Cis.jd
Well-Known Member
Why the straw man here?
No one is arguing that the sabbath must not be recognized. The question is this: does it any more need to be recognized according to the Mosaic Customs? The answer is found in Acts 15, where we learn that the Mosaic customs were no longer binding (Acts 15:5-6,10,19,23-29).
One is certainly welcome to apply certain Mosaic customs to Saturday if he/she wants, but no one is bound to do so. The Mosaic Customs were mere foreshadows of Christ and so we are not to be judged by them (Col 2:16-17); we have liberty concerning Mosaic days and foods (Romans 14); and Jesus himself taught that doing good and meeting basic human needs was acceptable practice for the Saturday sabbath (Mt 12:1-12).
Now, Why are you arguing that the Sunday Worship that the Apostles instituted be abolished?
Why not simply add Sunday to your Worship Calendar the way the apostles did?
What do you have against celebrating the first day of the week in honor of Christ's resurrection the way the apostles did?
Do you have it right while the apostles had it wrong?
Scripture mentions two Sunday gatherings, both at 1 Cor 16:1-2, and in the breaking of bread on Sunday (Acts 20:7). This, combined with the universal practice of Sunday observance of the Lord's Resurrection Day among the earliest Christians, proves what was the apostolic tradition as taught by the apostles personally to their churches (2 Thess 1:15; 1 Cor 11:2).
"Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us."
"I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you"
The traditions were known by the real, historical practice of the first Christians everywhere---which was Sunday observance of the Lord's Resurrection Day. This day, which was always distinct from the Mosaic Sabbath, was the premier day of Christianity, for Christ's Resurrection was the premier day of all history.
Some on this forum have tried to discount apostolic tradition, arguing that the way to know the truth is for everyone to read their bibles for themselves. And these people are quite vocal about it. But their argument falls apart once we realize that no one could read written language until modern times, nor were books able to be mass produced. Jesus used a different method of passing on his teaching. If it wasn't written language, then what other channel of communication was selected?
Jesus Christ and the apostles instituted a system for preserving and passing on His truth that didn't use books or literacy. And Jesus knew what he was doing. So, again, what channel of communication did Jesus use to preserve and pass on his truth to the human race?
One is fully welcome to pay honor to Saturday. However, the early church established a special day of worship of Jesus on His Resurrection Day. The SDAs have broken away from this apostolic custom, 1800+ years after the apostles established it. Denial of Sunday worship is a major departure from historic, apostolic tradition, that scripture commands Christians to "HOLD FAST TO".
I'll go even farther.
Revelation speaks of everyone receiving a mark that signifies unity with the evil Beast.
Everyone knows that a new "mark" arose among Christianity in recent centuries that for the first time in history caused some people to break away from Sunday observance of the Lord's Resurrection. This unique mark could be the one foreseen in Revelation.
Scripture and History demonstrate that while the Christian Church observed Sunday celebration of the Lord's Resurrection from the first century onward, a new practice began "marking" certain people starting in 1860, when a new sect began introducing a practice that did not originate among the early Church up to that time: a mass boycott of the Lord's Resurrection Day.
I'm becoming convinced that the Saturday Worship that this group promotes instead of the Lord's Day is so unique in Christian history as to represent a possible Mark of the Beast. The sect that launched the new movement even has a special prophet: Ellen G. White. And we all know that a false prophet figures large in the book of Revelation.
As is the constant witness of history concerning the early Christians, the standard gathering day of worship is Sunday (the Lord's Resurrection Day).
In the year 100AD, Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch states:
Ingatius, Bishop of Antioch (AD 100)
"Those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death - whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master - how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Magnesians; Ch 9)
This simple statement by a bishop of one of the apostles' churches echoes that which was stated in an even earlier historic document, The Epistle of Barnabas:
Epistle of Barnabas
"Finally He [God] says to them: I cannot bear your new moons and Sabbaths. You see what he means: It is not the present Sabbaths that are acceptable to me, but the one that I have made; on that Sabbath day, which is the beginning of another world. This is why we spend the eighth day in celebration, the day on which Jesus both arose from the dead and, after appearing again, ascended into heaven."
And that statement is followed by many other statements on the subject by the earliest Christians of the apostolic age. Justin Martyr, in about 150 AD says: "On Sunday, we meet to celebrate the Lords supper and read the Gospels and Sacred Scripture, the first day on which God changed darkness, and made the world, and on which Christ rose from the dead."
And this Sunday observance of the Lord's Resurrection Day continued for centuries without interruption. As Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea writes around the year AD 300: "The day of [Christs] light...was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lords day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality" (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186).
And so things continued through all the ecumenical councils of the early Church, and even on through the protestant reformation.
But in the 1800s, following a failed prediction of the Lord's final return in 1844, a last-days group of Americans emerged that received a new doctrine: a mass boycott of Sunday observance of the Lord's Day. The foremost proponent of the new Saturday Sabbath-keeping among early Adventists was retired sea captain Joseph Bates. Bates was introduced to the Sabbath doctrine by a tract written by a Millerite preacher named Thomas M. Preble, who in turn had been influenced by Rachel Oakes Preston, a young Seventh Day Baptist. This new message was gradually accepted and formed the topic of the first edition of the church publication The Present Truth (now the Adventist Review), which appeared in July 1849. Among its most prominent figures were James White, Ellen G. White and Joseph Bates. Ellen White came to occupy a particularly central role; her many visions and strong leadership convinced her fellow Adventists that she possessed the gift of prophecy.
Could it be that Ellen White is the False Prophet of the Book of Revelation? And how might that relate to the Beast's mark of Saturday Sabbath observance?
I admire this intelligent post of yours. However there is a good side to LoveGodsWord that I hope you can see. I understand his commitment to his views, and while he is at error, what he does show is actual proof to the Protestants to this board as to what *we have been telling them in regards to Sola Scriptura.
Let the Protestants try solve this man's interpretation with their interpretation, and hopefully they can remember about all the talks they made about how "Scripture alone" is sufficient.
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