Does god care?

Why is it that roman catholic churches put all of that expensive golden stuff in it. If god really cared about people he would want the money from that donated to third world countries and stuff. It seems to me that if god really cared about EVERYBODY...

he would tell his priests what do do.

its a form of respect to God

but its not absolutely necessary. what matters to christians is that they always strive to follow the Word

yes god cares and he is watching over us as we speak

I'm not a Catholic, so maybe someone more qualified will come along to offer an informed answer. I used to think it was to create a sense of awe in the congregation. Maybe it's evidence of respect and reverence for God. There is the story in the Bible about the woman who use a container of expensive perfume to wash Jesus' feet. Judas was critical and said that they should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. That's the time when Jesus said to leave her alone...you will always have the poor, but you will not always have the Son of Man. His point was that it was an act of worship on her part and therefore had value in itself.

Yes, God cares.

I'm just not sure he has much to do with organized religion nowadays.

God loves gold, silver, and bronze. The Bible makes that very clear in the OT.

The catholic church doesn't give money to third-world countries. Instead, it sets up anti-condom disinformaion campaigns, ensuring thousands of unnecessary deaths from HIV.

The catholic church is already absurdly rich, without sending the statues to the pawn broker, and their track record of charity really isn't too crash hot.

Churches and cathedrals are supposed to be impressive buildings, similar to the temple described in the Bible. Obviously, people can have religious services and worship anywhere. But there's always been a mentality that the house of God should be large and filled with ornate decorations and treasures. That's how the Jewish temple was, and that's how cathedrals have always been as well.

It's interesting to me that in the book of Luke, when the character of Jesus sees money changers and vendors doing business at the temple, he doesn't say, oh well, let them do their thing. God doesn't need such a big, rich building anyway. Let's go worship in that wooden shanty. No, he actually gets really pissed and chases them away. Clearly, if a people have the money, they are supposed to build impressive buildings to worship in.

The catholic church is already absurdly rich,

Actually, not anymore. They couldn't even afford to do restoration of the Sistine Chapel and had to contract the work out to a Japanese company, who now has the copyright. Also, a lot of Catholic functions and other goings-on now require parishioners to pay out of their own pockets. The Church's pockets aren't as deep as they used to be.

theres a diffrence between God and the Intitushion of religion.

God cares! He's given us, everyone, including the priests FREE WILL to choose to do what is really important to them. Besides that I don't know much about them so I can't really comment, but in the end, everyone will be judged accordingly to what they did on earth.

God will always be watching over us and he does care yes..he loves you..HE DIED ON A CROSS FOR U!

HE DIED ON A CROSS FOR U!

I didn't ask him to, so he doesn't get to guilt-trip me over it. (And nor do you.)

arachnid, I actually know of many Catholic charities who do a lot of good work in third-world countries. I also know many Catholic people who have gone to third world countries to help out in anyway they can and funnily enough, they were not even there to try and convert people to christianity, they were just good people who were genuinely concerned about others.

luthien: There are good, caring people in all faiths (and none). That says far more about those people than it does about the catholic church.

Actually you just need to stop giving yourself a headache with these questions. I'm telling you, I quit splitting my head over this and my life is a lot calmer now. I fyou really think about it nobody knows didly about god - not the religious leaders, not the scientist. We just have to accept that the world and life is sometimes cruel. Help others where you can.

Yes God cares but you need to understand that God gave us free will. What that means is that he can not interfear with our thoughts. It is actually imposible because when God says something it can not be taken back. So while these people build big churches rather then big communities its not that God does not care, its that God has given us free reign over much of this earth which limits his ability to interfear. So instead of asking God if he cares ask the church if they care. Not all churches are great in the eyes of God.