Subject: Is the Sabbath on Saturday? |
Bible Note: Mr. Billy Joe, Either you accept ALL of Scripture to be inspired and acknowledge when, how and why Christians may worship on Sunday, or you ONLY believe those that tie in with your particular doctrine. With enough "Jewish blood" to have gone to the furnace in Germany, I have a certain view on "the Sabbath". If the "Jews" today KNOW the early church began to worship on Sundays during Paul's day, why can't the church 2,000 years later accept the same truth as gospel? The following is from Jewish Encyclopedia under “Sabbath”. I believe they “know” the facts better than someone who arose one morning with a “better day to worship”. “A brief consideration is desirable as to why and when the keeping of the seventh day as the Sabbath ceased among Christian churches. That Jesus and his disciples kept the seventh day, and without vital departures from Pharisaic usages, is indisputable. The question of Sabbath observance first became acute under Paul, with the rise of the non-Jewish Christian communities. The Petrine, or Judæo-Christian, party insisted on rigid adherence to the Jewish law. It scorned the looser practises of the converts from without Israel. To this Col. ii. 16 et seq. has reference; Paul protests against judging the piety of the neophytes "in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast-day . . . or a Sabbath-day" (R. V.). He protests with greater bitterness in Gal. iv. 9-11, where observance of days is denounced as a return to the "weak and beggarly elements." In Rom. xiv. 5 et seq. it is assumed that whether one day or another is distinguished, or whether all are regarded as equally sacred, is a matter of indifference: every man must decide for himself. Thus while the Petrine partizans continued to assemble for worship on the Sabbath (Acts ii. 1, iii. 1, et al.), in non-Jewish Christian circles the first day of the week came to be marked by longer worship than usual and by collections of gifts (I Cor. xvi. 2; comp. Acts xx. 7). The name "Lord's day" first occurs in Rev. i. 10, where it may mean the day of judgment (see Day of the Lord); it is next found in Ignatius, "Ad Magnesianos" (§ 9). Pliny testifies to the fact that the Christians assembled on "a fixed day" ("stato die"; "Epistolæ," x. 96).” (Thus ends info from Jewish Ency) I find it particularly interesting that, although most who have responded to this “problem” have used the same Scriptures as the Jews use. I doubt if anybody used this same source to back them up. They simply used the promise of the Holy Spirit to teach them truth. I might be "a little prejudice", but if anyone claims one thing and history AND Scripture proves another, I’ll go with Scripture and history every time. Sir, with all due respect, if you feel you must worship on Saturday, I will abide to what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write about those who are weak in faith, in Romans 14:1 and want to push their bondages etc, "Welcome the weak believer and do not criticize his views." Welcome! In His Service, Taleb |