Christians: Do You Uphold the Sabbath Law?

by serotonin_wraith 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • serotonin_wraith
    serotonin_wraith

    If the Biblical commands are to be followed, and God's morality outweighs or controls our own, I must say I feel the law about not working on the Sabbath seems to be ignored for the most part.

    Some of the laws found in the OT have now been set aside by many Christians - not stoning disobedient children, for example. Believers may show how Jesus' arrival on Earth fulfilled certain rules which only applied to the Jews of the time.

    Can the same be said for the Sabbath law? I don't believe so. It still appears in the ten commandments, and I was under the impression those rules had to be followed today.

    If all sins are equal, it's a little odd how we don't hear of any groups picketing at supermarkets every week with signs saying 'God Hates Sabbath Workers'. It's even odder how many Christians don't even follow the rule themselves.

    What constitutes working on the Sabbath? Picking up sticks was enough to kill one man in the Bible. Shopping and gardening could be rather obvious examples. How about cooking, taking the dog for a walk, driving?

    Can there be exceptions? Ambulance drivers, hospital staff, authors, pastors, sea rescue personel, firefighters? Which are allowed and which are not? If a job is allowed because it's a matter of life and death, couldn't shops be open too, for if someone has no food in and it's the Sabbath, the need to eat becomes a matter of life and death. If something goes wrong with a person's plumbing so that they cannot get drinking water, does this mean plumbers are allowed to continue working on the Sabbath?

    I don't see the rule functioning in the real world. It's too difficult. It's completely impractical. Yet, if this is the law of the Almighty, why don't more people follow it, instead of conveniently ignoring it and focusing on the more easy to follow ones such as no stealing and no lying? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with working on the Sabbath, but then I'm not the one supposedly basing my life around the Bible.

  • wizardca
    wizardca

    Mathew 5:17, 18 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

    By fulfilling the law Christ satisfied it's requirements in our place. In other words, the 'required' obedience is accomplished in Him. Therefore, in Christ do we keep all the law faithfully, and cannot be accused. In this way, we are no longer judged by any of the everlasting laws, for we are under the Grace of God. The law doesn't condemn us.

    Snipped from: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/oldlaw.html

    Or did I miss the point of the post entirely?

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips
    If the Biblical commands are to be followed, and God's morality outweighs or controls our own

    Not all the Mosaic laws were in themselves of a moral nature, even if a moral lesson could be derived from them. The moral code remained in Christianity, and existed even before the Mosaic law was set down.

  • OBVES
    OBVES

    You have to realize that we are living in the end-times and we may be as far as less than 4 years from the end of the present evil world order if you know my posts. If so, the words of Daniel 12.4 should have found fulfillment now !

    You don't look how people understood the Sabbath 200 years ago or 1000 years ago but how the Sabbath is understood now and by whom ?

    Luke 9.49-50 allows for two categories of Christ's servants who are legitimate preachers of the Bible in the end-times:

    one small group + one seperate individual servant that closes the list of 144000 specially chosen people by God Yahweh .

    These must reflect the times when Christ and his first servants lived.

    7 BC - 2 BC - 29 AD - 33 AD - 36 AD - 70 AD - 106 AD And we superimpose this timeline properly upon our times using the date 1984 AD as the beginning date to place the corresponding dates.

    1879 AD - 1884 AD - 1914 AD - 1950 AD - 1984 AD - 1991 AD

    The Sabbath now is a Spiritual Sabbath ! Each and every day of a week for a true christian is a Sabbath day as their time is under the 7th day for God Yahweh which was already when Christ lived and is still now and will be for many years to come.

    Christ spoke in parables- Matthew 13.11,34-35.

    Matthew 11.28:

    Come unto me ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest .

    Come unto me ye that sin and are heavy laden with sins and I will give you rest ( every day ) from sins !

    In view of that most christian religions are in opposition to that kind of the New Sabbath !

  • The Oracle
    The Oracle

    I predict the end of something in 2008 at 02-22-2008 sometime after 3:00 PM.

    That something is going to be HUGE! But of course, I can't tell you what it is....just yet.

    After all, I am the Oracle.

    Obves, you are an Oracle wannabe. Give it up, my friend. This place is not big enough for the two of us.

    The Oracle

  • Zico
    Zico

    "Can the same be said for the Sabbath law? I don't believe so."

    The Apostle Paul thought so - Romans 14:5

  • serotonin_wraith
    serotonin_wraith

    wizardca,

    Are you saying that you don't follow the ten commandments then? I'm not sure how someone could not obey the law, yet 'keep the law faithfully'. It's one or the other. You either obey it or you don't. Can you also get away with stealing and then say you're actually keeping that law faithfully?

    BTS,

    I agree there was a 'moral code' before the Bible was written. You may say that's our God-given conscience. How would you solve this dilemma...? I don't agree with all the rules in the Bible. E.g. Homosexuality being wrong. Which morality is right? That written in the Bible, or the morality in my head? If both are from God, why the contradiction?

    Obves,

    Where in the Bible does it say it's now a 'spiritual Sabbath'? How about spiritually not stealing, or spiritually not lying? Either a person steals and lies, or they do not. You either work on the Sabbath, or you do not. I can't see how it can be a metaphor.

    Zico,

    In context, isn't the scripture talking about those whose faith is weak not obeying all the laws? See also Romans 14:1-4. If you're right, and that rule can be ignored now, would you say you follow the nine commandments, or are there others you don't have to follow too?

  • Deputy Dog
    Deputy Dog

    s_w

    Can the same be said for the Sabbath law? I don't believe so. It still appears in the ten commandments, and I was under the impression those rules had to be followed today.

    You sound like a SDA

    This is what Hebrews 4 is about

    Hebrews 4:9

    So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one having entered into His rest, also [has] rested himself from his works, even as God [rested] from His own

    Jesus is my Sabbath all day every day

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips

    BTS,

    I agree there was a 'moral code' before the Bible was written. You may say that's our God-given conscience. How would you solve this dilemma...? I don't agree with all the rules in the Bible. E.g. Homosexuality being wrong. Which morality is right? That written in the Bible, or the morality in my head? If both are from God, why the contradiction?

    The "morality in your head" is influenced by culture and social norms.

  • serotonin_wraith
    serotonin_wraith

    DD,

    I think it can be interpreted both ways. There remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God - straight forward. Anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work - is this saying you automatically rest from your own work when you enter His rest (whatever that means)? If you enter God's rest, are you automatically resting from your work, or do you continue to work? You continue to work. Are you saying "Well I may work physically, but my spirit or my mind or my heart doesn't work"?

    Apply it to telling the truth. Anyone who enters God's truth also tells the truth. Does this mean we automatically cannot tell another lie? No. Can it mean we may physically tell lies, but inside we only tell the truth, when we talk to ourselves? Strange.

    That's why it looks to be saying anyone who enters God's rest will make sure they rest too, just as God is doing. Anyone who enters God's truth will also make sure they tell the truth themselves. That makes much more sense.

    Are you down to fllowing nine commandments too?

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