Do any SDAs keep the Sabbath?

[Link]

Several years ago, i was invited to a 'Friday night' meeting at an SDA church with someone else who actually spoke English here in Indonesia. since I did not speak Indonesian at the time, that was a big deal. I thought I'd check it out.

I found it interesting how loosely the Sabbath was observed, flipping on light switches. There was a computer on in the office and I wondered if it was turned on before or after sundown.

How many SDA's keep the OT laws about the sabbath by not
1. starting a fire on the sabbath
(e.g by sparking an engine when you crank a car or sparking a light when you flip a switch.)
2. Observe sabbath restrictions on travel.

Acts describes the distance from Jerusalem to Olivet as a sabbath's day's journey. That is about a half a mile. How many SDA's violate this by driving over half a mile to church in a car whose engine they just sparked by turning the key?

Do any SDAs on this forum actually keep the sabbath literally?

Acts 15:28-29
28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Thought the SDA's are legalists? Boy, you're the ultimate! And you - not they - are of the narrowest of minds I've seen!
No! I don't think the SDA's 'have' the right Sabbath; but you I'm sure have not the least idea about what the Sabbath is about, sir.
The Jews also believe and keep Sabbath - like the Adventists do - and for the same reason, namely the Law - the Fourth of the Ten Commandments. Both groups are 100% right in that it is the Seventh Day of the week ('Saturday'). And nobody but nobody can prove them wrong in that!

My view - for what it is worth - is that the tragic thing about both persuasions is that neither can see Jesus Christ in the Sabbath Day. That is the only thing wrong with them and with their Sabbath. Believing and keeping the Seventh Day the Sabbath of the LORD your God for ANY reason other than Jesus Christ makes of the whole one spectacle for bewailing!
I have been trying now for about 30 years trying to show the SDA's why and how the Sabbath should be the most joyful thing for Christ's sake and by reason of Him. But I don't think ten of them know about any reason for it to be Christian Faith! The very idea of the Sabbath for and by reason of Jesus Christ is smothered dead before having been given an ear for five minutes!

Reformed Christians have a much better idea about Jesus being the Beginning and End of the Sabbath (like of any Article of Christian Faith). Only tradition remains an obstacle to accepting The Sabbath because of Jesus Christ "according to the Scriptures". But the process does show promise!

Better give account for your believing Sunday, than condemn the SDA's for irrelevant trivialities!

 

[ascund]

Hey Gerhard

Link was describing the current practices of our Jewish friends. Yes - they are rather legalistic about this. Oh to God we would fear breaking His commands as do these blind Israelites.

Lloyd

 

[Johnv]

Originally posted by Link:
Do any SDAs keep the Sabbath?

Yes the do. They keep it on Saturday. Many Christians keep it on Sunday.

Unfortunately, many Christians do not keep it at all, confusing "assembling to worship" for "resting".

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Quoting Link, "Acts 15:28-29
28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well."

Why not did the Synod's resolution - if it condemned the Sabbath, read: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 1. Not to hold fast of the Sabbath Day any longer; 2, That ye abstain from meats offered to idols (etc.)... from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well", BUT INSTEAD, advised that the very resolution should be read in the Christian Churches everywhere every Sabbath Day?
You argument puts up a show of stupidity!

 

[ascund]

Hey Gerhard

The Mosaic Law is not dead. It can still be used wisely. The NT has upgraded the once a week external worship to an every day internal worship. All 10 commandments given under the Mosaic Law have been likewise upgraded.

Lloyd

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Quoting Johnv, "Unfortunately, many Christians do not keep it at all, confusing "assembling to worship" for "resting"."

Unfortunately many Christians are unable to see how real Sabbath's-resting is synonymous and co-incidental with assembling to worship - sseing it is the Lord Jesus they so gather to worship!

 

[Johnv]

Originally posted by ascund:
The Mosaic Law is not dead.

It depends. The civic and rabinnic Mosaic laws are dead. The moral laws (namely, the 10 Commandments) are alive and well.

The NT has upgraded the once a week external worship to an every day internal worship. All 10 commandments given under the Mosaic Law have been likewise upgraded.

I concur.

