I require some advice.

My local shop has closed. I live in a rural area, the nearest supermarket is 10 miles away, I do not yet have a driving license.

The shop has moved into the local Church. The Church requires money to stay open (it was built in the 8th century so also needs maintenance) so they've decided to diversify.

In mind of the 'money changers' and I appreciate that relates to personal profit..but I'm not if it is right to purchase goods in a building of god.

So, is it right or wrong to shop there

Hello Slater,

It's good that you are aware of the danger to devotion presented by the "moneychangers" (rare). God has given you that understanding that we all need to have. I'm going to add a post of mine that will explain more of that, but I also want to remind you that The Lord looks at the heart.

You didn't really explain why you were talking about a driver's liscense (do you want to travel to find work at the market?), but if you're wondering whether it would be okay for you to get a job at your store that moved into the church,...if you live in an isolated place (outside of a town, etc.), right now, you might not have any alternative. Even if you can get a second hand bicycle, a 10 mile trip might be difficult over dirt roads (round trip 20 miles on dirt roads, could bicycle tires endure?).

The Lord will understand if you do whatever you have to. Read the post below about "Abba Father" and have a "love devotion" based on "the greatest of these" (1 Corinthians 2:10).
============================================

The "inner sense" ("anointing",...Godly common sense) will teach us the REAL truth about God ("DEPTHS of God", 1 Corinthians 2:10). The trouble is that humanity never preferred the objective truth about anything (humanity's preference is for SUBJECTIVE truth...biased/chosen truth).
　
There was no actual/true OBJECTIVE reason that Jesus should have been sentenced to crucifixion (officially declared INNOCENT by Pilate and Caesar), but since the people rioted and insisted that Barrabas be set free, Jesus was given the death sentence (Jesus died because of that SUBJECTIVITY).
　
It has always been the same with what we are taught. We have always been taught BIASED/subjective truth, not the objective truth about God ("STRONG delusion").....God had Pilate ask "What is TRUTH?" so we might ponder the significance of TRUTH (John 18:38, 2 Thessalonians 2:10).
　
Babes in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1) must be trained (2 Timothy 3:16) in the "doctrine of Christ" (Hebrews 6:1), but then we must move on to have a MATURE devotion/relationship (love devotion) and no longer be "fed" with the "milk" of devotion, but be fed with "solid food"...
　
Hebrews 5:12
"But solid food is for the MATURE...".
　
...then we can learn to discern PROPERLY between GOOD and EVIL (the knowledge gained in the Garden of Eden) the way a Godly person should...
　
Ephesians 6:17
"sword of the spirit"....
　
........because we should not live by every word that HAS PROCEEDED from God's mouth 2000 years ago and earlier, we should "HEAR" the voice of The Lord when He speaks to each one of us PERSONALLY in our PERSONAL relationship (John 10:27) so that we will not be 'climbing sheep (John 10:1).
　
With a truly personal relationship (with all of our idiosyncracies, attitudes, shortcomings, etc.) that is TWO WAY, we can start learning the depths of God by trusting that God will give us the wisdom to truly understand...
　
1 John 2:27
"but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie".
　
...but we have to first forsake mammon and all that we've ever been taught by the "moneychangers" in the church of man (the apostate church began in Antioch).

Two thousand years ago, people from all walks of life (Jews, Ethiopians, Greeks, Palestinians, Macedonians, etc.) were learning a new devotion to God (Jesus devotion). Many of them never really shed their old worship habits and attitudes (very often, Paul found himself addressing this in his letters). In Antioch, they all got together and decided on a name....
　
Acts 11:26
"in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians".
　
Acts 24:22.......(a Roman official talks to Paul about Paul's devotion to Jesus).
　
"But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of THE WAY".
　
In John 14:6, Jesus said "I am THE WAY...".
　
The "inner sense"/anointing can only be realized by being an INNER TEMPLE.
. 　
The third temple has been here for 2000 years, but it has not been recognized because the church of man appeals to the vanity/pride of all who attend it.
　
We are the "living stones" (inner temple) and Jesus is the "cornerstone" (outer temple)...
　
John 2:19 and 21
"three days"...."the temple..." (outer temple).
　
1 Corin. 3:16 and 6:19
"you are God's temple..." (inner temple).
　
1 Peter 2:4, 5
"Come to Him, to that living stone..."..."and like living stones,...".
　
Let the "living" water (1 John 5:6, John 7:38, Acts 1:5) baptize/consecrate the inner temple to the third temple/outer temple and "neither thirst" (Revelation 7:16).
　
Amos 5:21
"I hate, I despise your feasts and your solemn assemblies".
　　
We should live under the PERFECT law (James 1:25 and 2:12) because of what Jesus accomplished (Ephesians 2:15) and keep our devotion/relationship private between eachof us and God...
　
Romans 14:22
"The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God".

