For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Jeff Moon
It's frustrating to hear Christians say that the bible says to pick a day of your choice and make it sabbath. Where in the bible does it say we get to choose, Sunday or otherwise, and change God's law? It doesn't. Where does it say to worship on Sunday? It doesn't. Some will make the excuse that it was only for Jews..but we are all spiritual Jews, as we have been grafted in. Plus, the bible (Revelation) is clear that God's people, literal and spiritual Jews (all that are saved) will continue to worship on the sabbath (Saturday) in Heaven as well.
The bible is also clear as to what was nailed to the cross and why: The old ceremonial laws, which were against us and only in effect until Jesus died on the cross. You can't do away with the ten commandments. God does not change. If you did away with the ten, then we would have no clue what sin even was. Sin is transgression of the law (ten commandments).
If you are going to change God's law (scary) like the Catholic church brags about doing, then I guess murder and adultery are ok now? Or can you preach on the importance of the 9 commandments, and then side with the Catholic church and satan, by changing the 4th command and saying it either doesn't matter or that it's now Sunday? I bet it matters to God!
By the way, I hear pastors do this on the radio all the time and it makes no biblical sense. God wants to wake us up to come out of this human dictated Sunday worship.
Rhonda Mcpherson
I think I heard that the calendar was changed at sometime in history. Something about the calendar changed. Does anyone else know anything about this.
Wendy Bailey
Rhonda: Research has shown that even as calendars were changed, the number of days still remain the same in any given week: 7. That being said, the Sabbath is still Saturday. As long as we follow the 7 day weekly calendar we will be observing the Sabbath on the correct day of the week.
Jeff: I can only imagine how sweeter worship is to God when held on the day that he set aside for this purpose. I am thankful that in 2011 my husband and I became aware of the Sabbath after more than 30 years of worldly influence for Sunday church attendance. What a difference there is in how we feel about church now. Thankfully, for those of us who follow God's commandments, we have more freedom than those who don't. Seems strange but it is a good feeling to know the truth! The scales were removed from our eyes.
Nathan Toronga
Well said, Jeff
And CONGLATULATIONS, Wendy!
I was also born and raised in a Sunday - worshiping family.
How wonderful it is when we worship Him in His Truth!
Dear Rhonda, we still have MANY calendars even today - Hebrew, Islamic, Julian etc. But the seven-day week has never been changed. And we have God on our side on this matter too.
Bless you all.
leeann eliason
To my understanding, we have service on Sunday to 1. Have a day of rest; 2. We commune on Sunday because that is the day the Lord rose from the dead. Unlike most people who think it is because it's the Sabbath. Which it is not, because the Sabbath is the 7th day which is Saturday. Now I am very young, but that is my understanding of it.
Nathan Toronga
Well said Leeann. And you don't need to be apologetic about your youth. We were all young at some point.
Now, to your points:
1. Day of rest. God has given His children THE day of rest - it's the Sabbath as you rightly said. Deuteronomy 5:14; Hebrews 4:9-10
2. Communion.
There's no dispute that our Redeemer rose on the first day of the week. But the bible at no point tells us to congregate on that day. Rather, the bible speaks of the Sabbath - AGAIN. Acts 15:21. (The apostles made a sweeping assumption that we'd learn, gradually, the Torah ie Moses, EVERY Sabbath); Lev 23:3
We therefore have no biblical basis for abandoning the Sabbath, and we've no biblical reason for congregating on sunday.
Bless you my dear.
Jennifer Rothnie
There is a Biblical basis for congregating on any day of the week (including Sunday) Acts 2:42-46, Luke 24:53, Acts 5:42 - but if you mean there is no basis for making that the official/primary/only day/God appointed day then certainly. There is no basis in scripture for that.
As to the particulars of how we keep the Sabbath (no work of any kind according to jewish customs, no secular work, no industrial work, no major projects, no chores, no entertainment, etc) we are free to decide according to our own conscience. We aren't bound to any particular custom of the Sabbath, though it is good to remember the Sabbath so as to call to mind how our true Sabbath rest is in God. (Col 2:16-17, Heb 4:1-13, Hosea 6:6, Ex 20:8-11, Isaiah 58:3-14, Mark 2:27-28)
Larry Truelove
I agree with Jennifer. There are no designated holy days for Christians under the new covenant. But there were under the old covenant, the Law of Moses.
Darius C
Can anyone tell where in the Bible says that the 7th day is Saturday? Because every time is mentioned in the Bible it says " the 7th day"...
Larry Truelove
Darius, I'm not sure what your difficulty is. Do you want us to rename the days of the week? A rose (Saturday/Seventy a Day) by any other name is still the same. So far as I know, Jews named their days of the week numerically, a first day, second day, etc), except for the Sabbath. Do you have a problem calling it Saturday?
Larry Truelove
I work for a water treatment facility. If I and everyone in my industry quit work, people would cease to have drinking water and/or toilet facilities. Recovery following shut down could conceivably take days. Ditto for gas and electricity supplies.
Jennifer Rothnie
If one wants to go by the Jewish calendar, then the Seventh day is Friday sundown to Saturday Sundown. By Roman reckoning, the seventh day is Saturday.
The woman found the empty tomb as it was dawning towards 'the first day according to the Sabbath' [Mia Sabbaton]. [Matt 28:1] The next day would be 'the second day according to the Sabbath', and on towards the final day which was the Sabbath.
The Jews did not use the Greek or Roman names for days of the week, they reckoned days in accordance with the Sabbath, which again for Jews is Fri-sundown to Sat-sundown.
