Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: rvp@softserver.canberra.edu.au (Rey Paulo) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sabbath change and History (was a question for those in love ...) Message-ID: Date: 5 Jun 91 04:26:30 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Canberra Lines: 61 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) writes: > >And if it was so special, why is there no record of it's observance >from the 7th day of creation to Mount Sinai? (Approx. 3 thousand >years by the 6K year old earth, 2K before the flood type, 1K to Moses >type reconing). The mention of any ritual in Genisis is sparse to >say the least, a few burnt offerings, a few idols, a prostitute, >that's about it. >-- > Hi John, your article implies that the Sabbath had not been practiced until the time of Moses. I believe you really have not understood the meaning why the Sabbath is so special to the LORD. Well here it is. Genesis 2:1-3 (Time: Creation) "And the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day GOD finished what he had been doing and stopped working. HE blessed the SEVENTH DAY and set it APART AS A SPECIAL DAY, because by that day HE had completed HIS creation and stopped working." See the reason why it is so special? And then, 3000 years later. Exodus 20:8 (Moses' time: The Ten Commandments) "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. You have six days in which you have to do your work, but the SEVENTH DAY is a day of rest dedicated to ME. On that day no one is to work - neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. In six days, I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the SEVENTH DAY I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the SABBATH and made it holy. See why the Sabbath is special to the LORD? It is so special not because the Jews were a special people but because GOD completed HIS work on that day. HE said, HE blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. And this blessing occured thousands of years before there was any Jew. Now, to the laws like stoning an adulterer, etc., etc. These CIVIL laws were specifically given to the Jews for the obvious reason that they needed strict laws to govern their daily living during their exodus from Egypt. It was a tough life. Wasn't it? Fourty years wandering in the desert and fighting both from within and without and settling. They also had laws concerning the treatement of contagious diseases such as leprosy. The need of these sort of laws is very evident or the Jews would surely perish without them. Any contemporary society can still adopt and practice these laws if it wants to. Present islamic states do practice them. You can if you want to. No harm. They are just quite strict because they were intended for people who would have to undergo a tough life such as the exodus. I bet these laws especially the ones on sanitation are very appropriate to the recent plight of the Kurds. See the appropriateness and see how GOD could see which and which is not appropriate for us? Praise GOD for HIS infinite wisdom indeed. -- Rey V. Paulo | Internet: rvp@csc.canberra.edu.au University of Canberra | I am not bound to please thee with my answer. AUSTRALIA | -Shylock, in "The Merchant of Venice" ------------------------------+----------------------------------------------