davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) (05/26/91)
Let us say that you were married on June 15 and have for years been celebrating June 15 as your anniversary date. On that day, each year, you go out of your way to demonstrate to your wife that you love her. June 15 has become a special date for the two of you. Your wife travels to Europe to see the land of her roots. And then you receive that fateful phone call. The plane she was on was hi-jacked. The news develops and it appears you will never see her again. Weeks go by. Some sort of a hostage deal. She is alive after all. And finally the plane load of former hostages arrives back home. She is on board. She is returned to you alive on June 16, the day after your anniversary date. Now for my question - would you two henceforth celebrate your anniversary on June 16? That is the day on which she was returned to you alive again. Note that the Sabbath was created by Jesus, the Lord and creator of the Sabbath, to be a weekly memorial of creation week. It was created for man before Adam sinned, and Adam and Eve were not Jews. Note that the Bible emphasis is on Christ's death - He died for me and for you. Paul says - "I die daily". So, if the Bible emphasis is on His death for you and me, then would not Friday bear more significance than Sunday? A careful examination of the NT makes it clear that Christianity did not convert to Sunday during the life time of those who wrote the NT. History bears out that the conversion to Sunday came later during a time when many new innovations came into the church - many of these rejected by the Protestant Reformation. In the NT we find that baptism and the Lord's Supper were added before Christ's death. From the following texts it should be clear that anything added to the New Covenant after Christ died cannot be considered a part of the New Covenant. In Luke it is made especially clear that Jesus "rested" over the Sabbath day, clearly establishing that this be an established part of the New Covenant. And we see the women waiting until after the Sabbath before they come to annoint Him with their potions. Again making clear that nothing has changed with regards to the Sabbath over the week-end. The New Covenant is established with the Sabbath intact. "For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. " -- Heb 9:16,17 (NKJ) "Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. " -- Gal 3:15 (NKJ) The tradition based change to Sunday many years later did not add Sunday to the New Covenant. Clearly it could not have according to what Paul is saying about the New Covenant in Hebrews and Galations. So, what are birthdays, anniversaries, rememberances of creation week; what are these all about? They have to do with relationships, relationships with those we love. What does it say about a husbands love if he refuses to celebrate his wife's birthdays and their anniversaries? What does it say about the Christian who refuses to celebrate the day of which Jesus is Lord and Creator? In the OT I find repeated the warning of prophets that God's people will be taken into captivity if they don't return to the Sabbath. Is God drawing a line in the sand and shouting - cross that line and I'll beat you up? No, not at all. When God's people cannot find the time for their relationship with God, they end up more and more caught up in materialism and imported the idolatry around them. After awhile they have lost their relationship with God and how then can they be God's special people? Two days ago my boss asked me to work on Sabbath. I explained why I cannot. He accepted that. But the friend I ride to work with each day has his 'Sabbath' for a couple hours Sunday morning. He frequently works the week-ends and thinks nothing of it. This anyday will do philosphy has resulted in a rather low priority for time spent with God. How can Sunday really be a special day with God when He has not ordained it? The any day philosophy comes from a missunderstanding of what Paul was talking about. From the above texts it should be clear that Paul is not proposing that any weekly day of the week will do. He is rather saying that it is up to each individual to decide what to do about the annual Sabbath dayS. These are clearly identified in the OT as Passover, Feast of Tabernacles, etc. These are annual feast days pointing to the cross. Their symbolism pointed to the cross and not beyond the cross. That was the big time issue of Paul's day. The Judaisers were urging a continuance of the sacrificial system. Paul is clear that these ended at the cross. There are far too many NT examples of Paul worshiping with the gentiles on the Sabbath, not Sunday, to establish that Paul was not proposing that anyday, Sabbath vs Sunday, will do. " 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"" -- Mat 15:8,9 (NKJ) The any day will do philosophy has resulted in a rather liberal approach to the worship of God each week. That is for most people and I will acknowledge that there are the exceptions who do worship God on Sunday the way He would have them worship Him on the Sabbath. It is God who reads the heart and is the final judge. Dave (David E. Buxton)
jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) (05/28/91)
In article <May.26.02.25.18.1991.14009@athos.rutgers.edu> davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) writes:
+cannot. He accepted that. But the friend I ride to work with each day
+has his 'Sabbath' for a couple hours Sunday morning. He frequently
+works the week-ends and thinks nothing of it. This anyday will do
+philosphy has resulted in a rather low priority for time spent with God.
+How can Sunday really be a special day with God when He has not ordained it?
Would you prefer compulsory Sunday observance? Or conversely, why
isn't every day a 'special' day for communion with your diety. The
Catholics have mass every day, but for most protestants there is
only Sunday service(some may have a mid-week 'prayer' service or
informal 'breakfasts' but nothing formalized).
--
John Clark
jclark@ucsd.edu
[Nowhere has Dave suggested compulsory observance, and if he were to,
I seriously doubt it would be on Sunday... His position has been that
Christians should celebrate the Sabbath, which is Saturday (or Friday
night/Saturday, depending upon how literal you want to get). --clh]