Sabbath question from seeker

[tofu]

Exodus

20.8:Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.


I will keep this short but I would like to know how you personally keep Sabbath, what you regard as Holy and what you would not find to be appropriate. I won't get in to the debate regarding the Saturday/Sunday issue as it's all quite peripheral to me but I do acknowledge the importance of a rest day so I would love to get your thoughts on it.

 

[k4c]

Exodus

20.8:Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.


I will keep this short but I would like to know how you personally keep Sabbath, what you regard as Holy and what you would not find to be appropriate. I won't get in to the debate regarding the Saturday/Sunday issue as it's all quite peripheral to me but I do acknowledge the importance of a rest day so I would love to get your thoughts on it.

Is it good to do evil or good, saved a life or take a life on the Sabbath day?

The seventh day was blessed, sanctified and called holy by God at creation, even before sin was in the world. He calls us, along with working animals to cease from labor on that day in order as a means of keeping it holy. Why is the seventh day so important? Because it testifies of creation and its Creator. It is also used symbolically as a picture of our rest works as it relates to working to be made acceptable to God. We are to keep the day holy but not in such a way that the day becomes more important than caring for needs pertaining to life.

 

[Revelation 14:6-12]

Exodus

20.8:Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.


I will keep this short but I would like to know how you personally keep Sabbath, what you regard as Holy and what you would not find to be appropriate. I won't get in to the debate regarding the Saturday/Sunday issue as it's all quite peripheral to me but I do acknowledge the importance of a rest day so I would love to get your thoughts on it.

If I may be a bit forward and straight at the beginning? There is no choosing of ones own day. That is setting oneself above God and setting up ones own righteousness, this is exactly what Satan has done:

My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments [are] righteousness. Psalms 119:172

yet satan said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Isaiah 14:14

The Most High is seen directly in the 4th Commandment, by name:

For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11

It is impossible to keep any other day as the Sabbath, for the Commandment does not say that the "Sabbath" is merely "on" the 7th day, as if it could be altered, but the commandment directly says that the "7th Day" is itself the Sabbath: "the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God", and so it is impossible to keep any other day as the Sabbath, while knowing what the 4th Commandment says, so unless it is truly the 7th day that is kept holy, it will not really matter what is presented. Even by removing the word [is], since it is not in the Hebrew, the case is even stronger, "the 7th day the Sabbath" notice also specifically, "of the Lord thy God". It is His.

If it is "peripheral" then why bother at all? It is either specific or it isn't.

"...How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him: but if Baal, [then] follow him...." 1 Kings 18:21;p

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Luke 11:23

Please consider these things.

However, to answer the main question, how do we keep the sabbath holy...

We cease from common work and we can go to church [convcation; Leviticus 23:3] on Sabbath [Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2], and read the scriptures [Acts 15:21], sing with the congregation in hymns and psalms and spiritual songs [Psalms 100:2; Colossians 3;16], give heed to the Word, fellowship, potluck, walk in nature [Mark 2:23; Luke 6:1], share and discuss the Word, pray, etc... and number of things that we may do in spending time with the Lord Jesus Christ on His Holy Day. These things are blessed especially upon this day.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

Isaiah 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:

This is a day you spend focusing on the one you love more than any other... spending personal devotion with Him, spending time with His brethren, spending time in His wonderful creation contemplating Him, or doing what He has asked us to do, visiting the sick and lonely, bringing comfort and peace to them.

These are the things the Lord is pleased with...

 

[k4c]

Isaiah 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:

This is a day you spend focusing on the one you love more than any other... spending personal devotion with Him, spending time with His brethren, spending time in His wonderful creation contemplating Him, or doing what He has asked us to do, visiting the sick and lonely, bringing comfort and peace to them.

These are the things the Lord is pleased with...

Amen...

The verse in Isaiah is a lttle confusing because of the translation. It tells us not to do pleasure on the Sabbath but then it tells us to call it a delight. The word, pleasure, in the original language carries the thought of doing business to obtain financial gain. God does not us to do business as usual on the Sabbath. He even provided double on Friday so their needs would be met for the Sabbath.

 

[Joe67]

Exodus

20.8:Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.


