Sabbath Keeping

[Woody]

What are your responses to the following statements that were accepted at the General Conference Session in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 9, 1990 ...

Quote:

"When the sacred nature of the Sabbath is understood, and a loving relationship exists between parents and children, all will seek to prevent intrusions into the holy hours by secular music, radio, and video and television programs, and by newspapers, books, and magazines."

" eating out in restaurants, and paying for services to be provided by others ought to be avoided because they are out of harmony with the principle and practice of Sabbath keeping."

[phkrause]

It sounds like someone at a different place in there relationship with our Lord and Saviour. I find nothing wrong with that statement, unless their stuffing it down someone's throut who's not ready for that. We all need to grow in our own way. Besides its between us and God, he knows what's in our hearts.

pk

[Taylor]

What are your responses to the following statements that were accepted at the General Conference Session in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 9, 1990 ...

Quote:

"When the sacred nature of the Sabbath is understood, and a loving relationship exists between parents and children, all will seek to prevent intrusions into the holy hours by secular music, radio, and video and television programs, and by newspapers, books, and magazines."

" eating out in restaurants, and paying for services to be provided by others ought to be avoided because they are out of harmony with the principle and practice of Sabbath keeping."

I would tend to agree, though I know many wouldn't.

[Woody]

It sounds like someone at a different place in there relationship with our Lord and Saviour. I find nothing wrong with that statement, unless their stuffing it down someone's throut who's not ready for that. We all need to grow in our own way. Besides its between us and God, he knows what's in our hearts.

pk

[fccool]

Actually, after the Jews returned from the captivity... the Sabbath rules got so strict that the Jews were not to turn the key to go in their own houses. Here's some of the Babylonian Talmud Sabbath rules here:

http://www.science-halacha.com/wrks39/wrks39_eng_homepage.htm

Just read through some of these and you will begin to understand the depth of the Jewish legalism at these times. Many of these things were updated for a present day also so take a read.

[John317]

God goes by the motivations and intentions of the heart. He knows when people are doing doing things out of love for Him and when they are doing them in order to win favors or because they are frightened of Him.

My mother cooked everything on Friday, not because she thought it would save her but because she loved the Lord and wanted nothing to get in the way of her time with Him. It wasn't a legalistic practice but one she did out of honor for God's Sabbath.

Quote:

At the very beginning of the fourth commandment the Lord said,

"Remember." He knew that amid the multitude of cares and perplexities

man would be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirement

of the law, or would forget its sacred importance. Therefore He said:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

All through the week we are to have the Sabbath in mind and be making

preparation to keep it according to the commandment. . . .

When the Sabbath is thus remembered, the temporal will not be allowed to

encroach upon the spiritual. No duty pertaining to the six working days

will be left for the Sabbath. During the week our energies will not be

so exhausted in temporal labor that on the day when the Lord rested and

was refreshed we shall be too weary to engage in His service. . . .

On Friday let the preparation for the Sabbath be completed. See that all

the clothing is in readiness and that all the cooking is done. . . . The

Sabbath is not to be given to the repairing of garments, to the cooking

of food, to pleasure seeking, or to any other worldly employment. Before

the setting of the sun let all secular work be laid aside and all

secular papers be put out of sight. Parents, explain your work and its

purpose to your children, and let them share in your preparation to keep

the Sabbath according to the commandment.

There is another work that should receive attention on the preparation

day. On this day all differences between brethren, whether in the family

or in the church, should be put away. Let all bitterness and wrath and

malice be expelled from the soul. In a humble spirit, "confess your

faults one to another, and pray one for another."

Before the setting of the sun let the members of the family assemble to

read God's Word, to sing and pray.

We should jealously guard the edges of the Sabbath. Remember that every

moment is consecrated, holy time.

The home I grew up in was like this. Late in my teen years I rebelled and went out in "the world," but it was my memories of the Sabbath at our home that always were in the back of my mind and eventually played such a big part in bringing me back to Christ and His church.

[doctorj]

What are your responses to the following statements that were accepted at the General Conference Session in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 9, 1990 ...

Quote:

"When the sacred nature of the Sabbath is understood, and a loving relationship exists between parents and children, all will seek to prevent intrusions into the holy hours by secular music, radio, and video and television programs, and by newspapers, books, and magazines."

" eating out in restaurants, and paying for services to be provided by others ought to be avoided because they are out of harmony with the principle and practice of Sabbath keeping."

