue said:
What about books written BY the pastor? Especially a pastor of a televised megachurch...like say, Joel Osteen?
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I think the more important factor on that subject is how they go about advertising. I'd think advertising the book in person during service would be highly unethical, however, on television, advertising the book would be okay (by me).

It seems more ethical to me, than say, the Psychology 101 professor at Cornell making the textbooks he wrote the required books for his class.
 
I think he'd have issues with things... and he was hardly one to keep that to himself. But I don't think he'd be to the point of creating a whip.

The building a bookstore is in would probably be considerably less sacred than the very temple in which God was concentrating his presence.

My question would be... if Jesus were to come back and just tell us where we as Christians are being misguided... would we reject him or even crucify him all over again?

Some people really like their dogmas, and without that they wouldn't feel quite so righteous all the time.
 
I think Jesus was mad because the focus was not on God. It was on other things. But going to Church is for God. You know that song "I'm coming back to the heart of worship... where its all about You... yes its all about You, Jesus. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it, but it's all about you."

So idk if Jesus would have a problem with selling stuff in Churches. But I think the main point is that the Church needs to be focused on Him and only Him, with anything they may be selling to help move our eyes to Him.
 
mark 11 said:
:11And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12 On the following day, .... (curses fig tree)

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."
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(we had a bible study about this not too long ago... let's see what I can remember.)

check it in context. Jesus walked around Jerusalem, and saw what they were doing in the temple, in the court where the Gentiles were supposed to worship. Then he went to Bethany and slept on it. The next day, he goes and clears out the temple, teaching them while he was driving them out. I like how Mark shows that Jesus didn't go to the temple and lose his temper and throw everyone out. He thought about it.

It's not so much that they were selling in the temple, which I'm sure He didn't like, it's where and how they were doing it. They were keeping people from worshiping God. I can imagine it wouldn't be easy trying to atone for my sins while someone's shouting out the current exchange rates for regional currency.
 
Money changers at the time...would've been simply between temple currency and Roman currency. I don't think they'd be shouting out the value of the Russian rubble and I doubt the value changed between the two as quickly as todays currencies.
 
Gods_Peon said:
Money changers at the time...would've been simply between temple currency and Roman currency. I don't think they'd be shouting out the value of the Russian rubble and I doubt the value changed between the two as quickly as todays currencies.
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Back then there would have been a dozen currencies in use probably. Israel was pretty close to the border of the roman empire iirc.
 
Dark Virtue said:
What about books written BY the pastor? Especially a pastor of a televised megachurch...like say, Joel Osteen?
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That was one of the authors that I was hinting at. Honestly, I think he'd take issue with most of the "Christian" stuff on the "Christian" TV Networks as well.
 
vibrokatana said:
Back then there would have been a dozen currencies in use probably. Israel was pretty close to the border of the roman empire iirc.
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Still, there would've only been standard Greek and Roman money that would've been exchanged for the currency that would be accepted in the temple, being Jewish and Tyrian.

Next, the temples and worship at the time was not necessarily the quiet sanctuaries that we have today. The temple was essentially a market where people could go and get the required animals for slaughter. I doubt such an atmosphere was anywhere near as quiet as the church down the street is today.

And the practices in the markets were questionable, to the point that the poor would be exploited, even Jesus mentioned that these people were theiving from widows and the poor in Mark 12 and Luke 20. These marketters and money changers were profiting of salvation...the sin sacrifices. And they were doing so on the back of the most vulnerable. Those who, we find in James 1, that we are to take care of the most and be the most willing to help.
 
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