What to do on the Sabbath?

[AntonioFlores]

Dear Members,

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as a non Adventist (yet?) from Spain (please apologize if my english is not so correct).

By coincidence I met Prof. Walter Veith some years ago (online, of course, I have never had the pleasure to meet him in person), and the things he says were and are very interseting. So I started watching his series such as Total Onslaugh, Total Transformation ,etc, as  well as his health series.

I understand that one of the main issues is the Sabath keeping. And here is where my question starts:

What do you do on a Sabath?

As far a I understand from theses lectures (and please apoligize my ignorance), the Sabath is a day of rest, of keeping your relation with God. You may not have pleasure for yourself, nor work, etc. So I understand you may not for instance work, do your home work such as cleaning, washing, ironing, etc. you may not have a ride with your bike (which I love to do), nor going out to a restaurant, you may have no sex with your wife, do your shopping, etc. maybe you may not even cook (as Godd provided his people with double ration of Mannah on the previous day).

So, what do you do then?

Maybe this is a silly question for most of you but I do not know the answer.

Could anyone give me a hand?

Thank you in advance

 

 

 

 

[Gail]

Nice to see you! What does the Bible tell you about the Sabbath?

[Sojourner]

Hi Antonio,

This is a subject you will get several opinions on and as Gail suggests, ultimatley it is what the Bible says that matters.

Recreation is no problem for me on Sabbath, our whole church will often go for a picnic lunch and walk in the park on Sabbath after church. G-d calls us to multiply and fill the earth with children and there is no probibition to doing that because its Sabbath. As for Bike riding or going jogging, that is your own decision, if you have time with G-d whilst you do those things then that is up to you, its about developing the relatioship with G-d where you begin to hear His voice and understand via relationship what it is that He wants you to do.

For myself, commerce is out and I won't do paid work on the Sabbath, I would however do prision / hospital visiting.

As a general outline, I like to be home before Sabbath on Friday, we often go to Bible Study on Friday evening or have friends over for dinner as we open Sabbath and enjoy their company. Saturday morning is church and bible study, I sometimes do lunch with church or with friends at home. Saturday afternoon I am part of a SDA evangelistic outreach church that meets in the gymnasium of a local high school, so I head down there and often its sunset when we leave. I hope this is of some help to you my friend.

[AntonioFlores]

Thank you very much for your replies.

Sojournes, I think you got to the point when you say "...its about developing the relatioship with G-d where you begin to hear His voice and understand via relationship what it is that He wants you to do.".

I think I just need to understand what the Sabbath is all about and what meaning it has because I see no point in setting up a schema where all the things that you can do or cannot do are regulated to its deepest detail, I think this would be nonsense. Everybody is different, some need strick regulations over their lifes (what to do, when to do, what not if... and so on), some others maybe do not need that to develop that relationship.

For instance, having a ride with your motorcycle on a Sabbath may be a self-pleasuring matter but it can be a very intense experience with the creation and God.

I don´t know, I just have to understand it.

Regards,

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

There's nothing at all wrong with riding a motorcycle on the Sabbath.

This topic reminds of when I was young.  On the Sabbath, we could wade in the water, but not go swimming.  We could cross-country ski, but no downhill skiing.  We could watch a Mission Spotlight film or nature slides, but we could not watch a secularly produced film.  We could color, but we couldn't "work" on crafts.  We couldn't listen to the radio, but we could listen to gospel records.

I honestly don't think God is particularly pleased to see children (or adults) bored to death on the Sabbath...

[JoeMo]

This is just my opinion; and others will likely disagree.  I don't do my regular job on Sabbath; but as Sojourner says; I have no problem doing volunteer work; or even light yardwork if it gets me outside in the sunshine (Sojourner didn't say that part).  I have no problem paying for gas or paying the entrance fee to a state or national park on a Sabbath outing.  This probably makes me seem like a "Badventist"; but I have no problem going out to eat after church.  If we eat at home, when does my wife get to rest from her "regular job" (hope that doesn't sound to chauvanistic)?  I think Sabbath is more about mindset than activity.  If your sitting in church stressing over your stock portfolio instead of listening to the message, are you really keeping the Sabbath?  If you're playing some silly game with your kids and thanking God that your kids still love you enough to hang out with you, are you really breaking Sabbath?  If you're riding a horse instead of a motorcycle, are you jeoprodizing your salvation (and that of your horse)?

I think Sabbath keeping is between the believer and God; not between the believer and a church.

