Wade Poe

Synagogues weren't "authorized" by God.  Sometime in the days when Israel was in or just getting out of exile with Babylon, it developed - probably as a means of encouraging one another while they were "away from home".  They weren't allowed to offer sacrifices outside of the temple worship system and especially not outside of Jerusalem, so at some point synagogues came into existence - first as a gathering and then as formal locations with buildings called "synagogues". If you read through the Old Testament, they're not mentioned at all.  It's only when you get to the gospels you run into them being mentioned. Something developed to replace their temple worship, per se, after Solomon's Temple was destroyed.  And even after a new version of the temple was built, they continued on with synagogues in their various locations. God didn't say "make synagogues" but they did.  There's no indication they were condemned by God ...

Since about the first part of this year (2025), it has been interesting to get feedback from the grapevine about how people perceive those who "quit going to church". For some, it's as if you are persona non-grata or an "unwelcome person" or "unacceptable person". You're someone who doesn't fit into the category of "lost" or "unsaved", but worse. If you were potentially someone who might be invited to and convinced to join a church, you're still potentially valuable for that "win", but if you're not - no reason to waste any time on you. And I'm not simply speaking from my own experience, but from what I see and hear from others whose faith walk shares some similarities. It's almost as if it would be better if you went off "into the world" and were "living in sin" - 'cause you'd still be fitting into the grand story of how church works.  You still have potential for a happ...

No one likes to see someone young leave this life too soon.  It is especially sad if their passing was tragic. __________ Job offered regular sacrifices on behalf of his children just in case they messed up and offended God in some way while they were enjoying life. Not long after, they're all dead after a storm struck the house they were in.  Gone.  Just like that. It's one of those features I'd overlooked in Job for a long time.  I was usually focused on the boils on his body and the sackcloth and ashes and just skipped over the loss of all his stuff and his kids. The story of Job is thought to be the oldest story - meaning that it's likely one of the first things that was written down in the Old Testament - if you remember that they weren't necessarily in the order that you see them in most all Bibles. That's a really old story.  And it makes sense that it is so old.  This situation with Job is timeless.  It's the stuff we deal with in our time, tho...