God knows where you're at in your life. The most important thing is that you love Him very much (LOVE for God changes the whole picture). Instead of only believing in Him, you also trust Him, then you will have a "faith for faith"...(because you wish to 'draw closer', Romans 1:17).

Hebrews 11:6
"that He exists...".....(and ALSO BELIEVE He rewards).


All verses are from the RSV.

Unless there is a bus to your nearest shop, I don't see you have much choice..and I suppose the church IS actually providing a local service..especially if there are a lot of people in the same boat as you.
I suppose you could raise your concerns with the minister, and see if he can reassure you. It certainly is a poroblem, isn't it, with many rural shops closing down?

__________________
Maranatha!

I personally would not have a problem with it - and see it as the church serving the local community. The reason Jesus got so annoyed in the Temple with the money changers is probably because they were ripping people off, not because they were selling stuff - so as long as the church dont rip people off I think it would be ok.

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"God is the ultimate stalker" Emily Spencer, Oct 09 (used by permission)

This was quite common in the middle ages in England during the week. Selling was allowed in the nave but the chancel was never used for trading. Everything was cleared out for sunday.

__________________
"I'm headed for purgatory, and my kitties are comin' with me! (well, they are going to be in purrrr-gato-ry.)"
-ProdigalSeeker

Originally Posted by Slater582

My local shop has closed. I live in a rural area, the nearest supermarket is 10 miles away, I do not yet have a driving license.

The shop has moved into the local Church. The Church requires money to stay open (it was built in the 8th century so also needs maintenance) so they've decided to diversify.

In mind of the 'money changers' and I appreciate that relates to personal profit..but I'm not if it is right to purchase goods in a building of god.

So, is it right or wrong to shop there

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it - largely because the Church is the people and God is not confined to a building, he lives in each one of us.

Also, the church is providing a service to the community; there must be others who cannot get to a supermarket which is so far away. It is being a witness to people - that church is feeding people physically and spiritually.

The reason that Jesus was against the moneychangers was not because money was exchanging hands in a holy place.
People offering sacrifices in the temple had to have their animals inspected by the priests to make sure that they were really were without blemish and acceptable. If they failed this inspection, the person had to buy an animal that was considered to be perfect.
The coins they used for this, ordinary money, had Caesar's head on them, and could not be taken into the temple and used for buying animals. I think it's correct to say that that would have been seen as idolatory, or defiling the temple. So these coins had to be exchanged for temple coins; this was a perfectly legitimate practice. What Jesus objected to was the fact that a) some priests were "failing" perfectly good animals just so that they could make people buy from them, and b) that they got to decide how many temple coins to give in exchange for their money.
Basically, the poor were being ripped off and people were making money out of things that HAD to be bought in order to worship God.

Unless the shop in your church is selling bread for communion immediately before the service, and putting the price up by a couple of pounds just for that hour or so, I don't think you have too much to worry about.

But like everything else, if YOU are unhappy with it, and think it's wrong or dishonouring to God - don't do it.

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"My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9

That's correct - Jesus was upset because the money changers had cornered the market on the silver half-shekel; then they raised the price of these coins - just as with any other monopolised commodity - to whatever the market would bear. Since they were making exorbitant profits, Jesus called the money changers 'thieves.' OTOH, there is nothing about the shop in question that involves theft.