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Originally Posted by Coram Deo  Actually the poor is being told to sit at his footstool.... But this passage is talking about personal favoritism then about sitting.
And the guy in the windows could have been one of those tired or weak that sat around the walls of the church like I quoted from Needham.
Neither case talked about chairs/pews and sitting either while Reading of the Word or Singing of the Word or Praying.
And Early Records from Justin of Martyr and others up to the fourteenth century clearly show that churches had no seating.. Even the Eastern Churches still do not have them today... Quote:
Originally Posted by victorbravo Well it seems pretty clear that sitting occurred in early church practice.
One guy sat in a window, athough he fell out. Act 20:9
And a church was reproved, not for sitting, but for allowing the rich to have the best seats while requiring the poor to either stand or sit in a lowly place. James 2:3 | |
The rich man is still instructed to sit in the best place just preceding that, and you need not attempt to rule out that observation on the grounds that the passage is being used to teach impartiality.
Frankly, I think that your literalism in reading both the Scriptures and the history of the Church is unhelpful, and that if you continued to follow the strained logic of your approach you would end up having to get rid of wall to wall carpeting, air conditioners, etc. none of which are mentioned in Scripture, and all of which are modern items that have been introduced into the life of the church.
Stick to that which is important in the Christian's life and worship, and you will save yourself much regret in future years over time wasted in silly pursuits. I realize that you stated that you were only pondering, but it seem that your pondering is definitely leaning.
Also, just because the East didn't do something for "x" number of years really shouldn't persuade one of anything, since their understanding of Christian theology hasn't developed much either. That particular knowledge of the message of the Scriptures is much more important in the life of the church than circumstantial aspects of worship, and remember - they also still use icons...