A Question for those who keep Sunday

[Arthur Durnan]

Constantine?! Who told you that? Ellen Gould Harmon White & her 19th-century 'Back-To-Moses' American religion with its Jewish seventh-day Sabbath; "investigative judgment;" "annihilation at death & return to nothingness," (zowie! so how can a non-existent entity be RESURRECTED?! It would have to be "RE-created," therefore NOT being the original person at all, at all!); its heavy emphasis on vegetarianism as a key religious element of Ellen Gould Harmon White's philosophy even tho our Lord Jesus ate meat!; its strange prophetic stance re the Roman pope as being antichrist? Is SHE the one who told you? The FACT of the matter is that the Early Church were worshipping, fellowshiping & breaking bread together long, long before any "popes" existed. They worshipped a Risen Savior on Resurrection Day, the true Lord's Day as opposed to the Mosaic Seventh-day Jewish Sabbath given specifically to the nation of Israel. "Stand fast in the liberty..." is most appropo in these derelict times! Please don't take us BACK to Moses, but only ONWARD & UPWARD to the living Christ of God!

http://arthurdurnan.freeyellow.com

[Beta]

Nana, now why should i pollute my mind with some human conceived erronious link when I have the true Word of God in front of me ?

[nanasimmons]

Nana, now why should i pollute my mind with some human conceived erronious link when I have the true Word of God in front of me ?

Did you even read it through?? Did you ever consider that your mind is already polluted and satan is keeping you from knowing the truth?? There is plenty of evidence from scripture on this site that you really should consider.

For instance, if Christ died on Wed. then Mary would have been free to prepare the Lord's body on Fri.,but she instead decided to wait 'two more days' instead??, until the first day of the week.(Mary would not have waited, she would have went Fri. if that were the case!!)

Not only that,if Christ rose on Sabbath, this would also mean just days prior, would have been Palm Saturday, instead of Sunday, and thousands of people would be breaking the the Sabbath by cutting palm branches and Christ would be making a donkey carry a burden on Sabbath, when He rode in on it.

There is lots of things that you may not know, and at the very least, you might find out why others believe what they believe.

Edited December 6, 2006 by nanasimmons

[Smalcald]

But lets just say for the sake of argument, we have it wrong, and Jesus did not rise on the first day of the week, Sunday, say it was Saturday or Monday for that matter.

Would that intrinsically change much of anything? Is this what His message was about, is this what He was about? Ritualistically counting days and Holidays and proper ceremony and outward shows of observance? Or was His message about faith and following Him through our heart and our desires? Look at scripture Paul says NONE of this ritual business, circumcisions, Sabbaths, foods, are worth anything when it comes to following Christ from the heart, from not fulfilling the desires of the flesh. This is one of the reasons that Christ was such a stumbling block for so many of the Jewish leaders of that time, they were stuck on ritual and outward show, but inside as Christ showed them, they had all manner of evil desires starting with pride in their own religiosity. As Paul says these outward shows of observance have an appearance of outward or false humility. We do have scripture, which directly addresses this issue.

I will NOT be brought under the Yoke of bondage, which includes all Jewish ceremonies including outward Sabbath observance, it is a dangerous road and one Paul specifically warned us against.

[Guest yod]

As someone who does observe the Sabbath (as much as is possible) I have to say that imposing this on anyone is legalism, pure and simple.

We must not allow othrodox rabbinic interpretation to overrule what the Apostles said in Acts 15 or we are going down a path that will eventually lead to denying Yeshua altogether.

[Live4Eternity]

But lets just say for the sake of argument, we have it wrong, and Jesus did not rise on the first day of the week, Sunday, say it was Saturday or Monday for that matter.

Would that intrinsically change much of anything? Is this what His message was about, is this what He was about? Ritualistically counting days and Holidays and proper ceremony and outward shows of observance? Or was His message about faith and following Him through our heart and our desires? Look at scripture Paul says NONE of this ritual business, circumcisions, Sabbaths, foods, are worth anything when it comes to following Christ from the heart, from not fulfilling the desires of the flesh. This is one of the reasons that Christ was such a stumbling block for so many of the Jewish leaders of that time, they were stuck on ritual and outward show, but inside as Christ showed them, they had all manner of evil desires starting with pride in their own religiosity. As Paul says these outward shows of observance have an appearance of outward or false humility. We do have scripture, which directly addresses this issue.

I will NOT be brought under the Yoke of bondage, which includes all Jewish ceremonies including outward Sabbath observance, it is a dangerous road and one Paul specifically warned us against.

Amen

Who declaires what day is the beginning and end of the week anyway? Who's to say that? People? haha, we humans are funny. We can't even calculate the time of a year, that's why we have "leap year". We are so finite... dang..

God bless!

