ATM’s are the American Money Changers
Holy cow (literally)! I’ve never thought about this connection (and if your church wants to be like Jesus and throw the money changers / ATM machines out of the Temple and switch to online donations, Harrelson Agency can help with that).
“The second dimension for consideration in the appearance of ATMs in the lobbies of evangelical churches is that they signaled something by their very presence: America was in fact becoming a cashless society. The debit card that people carried in their wallet could be just as good as cash anywhere else, but in the sanctuary, cash was the appropriate offering.
So as in the ancient world where Jews from all over the world exchanged their secular coins in the Court of the Gentiles in Jerusalem’s Second Temple for coins with no image on them that they could use inside to make various offerings and purchase sacrifices, today’s believers also needed to make an exchange.”
Why cash remains sacred in American churches – The Conversation