Later this week I'll be doing some posting about the Sabbath, but I wanted to take a little survey first. I'd appreciate if some of my readers shared their view of the Sabbath. I'll outline some of the views I've come across below and you tell me which # most closely resonates with your position.
#1 I'm a Sabbatarian. The 4th Commandment still stands as is. Christians should keep Saturday holy in every way possible as described in the Old Testament. No work, buying, selling, etc. We probably shouldn't put those who do otherwise to death anymore, but they pretty much deserve it.
#2 I Celeberate the Lord's Day. The Sabbath (Saturday) should now be kept in honor of Jesus' resurrection (Sunday). The early church seems to have celebrated on the first day of the week and we should follow this tradition.
#3 I Celebrate a Perpetual Sabbath. The Sabbath was fulfilled in the peace we have through Jesus Christ. Now, every day is holy and equal in God's sight. I'll probably keep going to church on Sunday, but only because that's when everyone else is there. Plus, a general day of rest is a wise idea.
13 comments:
I got bored so I updated your blogroller list. Yeah - sometimes, I have no life.
It's anything new as of the 17th that i put in.
And you're welcome
#3
I believe in keeping the Sabbath, but not that any particular day is necessarily THE Sabbath. What I mean is that for our own good and our relationship with God we NEED a Sabbath -- a day of rest once a week -- but that it doesn't have to be Sunday. Otherwise just about every pastor would be breaking the Sabbath every week. For me Sundays are generally not restful so I take a Sabbath some other day. So.... I don't know what number that is.
thanks sarah :) very helpful!
michellem, you are a fairly faithful commenter. Do I know you (sorry if i asked this before)
Robin, that'd be #3. I added a bit to the end of the description to include what you said.
I post at Steve Gregg's site, too.
I try to keep the Robinnic law of #3
I'm more of a #3 er...altho I don't "work" right now so technically every day I'm not working, and then the days I don't do housework I'm extra not working.
I think the idea of rest is a necesity, but more than that I think the idea of "you have 6 days to work" is important - with that attitude you can't really justify putting things off, and if you do your work in 6 days you can truly have a day of rest, and not just a day prolonging procrastination
Steph, I think you made a great point. I am also a number 3-er.
what you said on Keith Drury's blog---that was right on, Matthew. I wanted to say "I second that" in a comment over there, but then I remembered I'm Wesleyan incognito.
i am a mixture of 2 and 3. celebration is definitely meant to be the mark of Christian response to the resurrection. complementary to this is the mystery of God's work that grounds all of ours: we don't need to work every day because God's work is necessary and available. we are not God and God's work allows us to rest. i am not sure i could celebrate new creation well if i thought that i had to work every day, either to help bring the new creation or to sustain the old, current one.
so, sabbath and celebration go hand in hand, for me.
I'm probably more of a number 4. As a pastor I work every Sunday and as a sports fan I'm busy in deep thought every Saturday. I believe that every 30 minutes we should take 5 minutes of rest. If you do this consistantly over the week it will give you about a full day of rest. The worst part of it is setting your alarm to wake up every 30 minutes at night so you can rest for 5. Any ways it works for me.
I always grew up being taught (in my home) that Sunday was the Sabbath. So, until now, I have always kept Sunday as my Holy day. Opps. I only learned this was wrong in the last month or so. It's the thought that counts, right? :)
In theory, I believe in (long for) a reverse Sabbath --- Six days shall we rest (sleep, and eat delectable items someone else cooked for us), one day shall we labour (go to work, shop, clean, pay bills).
In practice, one day of rest (never Sunday), 6 days of labour. But I will admit to shopping on my Sabbath. Don't tell my senior saints --- if they hate Sunday shopping, they'll certainly oppose my Sabbath MONDAY shopping...
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