I will keep this short but I would like to know how you personally keep Sabbath, what you regard as Holy and what you would not find to be appropriate. I won't get in to the debate regarding the Saturday/Sunday issue as it's all quite peripheral to me but I do acknowledge the importance of a rest day so I would love to get your thoughts on it.

tofu,

First, you must labor six days and do all your work.

Ex 20:9
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: KJV

Joe

 

[Rottiedog]

Well, the core question is how I personally keep the Sabbath so I won't get into which day is which and all that either. So, let's just take today as an example.

Last night at 6:00 our church Pathfinder group had a potluck and annual awards ceremony at a member's home (I'm on the youth group staff). At sundown the pastor of the church did a little speech and said closing prayer. When I got home I didn't do much of anything. I sat and thought about the night's event and watched a few past episodes of "Hoarders" (as shown on the TV network channel A&E) on my computer. I could start to smell spoiled milk from the kitchen so I loaded the dishwasher, brought the bunny in the house, and went to bed.

This morning I got up really late. I hopped on my motorcycle and rode to this guy's house to refund him some money and we talked about Christian motorcycle groups. I then went to the store to get potluck food. I rode to the church, helped serve the food, ate (they were yummy haystacks) and went to my parents' house for a visit. After that I came home, watered the plants, filled a couple of holes in the driveway with dirt, wrote a letter to God, read some articles in the Adventist Review magazine and am now writing this.

I know many conservative Adventists might have some problems with a few of my actions in the past 24 hours so I'll explain.

Since I spent so much time talking to the guy about Christian motorcycle groups I missed the actual church service so I'm going with my parents to their church in the morning (Sunday). I felt it was more important to talk about Jesus than it was to rush off to catch the service. I can catch church tomorrow and can catch God anytime. I think this guy may have had ties with the Hell's Angels and since I was all decked out in my biker club vest with my huge Sabbath Keepers patch on the back, I really didn't want to brush him off and leave him thinking that Christians were rude.

As far as watching a non-Christian show and doing dishes on Friday night is concerned, yesterday I was super stressed. So, numbly staring at people who hoarded 2,300+ rats in their home helped me to wind down. Yeah, I could've read the Bible or watched something Christian on the computer but I didn't. No excuse there.

The smelly milk started to bug me so throwing the dish in the washer and filling the thing up to run a full load just seemed logical.

Today I filled a couple of holes with dirt and the sun's still not down yet. I didn't think that was a big deal because I noticed them when I took my motorcycle out to go to church and ran over the holes (not good when you're on two wheels). I guess I could wait and fill them tomorrow but I know I'll forget. With my luck, I'll hit the holes again on the way out to my parents church, and wreck or some fool thing like that. So, I just filled them.

Finally, you may have noticed that I stopped by the store on the way to church today. Well, I have to drive several miles in any direction to get anywhere that resembles civilization so, for me, getting the stuff when I was already in town and around the corner from the church made more sense that making an extra trip in the day before (I'm a single mom and unemployed so I don't have an endless supply of gas money).

So, explanations aside, that's how I spent my Sabbath. For me, I kept it pretty holy. Stuff I would find not appropriate to do on the Sabbath is visit a strip joint, slam a twelve pack of cheap beer, or be involved in a drug deal. But, I think most people wouldn't consider those things appropriate anyway - - on any day.

In a nutshell, I think that how one keeps the Sabbath is a personal thing. I do believe that the Sabbath is from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown and choose to do my church stuff then. As far as what everyone else does, it's between them and God. And that's my thought about that.

 

[k4c]

Well, the core question is how I personally keep the Sabbath so I won't get into which day is which and all that either. So, let's just take today as an example.

Last night at 6:00 our church Pathfinder group had a potluck and annual awards ceremony at a member's home (I'm on the youth group staff). At sundown the pastor of the church did a little speech and said closing prayer. When I got home I didn't do much of anything. I sat and thought about the night's event and watched a few past episodes of "Hoarders" (as shown on the TV network channel A&E) on my computer. I could start to smell spoiled milk from the kitchen so I loaded the dishwasher, brought the bunny in the house, and went to bed.

