My response to ‘7 truths anti Sabbath keepers choose to ignore’

Yesterday (Apr 18, 2010) I was researching the teachings from ‘learnthebible ca’ series of blogs and found the following Theonomy.

“7 truths anti Sabbath keepers choose to ignore”

“By godsloveandlaw  (Rob)”

http://godsloveandlaw.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/7-truths-anti-sabbath-keepers-choose-to-ignore/

Here is their article:

“With so much on the line, in these last days, I thought it would be important to show some powerful truths  from God’s word about the Sabbath. There is actually a tremendous amount  said about the Sabbath(mentioned 169 times in the bible!)  Here are some specific powerful  truths anti-Sabbath keepers (hereafter referred as AS) cannot accept as truth, even though it is plainly written in God’s word!”

“Number 1.      Jesus NEVER disobeyed the Sabbath. We know HE is our example of how to live a “Christian” life. So how can (AS) overlook their OWN LEADER’S example??? Jesus’ example of obeying the Sabbath must be ignored by the (AS).”

“Number 2.  In Genesis we find God blessed and made HOLY the SEVENTH DAY.  Now, here is the million dollar question. WHERE in all of scripture can you show where the  HOLY BLESSINGS  HAVE BEEN REMOVED???  Answer-  Nowhere!  So if the blessing and sanctification has never been removed for the holy seventh day, it must mean IT IS STILL HOLY!  And if it is, should we not show any special observance on this day, as God commanded? (AS) must ignore that the HOLY BLESSINGS are STILL there! I think they prefer to ignore  it instead of keeping  it holy as commanded by our Lord.”

“Number 3.  It is very plain to see, and straight forward, I might add, that ALL people will worship the Lord on the Sabbath in the FUTURE. (Isaiah 66:22-23) “For as the NEW  heavens and earth which I will make shall remain before me, says  the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from ONE SABBATH TO ANOTHER, shall ALL FLESH come to WORSHIP before Me, says the Lord”  ok, if we are definitely going to worship the Lord on the Sabbath in the future, why is there a break from Sabbath observance now  as (AS) must believe???  It makes NO SENSE.”

“Number 4.     One of my all time favorite scriptures (Psalms 111 :7-8)   ” The works of His hands are truth and judgement, ALL of His Commandments are sure. They STAND FAST FOREVER AND EVER, done in truth and uprightness”         Here we see when He wrote the GREAT 10 Commandment law with His own Hands, they were true. They also are to “STAND FOREVER AND EVER”     The Sabbath is in the HEART of those Commandments that stand forever and ever.So the (AS) must ignore that the Commandments are STILL standing and are to be obeyed and observed.  These words of God’s do not count as truth to them. By the way, I have never   heard or seen a  remotely clear attempt to counter this word of God by the (AS)  Why? Because  they can’t.”

“Number 5.    (AS) love to quote Paul as to justifying their position on not observing the Sabbath. If they will only STUDY God’s word, they will very quickly learn that Paul (through God’s spirit) speaks about TWO different “Laws”. One  is the Moral Law (10 Commandments)  the other is the Mosiac laws. They were the sacrificial, ceremonial, ritual laws, foreshadowing Christ as our Savior. There is TREMENDOUS confusion within Christianity about the writings of Paul. Infact God forsaw the day that people would “distort” Paul’s writings when He inspired Peter to write about Paul’s writings (2 Peter 3:15-16) “….just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which the ignorant and unstable people DISTORT, as they did other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

“ But if we study scripture the ONLY time Paul is mentioned WORSHIPPNG is on the SABBATH! The bible records at least 84 Sabbaths Paul honored and observed!  And he is shown to be converting GENTILES as well as JEWS on the SABBATH. What were the Gentiles doing there if  “Sunday” was already being preached as the “Lord’s day”? Paul continued Sabbath after Sabbath to bring all the people back into temple(church) on the same day each week– the Sabbath! Not Sunday, Tuesday or even Friday! Surely the Apostles were gathering every “Sunday” and  word  should have spread to “abandon” the Sabbath for Sunday, right?   Wrong!”

“Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin and their spies(many years after Christ’s death on the cross). In their accusations they did not  accuse him of breaking the Sabbath. Why?  Because he DID NOT!  Infact he said (in his defense) (acts 24:14) “…I worship the God of our Fathers, believing all things written IN THE LAW, and in the Prophets”   We know Paul wrote very clearly about the Mosiac laws being done away with, so it had to be that  he ” BELIEVED in the MORAL LAW ” (which includes the Sabbath). And He believed in the Prophets (ALL of whom believed in the Sabbath).  So much truth here the (AS) ignore!”

“Number 6.     The wise man, Solomon, wrote in Ecclesiates about all the trials, tribulations and doings which man can do in life. It was all “meaningless’. Except at the end where he made his summary of  all he had spoken. (Ecc 12:13)  “For this is the SUM of the matter,  Fear God, and Keep His Commandments, FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN”  Notice it does  not say “this is the whole duty of JEWS”  He said man!   (AS)  are you part of mankind?  Then God is talking to YOU too! Your DUTY is to fear God and obey His Commandments.  But this is another word of God that (AS) must ignore and explain away. They must say “it is no longer true”. (Numbers 23:19) ” God is not a man, that He should lie,  nor a son of man that he should CHANGE HIS MIND (in other words (AS) believe we no longer have these duties now because God has changed His mind and these words are no longer true). Does he speak then not act? Does He promise then not fulfill?”   Can we see the absolutely strange logic the (AS) must use to explain away God’s true words?”

“Number 7.   Jesus’ spoken words in (Matt 5:18-19)  “Truly I say to you, until heaven  and earth pass away, NOT ONE IOTA or letter of the shall pass from the LAW, until all has been accomplished.  Whoever, therefore, breaks the LEAST of the Commandments and teaches others to do so, shall be called LEAST in heaven, but  whoever DOES THEM and teaches others to do so, shall be call GREAT in heaven”       In our Christian world today, which Commandment , do you think is looked upon as the “least”?  You got it, the Sabbath!   Ok, our Lord warns you (AS) don’t break it, or be called “least in heaven” “

“       Amen Lord, may your words be FOREVER true and righteous!”

———————————————-

Here are my responses to his list:

1 Yes Jesus kept the Sabbath. But WHY? Because he was Jewish. Let’s not forget that the system he was born under was entirely a Theocratic system.

If we use the excuse that Jesus ‘merely kept the Sabbath and he was our example’ then of course we should consider the rest of Moses laws. Examples” killing those who are lusting after porno actors or actresses. Killing adulterers by stoning, Killing those who are late for ‘Sabbath school’.

Yes those are sarcastic examples…

More importantly I have read all the Commandments Jesus gave in all four Gospels and they did not include keeping Sabbath as Gentiles.

========================================

2 The author of this post / article is referring to the following story in Genesis 2:1-3. Indeed God did rest on the Seventh day typically known as Saturday. However this creation story in both the Torah and Bible donot include commandments for the Jew or Gentile to keep a specific day of rest until we look in Exodus 20:1-17.

Yes we can agree that Saturday Sabbath for the Jew was never changed but can the author of this article explain the following?

The Greatest Commandments out of the Laws of Moses:

Matthew 22:36-40

Mark 12:29-31

Luke 10:25-28

How the disciples dealt with Judaizers who try to force Gentiles to keep the laws of Moses.

Acts 15:1-31

The disciples teaching how to deal with fellow Christians who don’t believe as we do…

Romans 14:1-13

Lets use some logic:

If the GREATEST COMMANDMENTS of the Entire law of Moses was the following above Scriptures in the Gospels spoken by our Lord Jesus did not include Sabbath then why is the author worried about keeping a specific day of rest he wasn’t commanded to keep?

In Acts 15 I have listed the details how  disruptions by ancient Judaists plagued the infant Christian church. These misinformed preachers were telling the Gentiles to keep the ENTIRE law of Moses and to get circumcised. Obviously Sabbath is part of that set of laws.

What did James, Peter, Simeon do?

Please read Acts 15:22-31

Hmmm what the Gentiles aren’t forced to worship on Sabbath? GASP…

When we look at the much hated Scripture of Romans 14:1-13 We see that we Christians are given the choice on which day to worship on. But more importantly it is not for me or the author to judge each other in regards to which worship day is chosen. Too bad they haven’t figured that out yet.