[TomPJr]

First of all, why do you keep it? And why are there those who keep it strictly, but others who go to church, then do everything like it was any other day? This is something I've never understood.

For those who believe the Sabbath was changed from the 7th day to the first, why do you believe this? Are there any here who keep Sunday because that's just the way it's always been done in your family and you never really thought about it?

Seeing how the church that I am attending has services on sunday that is the day that I worship with the Body of Christ, tuesday is women's bible study, thursday night is communal prayer so I choose to participate at these times....I have had times in my life when I worked on sundays which makes it hard to observe that day for rest... BUT, the important thing is not the day, it is the fact that we should seperate ourselves to rest in Christ, and I believe that if we put limitations on that to a specific date or time we do not honor Him, we should live our lives as an act of worship and find our rest in Him even in the midst of the things of the world. Just my thoughts, not law.

H7673

שׁבת

shâbath

shaw-bath'

A primitive root; to repose, that is, desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively, figuratively or specifically): - (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.

Sabbath

SABBATH, n.

1. The day which God appointed to be observed by the Jews as a day of rest from all secular labor or employments, and to be kept holy and consecrated to his service and worship. This was originally the seventh day of the week, the day on which God rested from the work of creation; and this day is still observed by the Jews and some christians, as the sabbath. But the christian church very early begun and still continue to observe the first day of the week, in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ on that day, by which the work of redemption was completed. Hence it is often called the Lords day. The heathen nations in the north of Europe dedicated this day to the sun, and hence their christian descendants continue to call the day Sunday. But in the United States, christians have to a great extent discarded the heathen name, and adopted the Jewish name sabbath.

2. Intermission of pain or sorrow; time of rest.

Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb.

3. The sabbatical year among the Israelites. Lev 25.

That is awsome that you go to church meetings throughout the week! You prabably still work and seek your own pleasure on those days too. The sabbath, from evening untill evening is to be kept for holy convocations. Not your personal stuff.

The Sabbath was not given to the Jews! It was given to all mankind, way before there ever was a Jew. If you would really study your bible, with prayer and an open mind, you could only conclude that. Many of us have preconcieved ideas about this from what others tell us. But it's not scriptural.

I was raised with the same ideas as you. It is important to take the bible for what it says, rather than what fits into your comfort zone.

I actually was going to be hired at a job once, and when I told them that I can not work on Saturday, they decided not to give me the Job. They had even already given me uniforms, and orientation pay. I was in. Well I put my faith in Jesus, instead of being scared, or compromising my faith. Shortly after, God blessed me with an even better Job, that didn't require me to work on Sabbath. If you move out in faith, according to Gods will, he will bless you. Test him on this.

We often find ourselves making excuses for disobedience, but that's all they are; excuses. We need to put God first. If we put him first, we will love and obey his law even if it means we will be persecuted, lose our job, our friends, or our family. The Great Controversy has to do with worship. Will we do it Gods way or Satans. We should obey God, even unto death.

God promises a special blessing to those who keep his Sabbath. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't honor God , and worship him on other days. But we have to earn a living, and take care of business on the other days. Therefore we cannot worship all day everyday, as the Sabbath. The whole Sabbath day is set apart as different and special, and holy. Read the fourth commandment.

[TomPJr]

First of all, why do you keep it? And why are there those who keep it strictly, but others who go to church, then do everything like it was any other day? This is something I've never understood.

For those who believe the Sabbath was changed from the 7th day to the first, why do you believe this? Are there any here who keep Sunday because that's just the way it's always been done in your family and you never really thought about it?

This is the day most of the early church chose to worship because of the Resurrection. It is a tradition and a display of unity. However no particular day is the designated day of rest and worship in the NT. The Sabbath was not officially "changed". The Sabbath, as has been explained in threads you won't address, has been fulfilled in Christ, our Sabbath rest.

sw

What do you mean that the sabbath was fullfilled? If you mean that it was fullfilled on every seventh day when christians observe it then you're right. Jesus even said that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fullfill it.

If what you're saying, or implying, is true then we don't have to mind the other nine commandments. The truth is that he fullfilled them by not breaking them. He showed us the example. People like you, who argue that it is not binding, say what's wrong with Sunday? The answer is Nothing is wrong with Sunday Worship. It's the disregard of the seventh day Sabbath, which God set aside as holy, and commands us to keep that is wrong. That is to say that your way is just as good as Gods. Why did cain kill Able??? Because Able did his sacrifice Gods way, and it was accepted. Cain did a sacrifice too, but it was not what God commanded: It was Cains own idea of what to do, and was not accepted.

What would Jesus do? I think he would do as his Father in Heaven commanded.

