It has been a long day, as many can tell within your own
lives. Friday always seem the longest. It is a day that embarks on a period of
rest and reflection-- which within itself is very interesting. One of the requests
that God had of us, which I personally feel is misinterpreted, is to rest on
the 7th day, the Sabbath to keep that day holy.
There are two definitions that I could find pertaining to
the Sabbath: (1) a day of religious observance and abstinence from work, kept
by Jews Friday evening to Saturday evening, and by most Christians on Sunday,
and (2) a supposed annual midnight meeting of witch with the Devil. If the Sabbath
in 24 languages means Saturday and God rested on the 7th day, the
Sabbath in accordance with Genesis 2:2-3, then the Sabbath means Saturday. It
is the same (Sabbath) as mentioned in Exodus 20:8, Deuteronomy 5:12, and Mark
2:27-28. Then why do we not meet on Saturday, as Christians to worship. Man has
determined this request was not reaffirmed as justification. Is this a good
enough reason? Well yes and well no. There is no clear cut answer.
Christians began to interpret that we should worship on
Sunday based off of Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. I always understood
that Luke wrote NT book of Luke as well as some of the beginning of the NT book
of Acts, because he was in attendance with Paul on some of his travels. That
information and the overall authorship are still in question to this day. The
remainder of the book, though, is attributed to Paul. We would like to
attribute 1 Corinthians to Paul but the research again, is still out on that.
It is said to possibly have been written by Paul with Sosthenes and Marcion
(who were some church leaders of the Corinthians at that time.)
Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week we came
together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people, because he intended to leave
the next day, kept on talking until midnight.” On Sunday, Paul came together
with some people, had a meal and began to speak at length because on Monday he
was leaving the next day.
I understand that this meeting which Paul had arranged was
about Eutychus raised from the dead at Troas. Eutychus was listening to Paul
when he dozed off to sleep and fell out the window. Paul insisted he was not
dead, took him inside and continued to speak until well after midnight. When
Paul left, he (Eutychus) was discovered not to be dead and made a full recovery
from his fall.
I Corinthians 16:1-2 states: “Now about the collection for
the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day
of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with
your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be
made.” This instruction was strictly
made by Paul, not God and certainly not Jesus.
Jesus said in Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath.” This is interpreted various ways when Jesus was
speaking to the Pharisees. The practice of fasting was nothing uncommon during
the time of Jesus and the Pharisees had gotten carried away that practice. It
was nothing unusual to eat on the Sabbath when man was hungry; but they did
without unless you were a priest and therefore gathering food to eat was
prohibited. It has been interpreted that man was made for God and the Sabbath
was made for man as an advantage for us to improve, to rest, not to be tired,
but not to restrain or destruct especially from food. God had a lot of
forethought about our souls. I understand that Jesus was gathering food to ease
the flesh. When the flesh is at ease, the word of God and Jesus is more readily
acceptable. Jesus was making a very valid point which was to not get carried
away in tradition that it relates harmful behavior. Too much fasting can harm
the body.
Use common sense. What is the one thing that gets man
detracted from hearing the word of God and Jesus on Sunday morning? Majority of
all church worship takes place around 11:00 am. The stomach growls distracting
the thoughts from God’s word to the human biological function—“my stomach says
I am very hungry.” Jesus was pointing out that it is okay to eat even if you
have to work slightly to gather a few grains. What is the difference in hunger
from the year 30 and the year 1950 or 2014? The common factor between the years is that when man gets hungry, he thinks
about feeding himself – nothing else is important, which is common human
nature.
This is where I have trouble on “man’s interpretation.”
Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath. That is easy to understand.
The Sabbath was made for man as the 7th day to rest, improve, and
not be tired, not to restrain, or destruct; but, to worship in rest and
reflection. On the first day of the week our collections are made for another
week has arrived. If man was made for God and God made the Sabbath for man,
then, do you not think we Christians should be worshiping, resting, and
reflecting on God that day, the Sabbath? Why does the interpretation have to be
so complicated? Why should we take mere man’s word over Gods or Jesus’?
Jesus repeated the commandments of God according to Matthew
19. But, the Sabbath, the day of rest, the day to keep holy was overlooked. In
John 14:15, Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John the
Epistle recorded in 1 John 2:3, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we
keep his commandments.” We can reflect on the other verses such as John 14:21,
1 John 5:2, 2 John 6, Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12 as well. What can
we gather from this information? In Matthew there are details not mentioned in
Mark, Luke or John and vice versa. That
does not mean that it was or was not reaffirmed of any event in the Old
Testament or the New Testament. This is just a point of view of different
authors which was recorded differently like the first two chapters of Genesis. We
teach the Ten Commandments to be kept yet, we do not abide by them because it
was overlooked or misinterpreted. Well the Bible is not contradictory but mere
man can be.
As time passes on, we all understand that historical
presentations have been known to be incorrect. Why should this be any
different? I am going to for once and all solve this solution. Christians you
are wrong in worshiping on Sunday because you are not keeping with God’s
commandments. However, it is not for me to judge other than to offer my
opinion, for whatever it is worth. Therefore, we as Christians have to do what
is best in our heart. We have to ask ourselves, what is it that God wants us to
do? What is best in my relationship with God?
Sometimes we find ourselves outside out given groups with
our ideals. But, being a true Christian in most cases, you walk alone with God
and not in a group.
This just my opinion
God bless each and everyone
A word to the wise, learning about the intricacies of the Bible and the meanings therein, should not ever detract from your faith, belief, or general understanding. It is meant to enhance, to draw you personally closer to God and to Jesus Christ (our Lord and Savior.)
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