To the Editor:
Mr. Jorgensen’s interesting comments on the Sabbath (“More on Sabbath”, April 14 Advance, page 7) raise some interesting observations.
Yes, all the days of the week are named after celestial objects or non-Christian deities. Before this happened, however, the seventh day was already the last day of the weekly cycle, the day the God of the Bible says He set apart and made holy. Later, alternate religious systems named the days as it suited them. A Saturn-worshipper might keep the seventh day as holy if they worship the god Saturn. However, the religious precedent for that day is that it is holy from our Creator’s hand, as the Bible describes. Sunday, as a Christian holy day, does not enjoy that distinction.
Paul’s comments in Romans 14:5, 6 show no reference to the seventh-day Sabbath. Context shows he is talking about an issue that involves eating. Some Christians thought it was important to fast, in some fashion, on certain days, other Christians did not. Paul merely says, if some want to fast to the Lord on a certain day, that’s fine. If others do not, that’s fine, too. It’s a personal thing between you and God. Don’t worry about what someone else is doing in this matter.
The seventh-day Sabbath was conveyed to humanity in the perfect Garden of Eden, to two Gentiles who lived many centuries before a Jew or Jewish nation existed. God has noted how the Sabbath begins and ends — from sunset to sunset, wherever you are at the time. This has no geographical link or limitation to Israel or any specific place on earth. God’s design is simple, elegant and effective!
The law of God is not placed under human authority, Christian or otherwise, to change, alter or modify as they wish, as culture insists, as the times we live in would push or as politics would try to dictate. It cannot be an act of wisdom or love to “think” to change God’s times and laws. God’s moral law is love. Changing it not only destroys this primary reality but indicates an act on the part of the changers to place themselves, their authority and their reasoning above God Himself, whether they are aware of it or not. It’s a direct challenge to divine authority. If God had wanted us to honour Jesus’ resurrection by holding Sunday as a sacred day, would He not have given explicit instruction to this effect in His Word? Actually, we find the contrary to be true.
Our great God is eternal. As He is eternal, His character and authority are eternal. As these are eternal, His love is eternal. As His love is eternal, the law of love is eternal. What a happy hope this gives us!
Ken Lemky
Creston