Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Was it NAILED to the CROSS ? Message-ID: Date: 18 Feb 91 04:26:45 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu {Kevin offers his text and then writes} {Romans 14:5-8} >"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers >every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to >God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself >alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. >So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." #It would seem to me that he is implying the Sabbath with the "one sacred day". #I would therefore conclude that upholding the Sabbath is a point of personal #freedom not as an eternal commandment. Forgive me if you have already addressed #this passage. I would be interested in your input. Hi Kevin, I do not have my Bible in front of me so as to go further at this time. But I think that the key to this text is in what I underlined for you. I believe that it is better for people to have their own personal understanding of the scriptures than to subscribe to the dogma of any particular church. It is better for people to be their own students of the Bible and see things a little different here and there than to hold to some dogma for the sake of unity. And I think that is one of Paul's themes. Just because Paul urges the Bereans and others to search the scriptures for themselves to see if these things are true does not mean that Paul is pre-ordaining what you will discover when you do your study. All too often I have a Bible study with someone and we agree that the Bible teaches 'A'. Then I gently point out that their church teaches position 'B' and to my amazement they instantly come back subscribing to position 'B'. We can dissagree about whether Paul is just talking about arguments about which feast days must be observed vs including the 7th day Sabbath, and that is fine, let us each study personally for ourselves. But I think the greater point that Paul is trying to make here, that dwarfs the Sabbath question in the context of the text, is this - that churches should not be places where members must conform to dogma. Let the scriptues be the final authority. That was the stand that Luther made when ordered to recant. Friend, Dave