Dennis - 31 July 2009 10:11 AM
Dave,
Sabbatarians gaze intently upon the sun two days out of every week; namely, Friday and Saturday.
That’s a gross generaliztion frankly, but in light of that fact that “Sunday keepers” have nothing of significance to stand on I’ll take a committment to the sabbath as being a gift from God.
The SDA Church even publishes sunset calendars for both days. It is important to note that sunset calendars are not salvific. We truly deny the reality of Christ by still observing any of the old covenant shadows pointing to the Cross.
How did the 4th commandment point to the cross? If that particular commandment pointed to the cross how did the 7th commandment point to the cross?
By the way, it is absolutely impossible to observe the weekly Sabbath in some regions of world (i.e., northern Norway, Alaska, etc.).
You mean they don’t have Saturdays there?
Of course, the SDA Church provides no sunset calendars for their members in those regions. This reveals that the Jewish Sabbath was never meant to be observed globally.
Or it proves that the sabbath is really a state of mind and a state of being at one with God.
Moreover, how does an astronaut observe the Sabbath in orbit?
Well, my understand is there are mostly Freemasons so I’m not too sure they even bothered with Sunday.
May we realize anew that we are now under the new covenant. When Jesus died, the Sabbath died.
What leads you to believe you are part of the “new” covenant? If I’m not mistaken that was only promised to the house of Israel and the House of Judah. Which house do you belong to?
While many in Christendom may disagree with me, I do not subscribe to the notion that the Christian calendar has any holy days. While the Lord’s day is a very special day for Christ-followers, it is not a holy day in the sense that the Jewish Sabbath was. Interestingly, I have never met an Adventist or other sabbatarian who actually disagreed with me that the extra sacrificing requirements of Sabbath law pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, and the loaves of Sabbath shewbread (anointed in the middle with oil in the form of a cross) pointed to Jesus, the Bread of Life.
Why would anyone disagree with you? All the sacrifices and shewbread pointed to Jesus. Isn’t interesting the the Shewbread was eaten on the sabbath?
Thus, it is undeniable that the fourth commandment of the Decalogue is ceremonial in nature.
Well, actually it’s very much deniable. There are no sacrifices in the Decalogue. Those sacrifices are only mentioned in the Law of Moses and most assuredly separate from the command regarding the sabbath..
This is why the weekly Sabbath is listed as one of the seven festal convocations given to the “sons of Israel” in Leviticus 23.
The sabbath is never considered a “feast..” It is however set aside as a holy gathering.
All ceremonial or ritual laws permanently ceased at the Christ Event (including all holy days, tithing codes, and food laws).
Where do you get the notion that all the health laws, and ceremonial laws are done away with?
For the sake of accuracy, the observance of the weekly Sabbath from “sunset to sunset” applied initially to the annual Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23:32.
The day of Atonement still is from sunset and sunset.
Alfred Edersheim, a highly-respected authority on Judaism, stated that in the Temple of Herod (the second temple) “there was neither Shechinah nor ark--all was empty; and the high priest rested his censer on a large stone, called the’foundation stone’"instead. The ark of the covenant disappeared during the Babylonian captiviity, and it has never been seen since that time.
It’s in heaven.
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
By the way, Alfred Edersheim is a credible authority in SDA circles as Ellen White and her bookmakers even plagiarized some his writings.
Really?
In Judaism, the week was divided into seven days, of which, however, only the seventh--the Sabbath--had a name assigned to it, the rest being merely noted by numerals. With additional days in the week, under Babylonian captivity, it made Sabbath keeping even more confusing and difficult.
And yet the seventh-day sabbath still remains.
So, the Hebrew captives adopted the division of the day into twelve hours, whose duration varied with the length of the day. The longest day consisted of fourteen hours and twelve minutes; the shortest, of nine hours forty-eight minutes; the difference between the two was more than four hours. Later the Romans reckoned the hours from midnight, a fact which explains the apparent discrepancy between John 19:14, where, at the sixth hour (of Roman calculation), Pilate brings Jesus out to the Jews, while at the third hour of the Jewish, and hence the ninth of the Roman and of our calculation (Mark 15:25), He was led forth to be crucified. The night was divided by the Romans into four, by the Jews into three watches.
And? Does any of this change the sabbath day? Nope. It sounds to me as if you are just making excuses.
