Originally posted by DHK:
Abyiah,
With respect to your comments:
1. There is no command anywhere in the New Testament for any believer to observe the Sabbath.
I am sorry. I often forget that not
everyone accepts the whole Bible as
relevant for today. Even so, how can
you discount Matthew 5:17 - 20?
2. However, we do have the examples of believers observing the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.16:2).
Do you understand Jewish time? This
was written by Jews about Jews, who
lived within Jewish customs and
understood the days and their
divisions according to those customs.
Many who do not understand assume
that Paul started preaching on Sunday
morning and preached until Sunday
midnight, but he did not.
After the Sabbath, the first day of the
week comes upon sundown. As was
the custom, when Shabbat ended,
many would gather in a home and
eat there, while continuing to discuss
the day's Scriptures. This is what
they were doing, and Paul used the
opportunity to preach. (This was quite
ordinary; what was not ordinary was
the child falling out of the window.)
The reason money, food, and other
items were set aside on the first day
of the week was that money was not
handled on th Sabbath, other than
the Temple coins. It was a convenient
time to do this--when all were already
together. Also, the poor could take
their portions as they left the Sabbath
assembly that evening and left for
home.
3. We have the command of Paul (Col.2:16,17) not to allow anyone to judge a believer who does not keep the Sabbath or any other Old Testamen ordinance for we are not under bondage to such.
If I remember correctly, this was
already explained here.
4. We have the command of Paul in Romans 14 that no one should judge a believer for not worshipping on the first day of the week, and that every day is alike. The key here he points out is: "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
I think this was also explained.
5. We have Hebrews 4 teaching us that Christ Himself is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath.
Shall we, then, discount our Lord
and His Sabbath by refusing to
acknowledge His day of which
He is Lord?
To use Constantne as an example of the one who made the change from Saturday to Sunday is just plain wrong. Constantine was not a Christian, but a wicked man who used Christianity for his own political gains. He paganized Christianity, and Christianized paganism. He introduced many pagan concepts into the church at that time including the worship of idols. This is not when Christianity began, but it is when the Catholic Church began. It has nothing to do with the Sabbath or the first day of the week, as believers were already worshipping on the first day of the week. The New Testament gives ample evidence of this.
Then you must be one who will
deny historic facts in order to
justify your beliefs.
I am not as legalistic as some in "doing nothing but worship" on Sunday. However I do agree, that things were much better in that age when on Sundays all but the most necessary of things were closed (police, hospitals, etc.). They were closed in order that people could go to church. Since times have changed so has our society. It has become much more secular, and much more godless.
DHK
If Christians would only truly
observe their chosen worship day
as the Bible commands the Sabbath
to be observed, it would be much
easier to accept that they are truly
trying to observe it in righteousness.
I am glad tha you do try to observe
it more seriously than most.