We are Judged according to what we do with what we know. If you know better then you should repent and change your ways. That is what repentence is: to stop the behavior that is wrong. In this case it would be to stop disregarding the Fourth Commandment. I do not wish to argue, and I do not condemn you; only sin. As a brother in Christ it is my duty to show the light of Christ, and be the salt of the earth. (Salt can burn if put on a wound).

One last thought....It takes more than belief. Even Satan and his angels belive and tremble!

I don't know if you are a new believer, but if you have a pastor, you would be doing yourself a favor if you dicussed your beliefs with him, and let him explain the rest of the NT with you. You don't have the full meaning of what Christ did for you/us.

You are funny! but I guess that really is sad though. My pastor believes as I do. We believe what the bible says. but, I'm sure you say the same thing. Christ did not come to destroy the law. He came to establish it. quit making excuses. since so many of you have excuses (bad ones) to break the fourth commandment. How about sharing some excuses that we can break the other ones. Like murder, or adultery, or stealing.

The only thing that Jesus did away with were the ceremonial laws given by Moses, of which pointed toward the coming Messiah. The Sabbaths that pertained to that was the ceremonial ones, not the weekly ones. The seventh day Sabbath is looking back at creation, not forward. It still exists in the heart of the ten commandments.

Read Mathew. Just because we are forgiven doesn't mean we should continue in sin.

[wordsower]

When I was five years old, my mother joined the Seventh-day Adventist church. I was at the end of my kindergarten year and about to graduate into first grade. I remember going to a big auditorium and seeing my mother being baptized. I didn't know how dramatically this would impact my entire life.

I attended SDA schools 1st-12th and was baptized at the age of ten. I was obedient for the most part, I believed in the church as I grew older, but so many questions were always in my mind. At around age 11, I had a terrible stomach ache and prayed to God that if He would take my stomach ache away I would read the Bible everyday for the rest of my life. It immediately went away and I had a promise to keep, praise the Lord for that stomach ache!

For the next 9 or 10years I kept my promise and at times the scriptures troubled me. I remember around the 9th grade reading Romans 14 and feeling very confused. Paul says "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems everyday alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord" I thought, well that seems pretty clear but surely it doesn't mean what I think it means. Then he went on to say he considers nothing unclean in itself..... These verses troubled me, lots of things troubled me. I thought about Billy Graham and what a great man of God he seemed to be and thought, "Why doesn't he know about the sabbath?" I'd pass a church of some other denomination and see it being built on to and think, "Why are they being blessed with more members?" As I got older I started noticing the attitudes and lives of other christians and could see and feel their joy and when I went to my own church I saw a group of people with solemn faces, little emotion, they all seemed so sad to me. I knew I was sad but it must be because I wasn't trying hard enough to be close to God. I tried to read the Bible but it became a chore and I tried to read Ellen White but even as a child I didn't like her and could never seem to find any common ground with her. She seemed like an extremist to me and I avoided her.

Some years later my neighbors invited me to church, after saying no several times I finally agreed to go. I could see somethig very different with these people...........long story short.........I wanted to "save " them from their error.

I got my Bible out and looked up every scripture I could find under sabbath, then commandment, then law. As I read the words before me I couldn't believe my eyes! I was reading about faith and grace and old covenent and new covenent and laws of Moses and Commandments left after the cross and I prayed, "God, show me the sabbath so that I can enlighten these people. Lord, they're good people and they need the truth, help me out here!" I still read what I thought to be saying I am under grace and not works or the law.

I was at work on a Tuesday before lunch and got the dreaded call from daycare that my son was sick and I had to pick him up. I seldom miss work and I never like to be out, but I had to go home. I picked my son up and he was sick! I prayed for the Lord to make him well so I could go to work the next morning, I had faith and I got up Wednesday at the regular time to get ready and he was still sick. I took the opportunity to study my Bible some more. This went on for the rest of the week. At some point in the week I changed my prayer to: "God, I want to do your will, these scriptures seem to be pointing me to something I've never been taught and I need to know this is your will. Whatever your will is, I want to do it." He led me to scripture after scripture explaining to me so plainly that Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sin and the ordinances of the law and that was the only thing that could save me! I felt like a million pounds had been lifted off of me and I was so happy and excited, I just had to call everyone and tell them! I called my cousin who recently started going back to the SDA church about my revelation and she assured me that I still had to keep the 4th commandment despite the grace. I knew it didn't say in there anywhere that I had to go to church on Sunday, so was she right? I searched some more and prayed and found Hebrews 4:4-9: For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; and again in this place: They shall not enter My Rest." Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and to those whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." For if Joshua had given them rest, he He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

WOW!!!! It wasn't a day, it was a permanent peace, a rest like you can never know until you've been saved by grace! I noticed it was capitalized too. I prayed, "Lord, let me know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true!" Next, he sent me to Hebrews 10:32&35: ( But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possesion for yourselves in heaven. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence which has great reward.) I can not describe to you what I felt when I read those verses, every hair on me stood up, every chill bump came up and the presence of God was so strong I can not find words to describe it. Of course I had years and years of "truth" drilled into me and I still doubted that I was understanding everything. Maybe I should still go to church on the Sabbath. Satan always works hard at stealing our joy and he hates truth, but God is so faithful in revealing His truth to those who honestly seek His face.

