what??

given to them by who?? what are you talking about???

The land was given to them by God. What land are you talking about? LOL!! We may be talking past each other. Hehehehehe!

lol, well yeah...

but you can't say the church was in poverty because everything they owned actually belonged to God... thats akin to saying Bill Gates is living in poverty because God actually owns everything Bill Gates has...

I was saying the early church was not as poor as some people think they were, there is evidence that major landowners and "city council" members were converts in the early church in cities like Corinth and Ephesia and in Galatia (I think its Galatia that is a territory not a city)

The church was not poor... do you think a bunch of poor, broke peasents could build the catacombs??? No way...

The catacombs were not built by the church. They were built by the Romans. The early church was not made up of a bunch of rich people. I am sure there were some rich folks in the mix, but the church did not hit the ground running with wealth untold.

they didn't have wealth untold, no, but you don't have to have wealth untold to not be in poverty...

look at Sister Alvear's post that I first responded to in this thread where she claimed the early church was in poverty. Simply put, claiming the early church was in poverty is false... That's my point... They weren't grossly wealthy, either, but they were far from impoverished...

and the Christians lived int he Catacombs, however they got there... my point was there was no way they were going to be down there for as long as they were without some wealthy and powerful people bing a part of thier group and protecting them....

Brother, the early church didn't even have a church. They met in houses. She knows what she is talking about.

Can you see how your own words betray your claims? They weren't in poverty but they were living in the catacombs. *sigh*

honestly, church buildings and Christianity being legal are two of the things that hinder the modern church the most...

besides, the "church" is not the building we meet in, its the people. If you say "the early church was living in poverty" that means the people were in poverty and that is simply not true...

the entirety of the church never lived in the catacombs, just the ones that got found out by the Roman government...

Christianity is NOT legal in many places in the world. Communism, Islam, and Hinduism are the worst offenders.