What makes a church a house of God?

Sure it makes sense. Man and his money build the churches. Take away the money and there would be no more churches or people to run them. Do you think God would be foolish enough to base anything he would do on anything as unsure as money? I don't. Read the first 5 books of the New Testament. They have everything we need to live according to God's plan for us. Read about where Jesus sent the Ap[ostles to do their teaching and to establish His true Church. Look at what happened more than what is said. Where did Jesus send the Apostles, down the street to some "House of God"? No way. Jesus sent the Apostles to the homes of the ones that believed in Him. He told them to stay in these homes until their teaching was finished and then move on to another home. In todays world our homes are supposed to be the true house of God. The churches we see are man's work and are little more than useless. The reason there is so many different churches and beliefs is because a lot of people have tried to design a religon that would fit the kind of life style they wanted to live. Art

In my opinion, it's what goes on inside the church that truly makes it a house of God. I imagine there are many churches where God would be reluctant to put a foot inside! God is anywhere that two or more gather in His name, and it doesn't have to be a church or even a building at all. A church full of judgemental, self-righteous congregants who call themselves Christians but only serve their own needs is the type of church that Jesus condemned in Revelations. You won't find spiritual growth in that kind of environment, and many churches do more to push unbelievers away than to draw them in. Different beliefs, denominations, are based on the man's differing cultures. Traditions of man; what each culture teaches its children to believe as they grow. Indoctrination. There will be no denominations in Heaven. I don't think science and religion must be mutually exclusive. There are too many things that science still can't explain. God gave us brains to figure out things for ourselves. The Big Bang theory seems to support Genesis: "And then there was light." Scientists still haven't figured out what caused the Big Bang, but believers know....How would early man know enough about the beginning of this dispensation if Someone didn't clue him in? They didn't have that scientific knowledge yet!

Absolutely nothing God does not reside in a building but in a people.

If you believe in God, that means you have faith. Faith in God is believing even without seeing. If you are seeking for proof then I am telling you, you don't have faith in God. And now that you are wondering whether a church is a house of God, I won't be surprise. Because in the first place you don't have faith, so what more would you believe that a church, made by man, be the house of God.

My opinion on this matter is that the building is not the church it it the people that are the church!!

For me, a church becomes a house of God if the people acknowledges that God is present in their midst. God is present everywhere. However, God is not present if people refuses his presence. Even a chapel can be a house of God if the people believes God is with them.