The other day as McD and I were driving to church one day, and I asked him why some churches have steeples and some don't. He is supposed to know everything, but he didn't know that.
So, I did some research, and here is what I have found.
George W. Reid wrote a paper about this subject in 1986. He broke it up into two sections: the document and its arguments, and the examination of the arguments. Here's a little bit of it:
"Church Steeple Study" opposes the use of steeples in connection with Christian churches on the grounds that incorporating a steeple into a church building plan compromises the proper Christian rejection of paganism and permits the encroachment of apostate attitudes and practices.
To see the arguments go to the Biblical Research Institute website for the rest of this paper by George W. Reid.
Ken Collins answers the question on his website. He basically says that the steeples started out as bell towers so churches could ring the bell when it was time for worship. Because back in the day, prior to the nineteenth century, people didn't have the accurate timepieces that we have today. This was how the people knew it was time to worship. (Keep in mind that I am paraphrasing here.) But go to his website to see the rest of the info, it is really quite interesting.
And lastly, Wikipedia states that the towers are a common element religious architecture worldwide and are generally used as attempts to reach skyward toward heavens and the divine.
I'd like to think that the steeples were placed on the buildings so people could find the church as they traveled, or whatever. That's just what I like to think.