I have no problem with this statement as far as it goes. What it is not saying but seems to be underlying it is what type of television shows, what types of magazines? Of course we could be watching the Hope Channel and still be within the keeping of the Sabbath. Or we could be reading the Adventist Review (which is a magazine). You cannot just blanket all TV shows, etc in the way the statement reads.

What is missing with this statement is the underlying intention of the statement. The underlying idea is that we should in everything we do on Sabbath be able to dedicate what we read, see and do to Jesus. This is God's time and so we should be doing things that render praise to God and to keep our minds attuned to God's wondrous work he is doing in our lives.

[Raphael]

EGWs writings state (now, pls don't ask me to quote, alright) that the Jewish customs paved the way for the Sunday observance which has becomes todays Christian hallmarks (non SDAs and other Sabbath keepers). I think that was in the Great Controversy somewhere.

Sunday became the day of seeming true deliverance from the stressfulness of the Jewish Sabbath. Today, SDAs are counseled to return to Sabbath keeping without the human made Jewish traditions but still does not address the human need for joyous rest. Rest for old people, where they are normally rather physically inactive in comparison to the young, comes to ideal terms with our church's sanctified way of keeping the Sabbath but the physically healthy and active does not get any 'joyousness' but rather another round of work equivalent, body and mind energy consuming ordeals.. (being 'inactive' for lengthy time durations is energy consuming..)

I had a Muslim acquaintance who tried different Christian churches and finally told me how tiring it feels at the end of SDA church programs (the 8 or 9 to 12 am). I could not explain much to the person, why SDA church hours didn't bring about the expected blissful encouragement but then we, SDAs had all the sound doctrine to compound on..

Perhaps, is it because we are the bride in waiting for the bridegroom to come about and save the day? Therefore, implying times of sore unhappiness till that 'day'.. sounds rather unhealthy.. Perhaps, the word 'rest' should be investigated further, like resting 8 hours a day (24 hours) and 'that' 24 hours in every 7X24 hours. Problem is, rest is more often tied to physical inactivity and not the contrary, emotionally likewise as well..

The other idea of Sabbath keeping is to be always in or with God.. denoting every Christian spiritual behavior like praying, going to church, singing church songs and all those other stereotype deeds.. furthered with no playfulness or frivolity, no running around, no physical games or sports like volley ball and others. Even jogging is questionable..

Maybe times have changed a lot and the things that apply during those times don't apply now.. Long hair was Biblically mandatory for women, guitars were abominations as well as cinemas, Elvis Presley's tunes were of hell where today it would sound very religiously oldy, akin to slow beat swinging ancient church songs and so on.

Probably, its all subjective depending how people would deem things at a personal level. People of yonder days would be far less educated than today, affecting how they would do and see things..

Meandering thoughts,

Raphael

[Woody]

Quote:

December 25, 1865, I was shown that there has been too much slackness in regard to the observance of the Sabbath. There has not been promptness to fulfill the secular duties within the six working days which God has given to man and carefulness not to infringe upon one hour of the holy, sacred time which He has reserved to Himself. There is no business of man's that should be considered of sufficient importance to cause him to transgress the fourth precept of Jehovah. There are cases in which Christ has given permission to labor even on the Sabbath in saving the life of men or of animals. But if we violate the letter of the fourth commandment for our own advantage from a pecuniary point of view we become Sabbathbreakers and are guilty of transgressing all the commandments, for if we offend in one point we are guilty of all. If in order to save property we break over the express command of Jehovah, where is the stopping place? Where shall we set the bounds? Transgress in a small matter, and look upon it as no particular sin on our part, and the conscience becomes hardened, the sensibilities blunted, until we can go still further and perform quite an amount of labor and still flatter ourselves that we are Sabbathkeepers, when, according to Christ's standard, we are breaking every one of God's holy precepts. There is a fault with Sabbathkeepers in this respect; but God is very particular, and all who think that they are saving a little time, or advantaging themselves by infringing a little on the Lord's time, will meet with loss sooner or later. He cannot bless them as it would be His pleasure to do, for His name is dishonored by them, His precepts lightly esteemed. God's curse will rest upon them, and they will lose ten or twentyfold more than they gain. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me, . . . even this whole nation." Ellen White 1T 531

[DanC]

I have a Question about Sabbath. We are advised not to buy food on Sabbath and yet organizations such as It Is Written book special weekends for their donors that include meals and accommodations. I'm not sure I understand.

