Word battle: Temple VS church

A Temple is a place you visit, usually briefly, specifically to worship deities, ancestors, spirits, or other beings. It is usually where certain offerings and images of the Gods were left.

A Church is a gathering place (or possibly the actual congregation or body of worshippers itself) where priests or other authorities give sermons. It is also often a place of worship, but, in my experience, the worship makes up a relatively small portion of the overall "service" (with the exception, perhaps, of Catholics who tend to intersperse the entire mass with hymns and expressions of praise, though those might technically be "cathedrals").

In the ancient history of my personal religious tradition the ceremonies and festivals were generally held outdoors and throughout the entire city and this is where the largest and most important sacrifices were made. Households also had family shrines to more specific deities and spirits.

Honestly I don't feel that TOTJO really fits the traditional definition of a "Temple." It's definitely closer to a Church.

Rosalyn J wrote: http://web.archive.org/web/20120505065141/http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/ The day after I joined :)

Oh. My. Gods. I'd completely forgotten about that old format and color scheme! But yea, that's what the site looked like when I joined too!

Arisaig wrote: Agreed with your statement, Goken. I dont see much of a difference. Either or works for me.

But for the sake of arguement, gonna pull in the definitions of both.

Church: a building used for public Christian worship.
"they came to church with me"
synonyms: place of worship, house of God, house of worship; cathedral, abbey, chapel, basilica; megachurch; synagogue, mosque


Temple: a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.
"at the altar of the temple"
synonyms: house of God, house of worship, shrine, sanctuary; church, cathedral, mosque, synagogue, shul; archaicfane

As we can see, the synonyms are almost identical, but the definitions differ greatly. One (church) seems more monotheistic. The other (temple) seems to be more open to polytheism or lack of a "God" figure such as religious objects.

May the Force guide this discussion.

And in reality you are right, there really is no difference, except in a persons own perception of what the words mean. From the dawn of time there has always been a word to differentiate a religions place of worship...

Lykeios wrote:

Rosalyn J wrote: http://web.archive.org/web/20120505065141/http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/ The day after I joined :)

Oh. My. Gods. I'd completely forgotten about that old format and color scheme! But yea, that's what the site looked like when I joined too!

Here's a Zinger for ya!!! Us Old timers will remember this... go to... Temple of the Jedi Force This is the off shoot from a great Schism that broke the Temple apart... It still uses the same forum format as what was in the beginning back in 2005....

Neaj Pa Bol wrote:

Lykeios wrote:

Rosalyn J wrote: http://web.archive.org/web/20120505065141/http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/ The day after I joined :)

Oh. My. Gods. I'd completely forgotten about that old format and color scheme! But yea, that's what the site looked like when I joined too!

Here's a Zinger for ya!!! Us Old timers will remember this... go to... Temple of the Jedi Force This is the off shoot from a great Schism that broke the Temple apart... It still uses the same forum format as what was in the beginning back in 2005....

Oh gross... that's just.... yuck....


And I still advocate for a return of the brown here!

Avalonslight wrote: Oh gross... that's just.... yuck....

It was a dark time.

Let's start a formal petition to the council to get Brown!! lol.

Message Adder if you are serious. Might want to get a temple wide vote first though

I'll come up with a formal ask to the temple tomorrow.

Neaj Pa Bol wrote:

Arisaig wrote: Agreed with your statement, Goken. I dont see much of a difference. Either or works for me.

But for the sake of arguement, gonna pull in the definitions of both.

Church: a building used for public Christian worship.
"they came to church with me"
synonyms: place of worship, house of God, house of worship; cathedral, abbey, chapel, basilica; megachurch; synagogue, mosque


Temple: a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.
"at the altar of the temple"
synonyms: house of God, house of worship, shrine, sanctuary; church, cathedral, mosque, synagogue, shul; archaicfane

As we can see, the synonyms are almost identical, but the definitions differ greatly. One (church) seems more monotheistic. The other (temple) seems to be more open to polytheism or lack of a "God" figure such as religious objects.

May the Force guide this discussion.

And in reality you are right, there really is no difference, except in a persons own perception of what the words mean. From the dawn of time there has always been a word to differentiate a religions place of worship...

Hang on... it's literally right there in the definitions quoted. Church is a word for a CHRISTIAN place of worship. Last I checked, whilst Jedi may be Christian, this is not a Christian religion.