This morning I got up really late. I hopped on my motorcycle and rode to this guy's house to refund him some money and we talked about Christian motorcycle groups. I then went to the store to get potluck food. I rode to the church, helped serve the food, ate (they were yummy haystacks) and went to my parents' house for a visit. After that I came home, watered the plants, filled a couple of holes in the driveway with dirt, wrote a letter to God, read some articles in the Adventist Review magazine and am now writing this.

I know many conservative Adventists might have some problems with a few of my actions in the past 24 hours so I'll explain.

Since I spent so much time talking to the guy about Christian motorcycle groups I missed the actual church service so I'm going with my parents to their church in the morning (Sunday). I felt it was more important to talk about Jesus than it was to rush off to catch the service. I can catch church tomorrow and can catch God anytime. I think this guy may have had ties with the Hell's Angels and since I was all decked out in my biker club vest with my huge Sabbath Keepers patch on the back, I really didn't want to brush him off and leave him thinking that Christians were rude.

As far as watching a non-Christian show and doing dishes on Friday night is concerned, yesterday I was super stressed. So, numbly staring at people who hoarded 2,300+ rats in their home helped me to wind down. Yeah, I could've read the Bible or watched something Christian on the computer but I didn't. No excuse there.

The smelly milk started to bug me so throwing the dish in the washer and filling the thing up to run a full load just seemed logical.

Today I filled a couple of holes with dirt and the sun's still not down yet. I didn't think that was a big deal because I noticed them when I took my motorcycle out to go to church and ran over the holes (not good when you're on two wheels). I guess I could wait and fill them tomorrow but I know I'll forget. With my luck, I'll hit the holes again on the way out to my parents church, and wreck or some fool thing like that. So, I just filled them.

Finally, you may have noticed that I stopped by the store on the way to church today. Well, I have to drive several miles in any direction to get anywhere that resembles civilization so, for me, getting the stuff when I was already in town and around the corner from the church made more sense that making an extra trip in the day before (I'm a single mom and unemployed so I don't have an endless supply of gas money).

So, explanations aside, that's how I spent my Sabbath. For me, I kept it pretty holy. Stuff I would find not appropriate to do on the Sabbath is visit a strip joint, slam a twelve pack of cheap beer, or be involved in a drug deal. But, I think most people wouldn't consider those things appropriate anyway - - on any day.

In a nutshell, I think that how one keeps the Sabbath is a personal thing. I do believe that the Sabbath is from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown and choose to do my church stuff then. As far as what everyone else does, it's between them and God. And that's my thought about that.

Sometimes I have to make a store run on the Sabbath and sometimes I have to get gas and use an ATM. I don't think I would fill holes unless it was an emergency. I don't believe watching TV on the Sabbath is a big deal. God tells us to think on these things, that which is good, lovely and so on. We can find this kind of stuff on TV. As far as missing church to talk to someone about God I think it's good unless you have a responsibility at church such as keyboard plays or Sabbath school teacher. The Sabbath is a time to develope and strengthen relationships built on Christ and to gather as a family of God to use our God given gifts to bless God's church. God still loves us even when we don't keep the Sabbath.

 

[ricker]

Sometimes I have to make a store run on the Sabbath and sometimes I have to get gas and use an ATM. I don't think I would fill holes unless it was an emergency. I don't believe watching TV on the Sabbath is a big deal. God tells us to think on these things, that which is good, lovely and so on. We can find this kind of stuff on TV. As far as missing church to talk to someone about God I think it's good unless you have a responsibility at church such as keyboard plays or Sabbath school teacher. The Sabbath is a time to develope and strengthen relationships built on Christ and to gather as a family of God to use our God given gifts to bless God's church. God still loves us even when we don't keep the Sabbath.

Just an observation, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hard and fast rules. Is this any way to regard one of the esteemable ten commandments which will be the royal seal of God? I mere acceptance of the command enough?

 

[Rottiedog]

Just an observation, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hard and fast rules. Is this any way to regard one of the esteemable ten commandments which will be the royal seal of God? I mere acceptance of the command enough?

Hmmm. Good question. Unfortunately, I'm not philosophical enough to answer it.