[Everett]

My wife was the Cafeteria Supervisor in an Adventist Hospital, so she reduced staff for Sabbath. Big mistake! People from the Adventist church near by were upset, becaues they had to wait longer for service. They didn't want to go home to eat. They could bring their friends over to the hospital cafeteria and save themselves some work.

[Raphael]

Quote:

There has not been promptness to fulfill the secular duties within the six working days which God has given to man and carefulness not to infringe upon one hour of the holy, sacred time which He has reserved to Himself. But if we violate the letter of the fourth commandment for our own advantage from a pecuniary point of view we become Sabbathbreakers and are guilty of transgressing all the commandments, for if we offend in one point we are guilty of all. God's curse will rest upon them, and they will lose ten or twentyfold more than they gain. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me, . . . even this whole nation." Ellen White 1T 531

I don't and won't do dishes on Sabbath day except if they are going to be used again.. I certainly would enjoy rest from a weeks hard work, can't imagine people not wanting to enjoy an equivalent of a vacation on the Sabbath and would still find ways to make a dime..

.. loosing ten to twenty fold more than they can gain..? I thought it was the 'worldly' that had all the world to gain and nothing to lose except eternal life in heaven. Who sways the power and money in this world, are they the Sabbath keepers? Are Sabbath observers financial hubs of this world or are they the very contrary?

Even with Solomons glorious days, Israelites were never part of world power players else the nation would have be included in Daniel's Statue of prophecy.. It would be sort of misleading if the story goes that God rewards people 'worldly wise'. Would bring a lot of disapointment around..

Perhaps we shouldn't be daunted by the idea that God's people were never meant to be 'big' in this world, cause we are just sojourners in spiritual warfare journeys on a battleground called earth..

Happy Sabbath,

Raphael

[Woody]

Quote:

The violation of the fourth commandment is not confined to the preparation of food. Many carelessly put off blacking their boots, and shaving, until after the beginning of the Sabbath. This should not be. If any neglect to do such work on a working day, they should have respect enough for God's holy time to let their beards remain unshaven, their boots rough and brown, until the Sabbath is past. This might help their memory, and make them more careful to do their own work on the six working days. {ST, May 25, 1882 par. 7

[Taylor]

Well God was even stricter than that with the jews when they had no food on Sabbath at all due to there being no mana on that day. But it isn't about being strict. What it is about is putting such a priority on the Sabbath that you will be ready most of the time. (Sometimes there are emergencies that can't be avoided...and God understands those things..such a a death in the family, a loved one in the hospital etc.). If you had a meeting with the president...you would plan well enough in advance that you would make sure you had everything ready, maybe even a new outfit purchased or at least something nice well ironed etc. Your car would be spotless and you'd have taken a bath. Why do we do this for earthly people but think it is legalism if we do it for God? I just think that we can be careful out of love and not out of legalism. Out of excitement, not out of drugery.

[Beryl]

Quote:

On the 'face' of it, sounds rather Jewish!

The Jews were criticised by Christ because of the way they "kept" the Sabbath. For example, they would not light a fire or even a lamp/candle on the Sabbath -- but it was OK for their servant to do it for them! Hypocrisy!

Jesus showed us the right way to keep Sabbath. We find Him "in church" on the Sabbath. Yes, He "worked" on Sabbath -- bringing comfort to those who needed it, healing the sick, preaching in the synagogue.

From my earliest memories, my family were Sabbath-keepers, and I have never found it a burden.

I would never go out on the Sabbath and purchase a meal when I could quite easily have provided ahead of time for that, and I love having visitors come and share some of the Sabbath hours with me, where a simple, preprepared, tasty, nicely presented meal is enjoyed together, and we can share what Christ has done for us during the week.

On the other hand, Sabbath will often find me (and my friends) in a busy shopping centre, or in a tent on a show-ground -- talking to people about the results of the Health Age Assessment that we have provided freely for them. There is no doubt for anyone that this is a free service provided by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We are spending the Sabbath hours (plus some week days) reaching out with health -- the opening wedge.

The admonition given to us by Ellen White is not legalism - working our way to heaven. It is, rather, admonition about how to prepare our homes and our hearts so that we are ready to spend the day with God.

God bless

Beryl

[Taylor]

Beryl...as usual, you are eloquent.

[phkrause]

I 2nd that taylor. Most eloquent person on adventist forum. Always with a wonderful answer or reply.

pk

[Woody]

I will join in and give that a 3rd amen.