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Originally posted by ascund:
Hey Gerhard

The Mosaic Law is not dead. It can still be used wisely. The NT has upgraded the once a week external worship to an every day internal worship. All 10 commandments given under the Mosaic Law have been likewise upgraded. Lloyd

Hi Lloyd,
The Old Testament Law is not dead, because The Law that made the Old Testament, was nailed to the cross and was obliterated - to the end God raised Him from the dead again! He now, in being The Law of God, "remains valid for the People of God" also with regards to the Sabbath's ceebration of Him in victory over annihilation and death. The Sabbath thus through jesus Christ has become indispensible as 'Church-Day', and must wisely be kept holy. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead "In Sabbath Day's fulness", "The Sabbath" - Seventh Day of the week - has obtained a meaning and an honour it before did not have. And therefore the very notion of an "every day internal worship" - a conscious Christian Community of Believers - confirms the Seventh Day Sabbath of the LORD your God as the Day "God thus concerning, spoke: And God on the Seventh Day finished all His works"!
Called "The Seventh Day" under the Mosaic Law, "The Sabbath" has in Jesus Christ in resurrection from the dead ON IT, RECEIVED its reason for doing and obeying. 'Every-day-Sabbath-Day' is not the Word of God. "The Seventh Day" though, is - for the purpose and end of glorifying and magnifying Him from whose mouth it proceeded.

 

[Chemnitz]

If true Sabbath is resting with the Lord and the Lord comes to us by means word. Wouldn't we be observing the Sabbath everytime we spend time in the word? And if this is the case then what is the point about legalistically insisting on setting aside a specific day?

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Originally posted by Chemnitz:
If true Sabbath is resting with the Lord and the Lord comes to us by means word. Wouldn't we be observing the Sabbath everytime we spend time in the word? And if this is the case then what is the point about legalistically insisting on setting aside a specific day?

Accuse God for "legalistically insisting on setting aside a specific day - "The Seventh Day" in distinction from the "six days thou shalt work" - not anyone who ENJOYS "feasting Sabbath Days" and ENJOYS in CHRISTIAN faith feasting them "Feasts" BECAUSE of Jesus Christ who "TRIUMPHED" - Col.2:15-17!
Why should God have been so specific to fulfill the ESSENCE of the Seventh Day - His REST - by raising Jesus Christ "IN the Sabbath's fullness"? why so 'specific' 'legalistically', "the third day (of Passover-law) ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES?
Go, ask God! And see how He answers in Christ!

 

[ascund]

Hey Gerhard

Originally posted by Gerhard Ebersoehn:
The Old Testament Law is not dead, because The Law that made the Old Testament, was nailed to the cross and was obliterated

This is a bad exegetical summary of Col 2. Go back and see what was actually nailed to the cross.

I have to go teach and can't spend time to do a look up of the word "law." I know Paul wanted to establish it (Rom 3:31).

More later.
Lloyd

 

[Link]

Gerhard wrote,

***Why not did the Synod's resolution - if it condemned the Sabbath, read: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 1. Not to hold fast of the Sabbath Day any longer; 2, That ye abstain from meats offered to idols (etc.)... from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well", BUT INSTEAD, advised that the very resolution should be read in the Christian Churches everywhere every Sabbath Day? You argument puts up a show of stupidity! **

Where did I make an argument? I quoted scripture. If you have a problem with the 'argument' I posted, you have a problem with scripture.

But if you want to read an argument, notice that the council did not feel led to lay on the Gentile believers anything other than what they had listed.

And that part about the resolution being read every sabbath day is not in my Bible. It does say that Moses is read every sabbath. Remember there were synagogues throughout the Roman world that read the Torah every sabbath.

 

[Claudia_T]

Yes, Seventh Day Adventists actually keep the Sabbath. The Jews were very legalistic in their keeping of the Sabbath, more rigorous then the Law actually asked them to be. Jesus came to set them straight on the true keeping of the Sabbath and what it was really intended to be.

God intends that we take a special day of the week, namely the 7th day, to commemorate the creation and remember Himself as our Creator, and the one true God, to whom we owe our allegiance and affections.

It is good on "Preparation Day" which is Friday, to try to do everything that you can do, workwise, such as cooking the food that you will eat on the Sabbath, etc... so that you will be able to devote that Sabbath day to God. To pondering His love, His power as the Creator and as Sanctifier of His people.

The Sabbath is meant to be the most sacred and happy joyous day of the week. If celebrated the way that it was intended, you would love the Sabbath. Dont worry about cooking, dont worry about having to do the dishes, dont worry about the weekly mundane things that you usually do all week. Its a special day.... the day God told us to "Remember" but unfortunately, the very day Satan would have us forget.

Read about how Jesus showed the true keeping of the Sabbath:


From the Seventh Day Adventist Book: "Desire of Ages" by Ellen White:

The Sabbath
The Sabbath was hallowed at the creation. As ordained for man, it had its origin when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7. Peace brooded over the world; for earth was in harmony with heaven. "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good;" and He rested in the joy of His completed work. Gen. 1:31.

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[ September 24, 2005, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: Bible-boy ]

 

[Claudia_T]

"Desire of Ages" by Ellen White
(another chapter about Jesus and the Sabbath)

Bethesda and the Sanhedrin
[This chapter is based on John 5.]
"Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water."