The Apostolic Constitutions reference the habit of 4th century Christians of meeting together, not just on the Sabbath, but on Sunday as well, calling it the 'Eighth Day'.
Darius C
No. Don't have a problem with Saturday being called Saturday...yes Jews named the week days numerically, BUT how do we know that the 7th day wasn't Sunday? How do we know that 1st day wa snt monday? This is were my problem is ... Because I saw comments that basically were saying that 7th day is Saturday and that's it... Well how do we know that?
Larry Truelove
Darius, You ask an interesting question. So far as I know, every day has a 7 day week. Calendars have been calculated back to the day--for centuries. I suppose it's possible that some year a day or two could have slipped. I think we should better ask what reason we have to doubt it.
Dates themselves have been calculated by the phases of the moon and so forth, there's little reason to think days of the week are off.
They know, for example, how far the dates (not days of the week) were off when the calendar was adjusted in the British Empire of George Washington's time. We switched from the Julian calendar to/from the Gregorian calendar. I can't remember which was which but it's well documented. The seasons of the year had started to slip. Google it if you are interested in more information.
Larry Truelove
I'm sorry. I meant to say "all civilizations throughout history have had a seven day week."
Jennifer Rothnie
Darius, most ancient civilizations kept a seven-day calendar, despite there being no real 'logical' reason to do so.
In the case of knowing that the Sabbath is Saturday (technically, Fri sundown to Sat sundown), that stems from Jews being very faithful in time keeping. God made the Sabbath an 'everlasting ordinance' for the Jews, and so the cycle was well kept from its institution.
While Sunday/Monday/Saturday, etc are more modern names for days in the scheme of History, I do not think it has ever become 'controversial' as for determining what days they matched up with.
It is much harder to lose a day of the week out of the calendar than it is to get a date wrong. For example, we might go through leap years to keep on track. We might add Feb 29th, but we would not add a 'Tuesday'. The 29th then falls after whatever day was the 28th. the Jews added in an extra month every so often to keep time accurately, and sometimes in history days were cut out to put the calendar back on track. Yet through this all, the weekly cycle of seven days remained consistent, going back to Creation.
Beukes Geldenhuys
I just would like to say this: Christians must still spend time with our Lord and worship Him every day! I have seen miracles on a Sunday and a Saturday... Whilst I appreciate everyone's opinion I think to judge anyone who worships with his fellow believers on a Saturday or on a Sunday because it is not what you do or believe is like going back into the law. Our Lord God judges our hearts and wants a personal relationship with Him, no matter what day you spend in worship with your fellow believers... Christians cannot live in great sin on Saturdays and worship on Sundays or vise verse and think it is OK. Treat every day like a day to glorify the Lord and spend more time with Him over the weekend! THIS is really at the end of the day what it is all about.
Darius C
Jennifer, so let me get this straight... You say that you keep the Sabbath (Saturday named after saturn) - you dont go to work, dont do nothing but go to synagogue?
Jennifer Rothnie
No, I am not saying that I keep the Sabbath (though it certainly remains a blessing for those that keep it.) As Christians, our true Sabbath is rest from dead works in Christ (Heb 4.) Whether we keep the rituals of the physical Sabbath is optional (Col 2:16-17, Rom 14:5.)
What I am saying is that the physical Sabbath (modern Fri. sundown to Sat. sundown) never switched days or was otherwise changed from being the seventh day. There is no historical doubt on when the Jewish Sabbath fell, and indeed the Jews keep track of it to this day.
Darius C
Ok so then why is it wrong to go church on Sunday or Monday or Wednesday etc?
Also as someone that is for the Sabbath to kept
What do you think we should do?
Jeff Moon
Darius, Sunday is named after the sun god. The catholic claims to have changed the 7th day Sabbath to the first day of the week Sunday, in order to bring in pagan religions who also worshiped on Sunday. Im not sure what your point is about Saturday being named after saturn. All we need to know is that the bible says the Sabbath we are supposed to worship on, is Saturday. There is no question as to what day is the 7th either. The Jews have been meticulously keeping track of Gods 7th day Sabbath forever. It hasn't changed, and we know that God and His laws are unchanging as well. The old ceremonial laws that were nailed to the cross are a different story, however.
Jennifer Rothnie
It isn't wrong to meet with other believers and worship any day of the week. The early church met any and every day together (Acts 5:42, Acts 2:46.) They met in many locations as well, such as synagogues, the temple, riversides, market squares, people's houses, etc.
See: https://ebible.com/questions/14388-are-christians-free-to-worship-god-any-day-of-the-week
Documents from church history, such as the Apostolic Constitutions, show that there was widespread practice among Christians of meeting and resting on the Sabbath, as well as meeting and celebrating on Sunday, well into the fourth century. Eventually persecution against Sabbath-keepers and threatened excommunication from the Catholic church caused the practice of resting on the Sabbath to decline.
What is wrong isn't worshipping God on a different day, but proclaiming that the seventh-day Sabbath has moved to a new day. Believers are free in Christ as to how or if they keep the Sabbath (Col 2:16-23, Rom 14:,4-6) but man has no authority to change the times and laws of God.
Darius C
Jeff, you're saying that Sunday is named after sun god... Saturday is named after Saturn... As someone else was mentioning on the thread. I don't understand what the big fuss is about Sunday... It's not like we are worshipping idols...
Jennifer, so you agree that we don't have to keep the Sabbath? I understand what you're saying about Sabbath being on Saturday.