 

[k4c]

Just an observation, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hard and fast rules. Is this any way to regard one of the esteemable ten commandments which will be the royal seal of God? I mere acceptance of the command enough?

Our faith walk under the new covenant is based on the words of Jesus. Listen to the teachings of Jesus regarding how to keep the Sabbath holy in light of necessary needs that arise on the Sabbath. The important thing about the Sabbath is remembering what it represents. Whether we work on the Sabbath or not does not change the meaning or the reason for the Sabbath but it does reveal how we view the desire and will of God in light of our relationship with Him.

 

[Joe67]

Some are given to grow up in a great deal of turmoil, like David, the son of Jesse, who later became the king over the 12 tribes.

David served and worshiped the Lord through constant turmoil in his personal habits and in much turmoil among the 12 tribes.

He even tried to move the ark on an oxcart, thinking he was pleasing the Lord. The consequence left David in agony concerning the Lord's disposition. David did not know it was not pleasing to the Lord to move the ark on wheels, though it was already written. When he learned a better way, he made the change.

The Lord draws us to him ever so slowly, little by little, in our habits and understanding, while the fullness of grace covers over us as a cloud by day and a fire by night continually justifying we who worship and serve the Lord even while we are ungodly in our flesh and ignorantly blundering along the way.

Luke 23:33-35
33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. KJV

Joe

 

[ricker]

Our faith walk under the new covenant is based on the words of Jesus. Listen to the teachings of Jesus regarding how to keep the Sabbath holy in light of necessary needs that arise on the Sabbath. The important thing about the Sabbath is remembering what it represents. Whether we work on the Sabbath or not does not change the meaning or the reason for the Sabbath but it does reveal how we view the desire and will of God in light of our relationship with Him.

Sounds to me like you are saying the acceptance of the Sabbath and what it represents is the most important thing, and that the specifics of it's keeping is more personal than arbitrary. Thanks for your viewpoint!

 

[ricker]

Hmmm. Good question. Unfortunately, I'm not philosophical enough to answer it.

Just a random thought of mine anyway. God bless!

 

[k4c]

Sounds to me like you are saying the acceptance of the Sabbath and what it represents is the most important thing, and that the specifics of it's keeping is more personal than arbitrary. Thanks for your viewpoint!

Our activities on the Sabbath will be influenced when we accept the Sabbath as God's holy day and our lives will be changed when we accept what it truely represents. Our activities on the Sabbath are founded on the liberties taught by Jesus regarding issues that arise on the Sabbath. There is a standard of truth that we, as followers of Christ, love and live by.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

Sounds to me like you are saying the acceptance of the Sabbath and what it represents is the most important thing, and that the specifics of it's keeping is more personal than arbitrary. Thanks for your viewpoint!

No more important than fully understanding and keeping the the other nine...

 

[Joe67]

No more important than fully understanding and keeping the the other nine...

ECR,

When the beginning brethren (who founded the SdA) were searching, the 4th commandment shone brighter than the other commandments.

Sabbath is gospel. He who abides in the Sabbath, the Sabbath will live through him, and keep him from sinning/coveting.

Joe

 

[ricker]

No more important than fully understanding and keeping the the other nine...

Sorry, I decided to delete my sarcasm.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

ECR,
Sabbath is gospel. He who abides in the Sabbath, the Sabbath will live through him, and keep him from sinning/coveting.

Joe

I don't know where you understand this from... the Sababath day itself isn't holy and righteous, the One who hallowed and sanctified it is.

When you understand that divine love is why we honour the Sabbath then you will understand why we honour our parents and why we don't harm our neighbours and why we worship God above all other things.

 

[ricker]

I don't know where you understand this from... the Sababath day itself isn't holy and righteous, the One who hallowed and sanctified it is.

When you understand that divine love is why we honour the Sabbath then you will understand why we honour our parents and why we don't harm our neighbours and why we worship God above all other things.

I have a question maybe you can answer for me.

Jesus said that Jews could work on the Sabbath if there was a perceived neccessity. (Like rescuing personal property from a hole). If all the ten are the same and morally equivelent can we use this idea for the others? May we dishonor our parents or take God's name in vain or commit adultery or steal if it seems to us to be a personal neccessity?