Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu (Tom Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: the Sabbath Message-ID: Date: 26 May 91 07:13:34 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: SUNY Binghamton Lines: 84 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , rvp@softserver.canberra.edu.au (Rey Paulo, Hi Rey!) writes: |>In article tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake, Hi Tom!) writes: |>This is fine with me. But my question is by keeping Sunday as a |>replacement of Saturday, is the LORD glorified or happy about it? |>We only have to conjecture here anyway, but experiences of Israel |>are somewhat certain that HE is not. Well, in my mind these are two different questions. "Is the Lord glorified?" Yes. Through worshipping on Sunday many Christians bring glory to the Lord. (Although their actions on the other days are just as important, if not moreso.) "Is the Lord happy about it?" This as you point out is conjecture. I believe that the Lord is happy whenever we worship him, so long as we worship him sincerely. I may be wrong on this count, (God knows I've been wrong enough times in my life.) How about this, Whatever you allow on Earth will be allowed in Heaven, and whatever you disallow on Earth will be disallowed in Heaven. I will allow you to worship the Lord as you see fit, on a day which I will freely grant has the great weight of much historical precedent. Hopefully the Lord will allow me to worship him as I see fit, on a different day, which while it lacks the full weight of tradition as yours still possesses quite a good deal. Both of us can continue in spontaneous worship throughout the rest of the week. |>>There are many practices of the early Jews which we no longer practice. |>>(I've pointed out a few in previous postings.) One of my favorites |>>deals not with the seventh day, but the seventh year. In the seventh |>>year, the Israelites were to let the fields rest. In the sixth year, |>>the fields would produce enough for both years. |>Unless you can show that the seventh year is the same in essence as |>the weekly Sabbath. Well, I'll grant that they share the same theme. God worked six days, and rested on the seventh. The Israelites were called to do the same thing. And to grant the same day of rest to their servants, and animals. Giving the fields rest one day in seven is kinda meaningless, but one year in seven seems to correspond nicely. But, I don't believe your getting your 1/7 is the same as the fields getting theirs. This doesn't address the "Year of Restoration"/"Year of Jubilee". {I quoted the two greatest commandments.} |>Tom, if you look at the 10 commandments and summarize them, it is |>exactly what Jesus mentioned. The 2 greatest commandments as above |>would cause anyone believing in these 2 commandments to keep the |>10 commandments. Commandments (1-4) relate to loving GOD, while |>commandments 5-10 relate to loving your neighbours. But Jesus is quoting as saying that the Sabbath was created for the good of *man*. (Not for the good of God.) The Sabbath might also be understood from the 2 greeatest commandments as a way to love yourself, (take a rest every seven days, it'll do you good!) |>No Tom, I don't condemn you. What I want to do is to share with you |>the idea that keeping Sunday in place of the Sabbath is not, I believe, |>correct. As has been pointed out, I believe that all days are holy. My congregation worships at 11:00am Sunday morning. (In the Summer we worship at 10:00am). I don't believe that it would count against us if we met on Saturdays. But that is not our habit. I don't believe that 11:00am is sacred, that's just when we meet. We join to worship a God whom we believe to be loving, and accepting. I believe God loves us enough to accept our Sunday morning worships, and your Saturday worships. Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton "Eight days a week, I lah-ah-ah-ah-ove you! Eight days a week, is not enough to show I care!"