A couple of days later my neighbor's sister- in-law, who I had met only once briefly, came to her house to visit. My husband and I were sitting on the front porch, it was a Sunday night and we had been going to the Sunday night service but for some reason we didn't go this time. She asked if I knew where they were and I told her they were at church still but should be getting out soon and she and her husband were welcomed to wait at our house until they returned. Almost immediatlely we began talking and sharing about God and she gave me an awesome testimony of how she had come to know Christ, so I shared mine and she got this excited look on her face and said, oh, let me tell you about my experience with the Seventh-day Adventists. She said she had gone to a Revelation Seminar and had really been captivated by the teachings and was nearing the end of the week and thought she should join the church. She said she was so troubled by the fact that she had never heard these teachings and really prayed for direction in her decision. She said she had really prayed about it and just didn't feel quite sure, so almost at the end of the seminar she was driving along in her car praying for God to just speak to her and let her know for sure this was what He wanted her to do. Then she heard 2 Peter 3:14. She didn't recognize the verse and kept praying, then she heard it again so strongly she said she had to pull over and get her Bible out and see what the verse said. It reads: Therefore beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation-as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and forever, Amen.

She never went back and I never doubted again!

If you have any doubt in your life about anything, claim this promise with faith: James 1:5-7 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

Shortly after this I had a dream. It was simply a large hand (definately God's hand) drawing a picture of two parralel lines with dirt in the middle of them and drawing specks in the dirt and small circles on either side of the lines. It was very vivid and kept coming back to me so I prayed for meaning. A couple of days later I was getting into my car and noticed the Bible in the back seat was opened. I had not remembered it being opened. In a hurry, I took my son to daycare and when I was getting back into the car I noticed it again so I picked it up, curious to see what it was opened to. It was Mark 4-The Parable of the Soils! After reading it over and over for a few days I still did not understand the meaning. Then the last time I looked I noticed verses 13 and 14 which I hadn't read to yet. It says: ..."Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the Word." Wow! Written in red and spoken by Jesus! I said OK, so show me how to sow the Word! That night SDA Outreach e-mailed me in response to an e-mail I had written thanking them for their site and content and asked me to consider posting my testimony anonymously. Needless to say, I posted but definately not anonymously. I praise God for using me to share with so many and thank Him for entrusting me to sow His Word.

Don't ever take a person's word for anything! There is one word, the Word of God. Within that Word is everything you need to know and God is so willing to show it to you, all you have to do is ask, without doubting!

God Bless you all and may the Spirit of Truth guide you and keep you from all deception.

[nanasimmons]

But lets just say for the sake of argument, we have it wrong, and Jesus did not rise on the first day of the week, Sunday, say it was Saturday or Monday for that matter.

Would that intrinsically change much of anything? Is this what His message was about, is this what He was about? Ritualistically counting days and Holidays and proper ceremony and outward shows of observance? Or was His message about faith and following Him through our heart and our desires? Look at scripture Paul says NONE of this ritual business, circumcisions, Sabbaths, foods, are worth anything when it comes to following Christ from the heart, from not fulfilling the desires of the flesh. This is one of the reasons that Christ was such a stumbling block for so many of the Jewish leaders of that time, they were stuck on ritual and outward show, but inside as Christ showed them, they had all manner of evil desires starting with pride in their own religiosity. As Paul says these outward shows of observance have an appearance of outward or false humility. We do have scripture, which directly addresses this issue.

I will NOT be brought under the Yoke of bondage, which includes all Jewish ceremonies including outward Sabbath observance, it is a dangerous road and one Paul specifically warned us against.

The point is that the days/feasts were very important then, in this respect, Jesus was fulfilling prophecies concerning Himself,His entry into Jeruselem,Passover Lamb, First Fruits ect...

Another point is,the gospels say "on the first day of the week"(Matt.28), why should we not believe what it says??Does people, like Beta, think it was a trick to get people to believe a lie or something?? Thats just crazy!!

Some people like Beta, have some kind of contempt for sunday and act as if satan created it and those who worship on that day are influenced by the devil ....(wittenly or not, it is offence to some). Instead of trying to understand others beliefs, you want to stomp all over them, and insult people's knowledge of the truth...

I look at the first day of creation and see that there may be a hint for a first day ressurection..among other reasons. (in my opinion)

Gen.1 The First Day

God said let there be light: and there was light...God divided the light from the darkness...