[Kevin H]

God's law is absolute but the applications are not absolute. We need to use common sense on how to apply the principles. To on the one hand be where we are deepening our knowledge of the Bible and relationship with our loved ones but on the other hand to keep it from becoming another day or a day lost in excitement that would fit better on another day.

[Stewart (SDA)]

Hello Antonio.

I have an article I tried to write on this subject. I offer it here. Perhaps there will be ideas that might be useful/helpful.

___________________

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy...” (Exodus 20:8)

There is often uncertainty about what is acceptable on the Sabbath.
Those uncertainties are cleared away as we learn to tell the difference between what is “holy” and what is “common”. On the Sabbath day in particular, we are asked to distinguish between those two things.
 

In the old days, it was part of the priest's work to teach the people the difference between the holy and the profane (common) (Ezekiel 44:23), and that, I believe, is still part of the minister's work today.

God calls us to keep His day “holy”. He “has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.” (1Thess 4:7)
(It is important that we know the difference.)

Through the Sabbath day we can ask, is this behavior “holy”, or am I just “going my own way”. If we are simply self-serving, or self-pleasing, then we can be sure that we are not keeping the day holy.

The Bible calls us [in Hebrews 12:14] to “pursue peace with all men”; but there is a second part in this verse that we are called to pursue (actively chase). It is “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”.

Without holiness it is certain that we will never “see the Lord” as He is.

While the people of God are living in the world, the Bible says that we are also to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Or, as it says in another version, “...let us work toward complete holiness” (2Cor 7:1 KJV/NLT). How is this work to be done? The Sabbath is given to us, at least in part, so that we can engage in this work of “perfecting holiness”.

Sabbath-keeping is an important tool to help us advance toward that high calling.

 

The Sabbath is a concentrated exercise in godliness. During every moment of that day, the word of God is calling us to be “holy”. And holiness is godliness, or, in other words, Christ-likeness.

But how often are the inspired exhortations made “of none effect”? It happens very often!
Many voices are saying, “Jesus stands in my place, and He is holy for me. This side of heaven it is impossible for me to live a holy life.” But this is simply not true.

“By faith” Noah built an ark. Abraham “by faith” left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. Israel “by faith” crossed the Red sea. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. Does this mean that Noah, in his heart and mind, built an ark, trusting that God was building the reality? Of course it was not that way at all. Noah built a literal ark “by faith”. Israel literally crossed the Sea “by faith”. Abraham literally left his home in Mesopotamia “by faith”. These were not imaginary things.

 

In the same way, righteousness and holiness are literally wrought “by faith”.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Stewart (SDA)

[Gregory Matthews]

Sex with your spouse on Sabbath:

1)  If you believe that Adam and Eve were created on a  Friday, what  do you think that they did after sundown, when they went to bed, on that Friday night--a Sabbath?

2) In the time of Christ,  it was believed by some that to fail to have sex on Friday night--a Sabbath, was to violate the Sabbath law.

For one view on this see:

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/windowsanddoors/2010/04/what-does-judaism-say-about-se.html

As it says:

. . .

Rabbis of early Judaism insisted that sex was so sacred, the Sabbath was the optimal time for it.
 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[Outta Here]

How on earth could we possibly know what Adam and Eve did on Friday night?! I may be showing my naivety, but I sure hope they took some time to get to know one another and explore what it meant to be human before jumping in to bed with one another...I mean, come on, at least a game of Bibleopoly first!

 

[AntonioFlores]

Hi,

thank you all for your answers.

Just to tell you I am still here but a bit bussy at work these days. I'll read your comments in brief.

[CoAspen]

What to do.....Live Life!!!

[Robert]

 The Sabbath is a sign that we can add nothing to what God did in Christ Jesus.  It is a sign of justification by faith.  Making rules up for the Sabbath reads like justification by works and that's not resting in Christ's completed work.  It's working....I call it legalism.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Robert

[Aliensanctuary]

Proper Sabbath practices in this life can get a bit fuzzy on what's right and what isn't, but our Sabbath is pointing us to the real Sabbath in the Kingdom of YHVH where what one can and can't do will be made very clear. Some will actually work 6 days then rest, while others, who are maintaining the city, for example,  may have to work on the Sabbath.

[Gerr]

Follow how Jesus kept it.

1. ESV | ‎Lk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 

2. ESV | ‎Mt 12:10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.  ‎11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?  ‎12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  ‎13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 

3. ESV | ‎Ge 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  ‎3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 

Only our imagination can limit the good things we can  do for others on Sabbath.