[Edited post due to its violation of BB posting rules regarding copyrighted materials. You can post a short quote with reference to its source and author. You cannot post entire article or sections of books. Likewise, you cannot string together multiple quotes from the same source/author. Post a short quote and summarize in your own words and thoughts in order to engage in the discussion.]

[ September 24, 2005, 12:51 AM: Message edited by: Bible-boy ]

 

[Claudia_T]

Just one more thing about the Sabbath.

If you keep the Sabbath as it was meant to be kept, and if you keep the true Sabbath, the 7th Day Sabbath, then it puts things into perspective for you.

You set aside this special day of the week, to think about God, to ponder His power in Nature, His creative powers. And then you will come to understand and believe that God has the same creative powers to RECREATE you into His image, which is the object of Jesus dying on the cross for us. Not just to forgive us for our sins but also to redeem us from our sinful ways... to change us, to regenerate us.

Ps:51:10: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Ex:31:13: Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

Ex:31:17: It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Isa:58:
13: If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words
14: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

 

[Claudia_T]

Seventh Day Adventist speaker in 1899 on the subject of what the Sabbath means:

Lessons On Faith
By A.T. Jones

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Creation or Evolution, Which?
--------------------------------------------------
I am going to speak this afternoon on the subject of evolution. I want you to pay close attention and find out for yourselves whether or not you are evolutionists. First of all, I will read to you what evolution is; then as we follow along, you can see whether or not you are an evolutionist. These statements are all copied from a treatise on evolution, written by one of the chief evolutionists; therefore, they are all correct, so far as they go, as definitions:
"Evolution is the theory that represents the course of the world as a gradual transition from the indeterminate to the determinate, from the uniform to the varied, and which assumes the cause of these processes to be immanent in the world itself that is to be thus transformed."

[Edited post due to its violation of BB posting rules regarding copyrighted materials. You can post a short quote with reference to its source and author. You cannot post entire article or sections of books. Likewise, you cannot string together multiple quotes from the same source/author. Post a short quote and summarize in your own words and thoughts in order to engage in the discussion.]

[ September 24, 2005, 12:52 AM: Message edited by: Bible-boy ]

 

[Chemnitz]

Gerhard, I have by searching in the scriptures, and he has answered me there is freedom in Christ. Only in Christ may Sabbath be found and Christ can only be found in the Word. So when I am spending time in the word, I am remembering the Sabbath and am not doing any work. I am finding rest in the fulfillment of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. I am not accusing God of being legalistic. I am rightly accusing you of legalism. Carefull reading of the law will show that not once is the seventh day named. The law only says work six days and on the seventh rest. The calendar is arbitrarly set by man. To base article of faith on something set by man is wrong.

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Originally posted by Link:
Gerhard wrote,

***Why not did the Synod's resolution - if it condemned the Sabbath, read: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 1. Not to hold fast of the Sabbath Day any longer; 2, That ye abstain from meats offered to idols (etc.)... from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well", BUT INSTEAD, advised that the very resolution should be read in the Christian Churches everywhere every Sabbath Day? You argument puts up a show of stupidity! **

Where did I make an argument? I quoted scripture. If you have a problem with the 'argument' I posted, you have a problem with scripture.

But if you want to read an argument, notice that the council did not feel led to lay on the Gentile believers anything other than what they had listed.

And that part about the resolution being read every sabbath day is not in my Bible. It does say that Moses is read every sabbath. Remember there were synagogues throughout the Roman world that read the Torah every sabbath.

It's senseless to quote Scripture for no reason - and your reason was to make a point - your argument. And I do have a problem with your 'argument'.

Your right, it is not in so many words written the resolution was read every Sabbath - it's just common sense; and it was implied in the order per se. The mplication is as undeniable as the words recorded. Blame me for adding that to the Scriptures, I would gladly plead guilty.

Now please notice that the Apostles themselves found it in order "to add"! It would have been wrong of them if they added against 'what is written'. And it is certain they added nothing against Scripture! Fact is: They in the end added nothing for everything they demanded and commanded to be read to the Church everywhere and - automatically, every Sabbath Day the Church 'was there' to hear these words and resolutions to be read to them - in essence is or was contained in the Scriptures already. Then in themselves the resolutions listed in Acts 15 are nothing but prohibitions of the idolatrous practices of the (former) pagan Gentiles. It cancelled no established Christian principle or doctrine or 'Law'. Sabbath's observance is the most obvious lawful principle of the first Christians according to Christian "manner". It cannot be blindness that prevents you from seeing; it can only be wilfull rebellion out of unreasonable hatred for the Sabbath Day of Christianity.

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Claudia T,
What's the point with this lenghty article on evolution?
Oh yes! I forgot it is why the SDA's keep the Sabbath. Well, I find it a totally reduntly and ireelevant and empty subject as pertaing the Christian reason for Sabbath's-enjoyment.