Logically if we look at the evidence provided we can see that the author is using philosophy to justify their doctrine. Not the Bible.

=====================================

3 Isaiah 66:1-24. This scripture has been used by authors in the SDA sect, Armstrongists and so forth. When we look at the content of Isaiah. We find the following.

Isaiah is a collection of prophecies about ancient and perhaps modern Israel.

Does this mean that we Gentiles are to Worship God in the New Jerusalem on the Sabbath? Perhaps, perhaps not. Scripture is unclear of that in Revelation 21:1-27, Rev 22:1-21.

 =================================

4  I have never understood theonomist philosophy. The author other article is now using Psalms 111:1-10. By using the theonomist philosophy they endanger their body and soul to keep only Ten out of 613 Commandments of Moses.

Incidentally… The author is right in one sense. The Jew is to follow the WHOLE LAW of Moses. But for the Christian?… no. Because we donot live according to Theocratic laws or legalistic morality.

========================================

5 We in the 21^st century Church have followed the perceptions, writings of the Disciples of Christ in various ways.

Let’s attempt to list their Scriptures to answer the claims of this posts author.

Romans 13:8-12

Galatians 2:16-21

Galatians 3:10-25

Galatians 5:1-18

Ephesians 2:15

That’s just a few Scriptures that indicate that God used Jesus and the disciples changed the law to bring the Gentiles to him.

=====================================

6 In continuing his argument he includes the following Scriptures:

‘Ecclesiastes 12:13’

‘Numbers 23:19’

Lets look at Ecclesiastes 12:1-14… The foot note in my Bible says “Remember now thy creator” (KJV).

Quite true…

And yet in looking at Jewish resources from the Torah the Commandments of God were for Moses. According to Torah.org these were 613 Commandments. How can any theonomist walk away from that fact? I can only assume that God gave the Jews one covenant and we Gentiles another. Our Covenant is through Jesus while our Jewish neighbors were given the Law of Moses.

When we look at Numbers 23:19 We are reading a portion of the story of Balaam who couldn’t curse Israel because of Gods blessing them.

When we consider the history of the Christian church we have been blessed by God our Father not because of keeping the Law of Moses but because of our Faith in Jesus.

=======================================

7 Lastly he lists Matthew 5:18-19. It is generally assumed that Jesus satisfied the Law of Moses. I point out that Jesus did not give us specific Commandments about keeping the Law of Moses which would include Sabbath keeping.

See:

Colossians 2:6-23

The Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant that was abolished at the cross.

http://www.bible.ca/7-10=1stCoven.htm

 

I noted his deception here.

“In our Christian world today, which Commandment , do you think is looked upon as the “least”?  You got it, the Sabbath!   Ok, our Lord warns you (AS) don’t break it, or be called “least in heaven” “

He bases his philosophy off of the writings of EG White in the ‘great controversy’ since keeping Sabbath to them is essentially part of their salvation because according to her book we Sunday keepers and the Catholics are ‘marked with the mark of the beast’.

See here:

“Fearful is the issue to which the world is to be brought. The powers of earth, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will decree that “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” (Revelation 13:16), shall conform to the customs of the church by the observance of the false sabbath. All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil penalties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving of death. On the other hand, the law of God enjoining the Creator’s rest day demands obedience and threatens wrath against all who transgress its precepts. “

“With the issue thus clearly brought before him, whoever shall trample upon God’s law to obey a human enactment receives the mark of the beast; he accepts the sign of allegiance to the power which he chooses to obey instead of God. The warning from heaven is: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Revelation 14:9, 10. “ 

“605”

“But not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience, and has been rejected. There are many who have never had an opportunity to hear the special truths for this time. The obligation of the fourth commandment has never been set before them in its true light. He who reads every heart and tries every motive will leave none who desire a knowledge of the truth, to be deceived as to the issues of the controversy. The decree is not to be urged upon the people blindly. Everyone is to have sufficient light to make his decision intelligently. “

 

“The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.”

http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc38.html

————————————————–

As I have argued and attempted to show Keeping the Sabbath by using theonomist philosophy will not save an SDA follower or anyone else basing their beliefs in such a way.

Jesus alone saves his followers not SDA teaching or keeping the Sabbath by using their odd philosophy.