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As New England sweltered in early July, Sunday mornings came and went without a single soul showing up for worship in the hot, stuffy sanctuary of First Congregational Church of Salem, N.H. Even the pastor stayed home.
But God wasn't forgotten. Worship just waited until Wednesday evenings, when the cool comfort of the basement fellowship hall drew as many as 40 to sing and pray. That's 50 percent more than the church attracted when it met on summer Sundays.
"If people take a break from worshipping, they sometimes don't pick that habit back up," said Owen Williams, a longtime deacon at First Congregational, a United Church of Christ congregation. But because Wednesdays keep people coming, "we have a depth of commitment throughout the year."...
Q116: What is required in the fourth commandment? A116: The fourth commandment requires of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian sabbath,[1] and in the New Testament called The Lord’s day.[2]
1. Deut. 5:12, 14, 18; Gen. 2:2-3; I Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; Matt. 5:17-18; Isa. 56:2, 4, 6-7 2. Rev. 1:10
Matthew 22:36-40 (KJV) "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
unprofitable servant wrote: rightly dividing the word of truth
2000 years of history is not wrong because you modernists cannot obey the Ten Commandments. The Christian Sabbath is kept by Christians!
"The theology of the Lord's Day as Christian Sabbath to which Eric Liddell subscribed held that the Sabbath principle was preserved though the day was changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. Most evangelical Christians held that the change of day was necessitated by three things: first commemoration of the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week: second the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost on the first day of the week, seven weeks after the resurrection; and third New Testament Precedents. The term Lord's Day to describe the Christian Sabbath derives from Revelation 1:10. Naturally the arguement that the Sabbath principle continued rested on the principle that the Ten Commandments contained permanent spiritual and moral precepts which in their very nature could not be abrogated." (John Keddie)
Unprofitable servant wrote: Hit the nail on the head. A sign between God and the children of Israel. Christians are NOT a replacement for the children of Israel
God Himself took time out to carve this one out in stone as one of ten Commandments. If you cannot be bothered to keep this one then what of the others? Jesus kept all ten and did not make any null and void. Do you follow Him? Perhaps this is where you find yourself unprofitable in your service? Your witness is to be of God and His Scripture not man looking for a loophole out of difficult modern inconveniences.
"For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day" Do you declare Jesus NOT Lord of the Sabbath?
"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" Jesus teaching again! Here he declares that "The Sabbath was made for man" - (Not Israel) Who do you think made it? Did He waste His time on this? The Word of God is eternal.
Tinsicle wrote: 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: ...
Hit the nail on the head. A sign between God and the children of Israel. Christians are NOT a replacement for the children of Israel. Two other times,it is said to be a sign between God and the children of Israel. Even the land had a sabbath year, which I don't see any sabbath keepers advocating. Deu_5:15 "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: THEREFORE the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.(KJV) We were never a servant in the land of Egypt. The sabbath has always been on Saturday. Though it is a commemoration of God's resting at the end of creation, it is never commanded or commended until Israel departed from Egypt.(see previous verse) Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his sons, none kept the sabbath. The children of Israel didn't keep the sabbath until they left Egypt. As for the article, seems like they left off Sunday services because it was too inconvenient
SteveR wrote: Just in case people are scratching their heads out there.... Pentecost is 50 days, not 40 days, after the Feast of First Fruits Saturday to Saturday 49 days: Sunday(The Lords Day-the Sabbath of the redeemed) the 50th .... Feast of Weeks is 50 days after First Fruits(Pentecost)...then the Feast of Trumpets(Gospel proclamation) with the Feast of Tabernacles(The Day of Christ) awaiting us
Strange, folks always tell us that Friday sunset to Sunday morning is 3 days by the Jewish reckoning. If Pentecost had to be on a Sunday, was Christ crucified on a Thursday?
Jim Lincoln wrote: Tinsile there is no such thing as a Christian sabbath, see Scofield notes for Matthew 12:1 an excerpt of which, If it's the Sabbath, it's Saturday.
I don't use criminals like Scofield for explanation Jim. Neither should you! Scofield's bible is yet another fairy story for you Jim, no wonder you favor Westcott and Hort's heretical works.
The 4th Commandment. (C.Hodge) "The Sabbath was instituted from the Beginning and is of Perpetual 0bligation. This may be inferred from the nature and design of the institution. It is a generally recognized principle, that those commands of the Old Testament which were addressed to the Jews as Jews and were rounded on their peculiar circumstances and relations, passed away when the Mosaic economy was abolished; but those rounded on the immutable nature of God, or upon the permanent relations of men, are of permanent obligation" (C.Hodge) http://www.apuritansmind.com/puritan-worship/the-lords-day/the-fourth-commandment-by-dr-charles-hodge/
Just in case people are scratching their heads out there....
Pentecost is 50 days, not 40 days, after the Feast of First Fruits
Saturday to Saturday 49 days: Sunday(The Lords Day-the Sabbath of the redeemed) the 50th ....
Feast of Weeks is 50 days after First Fruits(Pentecost)...then the Feast of Trumpets(Gospel proclamation) with the Feast of Tabernacles(The Day of Christ) awaiting us
Tinsile there is no such thing as a Christian sabbath, see Scofield notes for Matthew 12:1 an excerpt of which,
C. I. Scofield wrote: ... The Christian first day perpetuates in the dispensation of grace the principle that one-seventh of the time is especially sacred, but in all other respects is in contrast with the sabbath. One is the seventh day, the other the first. The sabbath commemorates God's creation rest, the first day Christ's resurrection. On the seventh day God rested, on the first day Christ was ceaselessly active. The sabbath commemorates a finished creation, the first day a finished redemption. The sabbath was a day of legal obligation, the first day one of voluntary worship and service. The sabbath is mentioned in the Acts only in connection with the Jews, and in the rest of the N.T. but twice. col 2:16; heb 4:4. In these passages the seventh day sabbath is explained to be to the Christian not a day to be observed, but a type of the present rest into which he enters when "he also ceases from his own works" and trusts Christ.
Where do you see that in the scripture? It seems to me that you are just saying what someone else has taught you. Jesus was resurrected on the feast of first fruits which is also why Pentecost occurs on the Sunday as well. It really has less to do with the day than it does with the fulfillment of Scripture.
Russ wrote: There is also no command to change the Sabbath to Sunday.
How do you obey God on these verses knowing that they have not been rescinded in Scripture?
Exod 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Russ wrote: There is also no command to change the Sabbath to Sunday.
The Sabbath was not changed to Sunday. The Sabbath has always been Saturday. Sunday is the Lord's Day. The practice of worshipping on Sunday began when Jesus was Resurrected on Sunday and Pentecost took place on Sunday.
Jim Lincoln wrote: But there is no reason that a good church shouldn't have their meetings on Wednesday if for some reason that's more convenient.
And pray, what reason might that be, Jim?
Well, seems that the faithfull don't want to ruin their whole Sunday when there's so much do be done --
"Summer has a way of thinning out pews on Sunday mornings as the sun-loving faithful take to trails, outdoor markets and backyard projects." Don't forget the god of all idols-- sports.
After wrenching the Sabbath out of Gods hands with, you know - legalism, Jesus is Lord over Sabbath, Collosians 2, David at the temple, et all.. now the church has no biblical basis to chose a day. Good so far untill every church decides to chose what is right in their own eyes.
Satans timming is interesting in that he must NOW feel that it is time. That the abbrogation of Sabbath is so enscounced in our pshyche, that there's no turning back to having uniformty amongst churches.
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