Subject: Whats the major reson for sunday worship |
Bible Note: Searcher, Let's examine some things you have said here: 1) "The New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath." What of the text in Heb. chapter 4. the "rest" refered to here is the Sabbath day. We are commanded to labor to enter into that rest. In verse 9 the Greek word is "sabbatismos" the seventh-day sabbath. And - "The apostle Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but breaking the Sabbath was never one of them." Verse 11 says "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." What better command do you need or what more of a warning not to break the sabbath? The penalty is to fall into unbelief which it seems has happened here. 2) "We believe the Old Testament regulations governing Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of the law. As such, they are no longer in force." Why would 9 of the 10 commandments be considered the moral law while the 4th is not? - "In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul explicitly refers to the Sabbath as a shadow of Christ, which is no longer binding since the substance (Christ) has come. It is quite clear in those verses that the weekly Sabbath is in view. The phrase "a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day" refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy days of the Jewish calendar (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 31:3; Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11). If Paul were referring to special ceremonial dates of rest in that passage, why would he have used the word "Sabbath?" He had already mentioned the ceremonial dates when he spoke of festivals and new moons." Special holy days during the Jewish festivals were also called sabbath days of rest. They were kept IN ADDITION TO the seventh day sabbath (Lev. 23:37-39 note verse 39 a sabbath on the 1st day and a sabbath on the eighth day). These were the "ceremonial sabbaths" mentioned here in Col. 2 and Gal. 4. not the seventh day sabbath of the 4th commandment. 3) "In our only glimpse of an early church worship service in the New Testament, the church met on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7)." Please compare Acts 20:7 with Acts 2:46 and explain how Acts 20:7 is proof to keep Sunday (aside from the fact that this meeting in Acts 20:7 took place on Saturday night). 4) "Nowhere in the Old Testament are the Gentile nations commanded to observe the Sabbath or condemned for failing to do so. That is certainly strange if Sabbath observance were meant to be an eternal moral principle." What of the very 4th commandment itself? The Gentiles that had joined the Jews in faith were called the "stranger" and the "son of the stranger" (II Sam. 1:13). Read Ex. 20:10, 23:12, Lev. 18:26. 19:34, 24:22, Num. 15:16 and 29-30, Deut. 5:14 to see even Gentiles kept the Sabbath in the Old Testament. Gentiles that had joined to the Jews even kept the Mosaic laws of the time too (Num. 9:14, 15:14, Deut. 31:12). God even honored the prayers of the "strangers" that came to worship Him in Jerusalem (I Kings 8:41-43 and II Chron. 6:32-33). But I'm starting to stray a little from the main subject. 5) "There is no evidence in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands in the Bible to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai." What of Ex. 16:22-30? This happened before they reached Mt. Sinai showing the 4th commandment had been kept before the Law was given there. 6) "When the Apostles met at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15), they did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers." There was no need to. The Gentiles came anyway and at times even requested Paul to come preach to them on the Sabbath (Acts 18:4 and 11 and Acts. 13:42-44). Pesonally I think you need to stop picking and chosing scriptures that seem to support your personal beliefs while rejecting or redefining those texts that very clearly show you are wrong. |