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Worshipping On Mountains

The following is an example of today’s preaching and yesteryear’s theological stances which have carried into today. Begin Transmission: When we study the Bible let’s make sure to do it systematically—finding out all that the Scriptures have to say on a subject and deducting our conclusion. In fact, you can even start the process by thinking about the attributes of God then finding out how the Scriptures fits into your thinking. Read on, and see how the Scriptures teach that we are to worship on mountains.

God is high and above all things. He is the God of a thousand hills and over all His creation. How do we react to that fact?

The Scriptures explicitly teach that we are to worship on a mountain. The current state of the Church just shows how bad we have strayed from the clearly taught Biblical doctrine. How can we forget that the greatest event in history occurred on a small mount outside of Jerusalem—where Christ was crucified? God, who is over all, was satisfied with what happened on that hill…how do we respond?

The life of Christ is highlighted with mountain top experiences. He was often seen going to pray at the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39; John 8:1). He was praised by the multitudes when He came down from the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:37). The time of His greatest anguish, and greatest representation of having His swallowed up in the Father occurred on a mount (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26). We can even stand in awe, seeing Christ transfigured, His glory revealed on a mountain (Matt 17:1). I don’t think I should even have to mention the greatest sermon ever, spoken on a mount (Matt 5:12).

Oh Christians of Christ’s Church, why have we left the mountains? Why have we strayed so far from Scripture? The [insert historical group] clearly taught this Scriptural doctrine and all these false denominations out here have left us in a desert plain! Why have we forgotten that the Great Commission was “Great” because it was done on a mountain (Matt 28:16)! When Christ was taken up into the clouds with His disciples gathered around Him it was on a mountain (Acts 1:10-12). The very vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelations 21:10 is of that holy city resting on a high mountain!

Learn the lesson of history, people! The Israelites were at their worse when they ignored God and didn’t worship on this mountain or that, but worshipped idols on their high places. This is horrendous because, God is the God of a thousand mountains (Ps 50:10) not these false idols. They had forgotten their calling that God had revealed Himself and had given His Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). Thank God for Elijah who called the people to turn back to God—and he did it on a mountain (1 Kings 18).

We must realize that the Israelites had ignored that holy calling which Abraham received to go up unto a mountain and to sacrifice that which he held dear (Gen 22:2). It was after that sacrifice that he was greatly blessed. How much more blessed will we be when we sacrifice our Churches-on-the-plains and head to the hills, to the very heights of the mountains in our nearness to God. From there we will truly be a city on a hill which cannot be hidden (Matt 5:14). Now, let’s rise and sing “Go Sing It On the Mountain”

End Transmission. This has been a lesson in proof-texting and using deductive reasoning (with wrong premises) to learn from the Scriptures instead of using a process seeing all things in their context. What I did here was purely silly, but if you heard it preached with power, it might just make you wonder if it is true. There are many doctrines being propounded on the web as that of the [insert historical group here] or preached by [insert famous expositors and preachers here] then tagged with a Biblical, Pauline or Truly Christian signature to finally authorize it. Deductive reasoning, Systematic Theology are well and good—but don’t solely rely on them for your understanding of truth. Read the Scriptures in its entirety and in its context and don’t follow those methods which lead to proof texting.

Remember, this was satire…but if you have a problem now wondering if we should worship on a mountain you can leave a comment. Also, realize that I borrowed a general outline of this from a dear brother Randy Amos.

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3 replies on “Worshipping On Mountains”

yikes. I did not see that it was satire until you said so. I was on a google journey about significance of mountains in the Bible and what you wrote seemed pretty helpful. I mean not that we need to worship on mountains but the general gist of the importance of mountains. Anyway…shame it was satire, I wonder if you were on the right track to leading us into worship.

What’s helpful is to look at this across Scripture. So although I jumped around with verses trying to prove the point, I ignored context and other opposing verses. For example, this was the two-part lesson that the Arameans (1 Kings 20) then the Samaritans (John 4) had to learn. The first part is the mistake that God is only powerful and honored in the mountains. God announces that because the Arameans falsely believed that, He was going to prove them wrong by showing He was also the God of the valleys by beating them in the valleys. Then, the Samaritan woman actually broached the topic on which mountain should people worship: this mountain here in the Samaritan village or that other mountain in Jerusalem. Jesus points out that historically the Jews were right but that the proper point is that the mountains don’t matter. The height and depth and breadth of worship is that we are to worship in Spirit (which is unbound by location, space, and time) AND truth (which is bound to the reality of God’s nature). Indeed, Genesis 1 makes this same point where God takes everything to make it his temple: he’s over the darkness, the chaos, the waters, the mountains, the land, the trees, the stars, the moon, the animals, and man—all of them are the abode where he dwells with his co-regents and they are to honor him.

Hope this helps.

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