| Author | Message | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 327 Registered: 5-2009  |
When I read the Seventh-day Baptist explanation for Sabbath on the SDB website, my first thought was, "have they been reading Ellen White, or what?!" But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Former SDAs, who've lost confidence in EGW, IJ, etc. but still WANTED and LOVED the Sabbath (or just couldn't shake it), have joined their ranks and taken some of their faulty Sabbatarian theology with them? Read this and tell me if it doesn't sound Adventist! **** Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who remember to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. We are a Baptist church that is a little different. The Sabbath and Creation The essence of Christianity is people being brought into right relationship with God. In fact, God created humans, as male and female, in order to enjoy a loving relationship with Him. God created people (Genesis 1:27) and then created the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-4) as that period of time in which God could have our undivided attention. The Sabbath is God's gift of time for the benefit of humankind. God created the heavens and the earth. Though the creation of the heavens and earth was complete on the sixth day of creation, there was one thing yet to be created, the Sabbath. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because in it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done (Genesis 2:1-3). The story of God's creation of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3) tells us three things that God did with the seventh day, Sabbath. (Though the word "Sabbath" does not appear in the creation story in Genesis, it is clear that the Sabbath was established. 1. God rested on the seventh day, Sabbath. 2. God blessed the seventh day, Sabbath. 3. God sanctified or made holy the seventh day, Sabbath. God did more than merely rest on that first Sabbath. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:3). This was God's final act in His creation week. He took the last day (seventh day) of the creation week and set it apart as a special day by blessing it. The Sabbath is a part of the creation order, and it has its origins there. In the beginning, God created the heavens, the earth, man, and the seventh day Sabbath. Creation and the Law God so desired that His people know Him that He revealed to them part of His character, known as the Law or Ten Commandments. These ten words of law were God's desire for the Children of Israel and for all humankind. The fourth of these Commandments points back to creation as the origin of the Sabbath. God commands people to keep the Sabbath because He, Himself kept the Sabbath at creation. God blessed the Sabbath and made it holy by setting the example for all mankind to rest on that day. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11). God's prescription regarding the Sabbath is rather specific. God said that we should rest and remember - not one day a week - but a specific day of the week, the seventh day. God specifically said that the "seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord thy God" (Exodus 20:10). The seventh day Sabbath belongs to God. People can do what they wish on the first day of the week (Sunday) but it is the seventh day Sabbath which is the Lord's day according to Exodus 20:10. We see from Exodus 20:11 that the foundation of the fourth commandment is God's act of creation, "in the beginning." The Sabbath is not based merely on God's relationship to the Jews, but it is based on His relationship to all of creation. There are five things to emphasize in the Fourth Commandment. 1. God tells us that the seventh day is the Sabbath. 2. God commands us to remember the Sabbath day. 3. God commands us to keep the Sabbath holy. 4. God commands us to rest on the Sabbath. 5. "Sabbath to the Lord" is a day dedicated to Him. Why are we to keep the Sabbath holy? The Fourth Commandment goes on to tell us why. "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11) We are to keep the Sabbath holy and rest, because God kept the Sabbath holy and rested on that day. The Sabbath is holy because God "made it holy" at creation. We are to rest on the Sabbath because God set the example for Sabbath rest at creation. Jesus and the Sabbath The Ten Commandments are an expression of Godís very nature and will, which is unchangeable. Jesus Christ did not come to change even the smallest portion of the moral law (Matthew 5:17-18). Some say that Christ changed the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. That would require a change in the law. The moral law says that "the seventh day is the Sabbath" and not the first day of the week. In no place does the Bible tell us of this change in the law from the seventh to the first day of the week. The Sabbath was the commandment most corrupted by the Pharisees. So, it is not surprising that it was over Sabbath-keeping that Jesus would have most of his conflict with the Pharisees. The Sabbath issue between Christ and the Pharisees is never over which day to worship or over whether the Sabbath was still part of God's desire for man. The issue for Christ was the way in which the Sabbath was being kept and the Phariseesí attitude toward the Sabbath. The most powerful statement regarding Christ's commitment to the Sabbath is found in Mark 2:27 and 28. "And he was saying to them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'" The climax of Jesus' statement comes when he says that he is Lord of the Sabbath day. This means that Jesus has the authority over all the circumstances regarding the Sabbath. Christians should be taught that Jesus Christ can arrange circumstances in order to provide for people the opportunity to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. God wants our undivided attention on the seventh day Sabbath, and He will use the resources of His kingdom to make this possible. The story of creation in Genesis gives the origin of the Sabbath but it does not give the reason for God's creation of the Sabbath. However, a clue to the purpose of the Sabbath is given in the fact that the Sabbath was created right after man's creation. Perhaps the Sabbath was created by God with man in mind. The fact that the Sabbath was made for man is stated clearly by Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Sabbath. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Here Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who are condemning Him for breaking the Pharisaic rules regarding the Sabbath. There are four things which can be learned from this message from the mouth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. First, the Sabbath was made. This is a clear reference back to Genesis 2 showing that the Sabbath was a part of the perfect creation order. The Sabbath existed from the very beginning as the final part of God's creation. This reference would also serve as a reminder to the Pharisees that the Sabbath was created by God and not by them. Second, the Sabbath was made for man. Right after the creation of man, God made the Sabbath. (See Genesis 1 and 2.) Jesus, the Creator of the Sabbath, says that the Sabbath was created with all mankind in mind. The Sabbath does not have its origins in the Law. Its origins go back to creation. The Sabbath was not a Jewish Sabbath alone, because "the Sabbath was made for man" and not for just the Jews. When the Sabbath was created in the beginning there were no Jews. This is the clear message of Jesus in this New Testament text. Third, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had lost the meaning of the Sabbath. God had created the Sabbath for man's benefit, but the Pharisees had reversed the meaning. For the Pharisees, the Sabbath was more important than man, and they believed that God had created man to keep the Sabbath. Fourth, "the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath," means that Jesus Christ was and is the one who is in authority over the Sabbath. There would be no need for him to declare his Lordship if he planned to abolish it in the near future with his death. But because he is Lord of the Sabbath, he can and will bring all of his resourses to bear to empower us and to work our circumstances so that we can keep his day holy. The Sabbath was created for our benefit. Jesus' life, death, and ministry did not change the original meaning and purpose of the Sabbath. But Jesus did attack the Pharisees for the way they had changed the original meaning and purpose of God's holy day. Jesus Christ Kept the Sabbath In every area of life, we look to Christ as our supreme example. We believe in baptism because of the example of Christ and the apostles and the command of God. And so it is with the Sabbath. We have the example of Christ and the apostles and the Ten Commandments of God written on the tables of stone and on our hearts. And yet, the majority of Christianity has chosen the tradition of man. "He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read" (Luke 4:16). The word of God tells that Jesus was a Sabbathkeeper. It was the Son of God who blessed and sanctified the Sabbath at creation by resting. This rest was the first example that Adam and Eve had in the Garden. When the Son of God became flesh, he once again set the example for Sabbathkeeping. Luke, Paul, and the Sabbath Luke's gospel was written to a gentile (Theophilus) no earlier than 60 AD, which is many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Luke 23:56, we read that the women "...prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment." Some would say that the women simply had not yet been told by Jesus that the Sabbath was abolished. But remember, Luke is writing this several decades after the death and resurrection of Christ. He in no way qualifies the fourth commandment being kept by the women as something that was "done away with" or something that is "Jewish" or "passed away." Luke simply describes their Sabbathkeeping as something "in obedience to the commandment." Apparently Luke, the writer of the gospel, felt that the Sabbath was still one of the commandments of God at the time he wrote it. The Book of Acts, also written by Luke, is a history of the early church right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no mention of a change in the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. In fact, throughout the Book of Acts the seventh day of the week is given the title of "Sabbath." If the first day of the week was changed to the "Lord's Day," why is the title "Lord's Day" not mentioned in this earliest history of the church? When the Apostle Paul was in Corinth he went to the synagogue every Sabbath. This was in spite of the fact that he was trying to reach both Jews and Greeks. "Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4). We have set before us the clear example of Christ and the example of Paul. Salvation is by Grace Through Faith Seventh Day Baptists believe that the Sabbath is important to God and to people. However, we also believe that we are not saved by observing the Sabbath. In fact, we are not saved by keeping any of the Ten Commandments. The Apostle Paul says, "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law" (Romans 3:20). Seventh Day Baptists believe that we are saved because "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son" (John 3:16). Jesus Christ came to earth to die and shed His blood so that people could be saved. Only those who surrender their lives to Jesus Christ will be saved. Love is the Reason to Observe the Sabbath Though we are not saved by observing the Sabbath, we keep the Sabbath because we love the Lord. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Love is the reason we keep the Sabbath holy and obey all of the Ten Commandments. We also keep the Sabbath holy because we believe Jesus when He tells us that "the Sabbath was made for man." We believe that the Sabbath was given for man's benefit. The Sabbath truly is a gift of time for our benefit. Our Freedom in Christ "It is for freedom that Christ set us free" (Galatians 5:1). The Sabbath is designed as a day of freedom. Jesus is in the business of setting people free from anything that is a barrier to intimate fellowship with Him. If God commanded us to keep the Sabbath day holy by resting, He would have to be in charge of all the circumstances that could keep us from obeying His command. That is why God has set his Son in charge of the Sabbath as "Lord of the Sabbath." Now we can be set free from all the labor and work of the Sabbath and be able to give God our undivided attention on His day. It is on the Sabbath that we are set free from work and the guilt of spending twenty-four hours in rest and service. Could this be possible on any other day? Perhaps, but God has not committed Himself and all the resources of the Kingdom to setting us free from work on any day but the seventh day Sabbath. It is only by faith that we can accept these resources which set us free from Sabbath work. This faith can only be built upon a relationship with the Son of Man, who is Lord even of the Sabbath day. God provides all of these resources to set us free to give Him our undivided attention for twenty-four hours a week. Of course, God wants our attention every day of the week. But because God wants our undivided attention on the seventh day Sabbath, He sets us free from the work of the world. God does all this for us because He loves us and He knows that we need it. And we keep His Sabbath holy by spending time with Him because we love Him. | ||
| Alison1 Registered user Username: Alison1 Post Number: 42 Registered: 10-2010 |
There are other religious groups that observe the Sabbath oher than the SDAs. Such as SDB(Seventh-day Baptists); Seventh-day Church of God and other groups. In fact there is an organization that is called Bible Sabbath Association. It is a collective group of all Sabbath-keeping churches. Just because someone believes in keeping the 7th day Sabbath doesn't mean that they believe in the SDAs beliefs. You need to remember that there are other components to the SDA church. Such as, Ellen White, the IJ teaching,vegetarianism, doctrine of soul-sleeping and probably a few others. You need to know that it is not our place to judge another because they choose to worship on the Saturday Sabbath. And I do agree with you that "Of course, God wants our attention every day of the week. But because God wants our undivided attention on the seventh day Sabbath, He sets us free from the work of the world. God does all this for us because He loves us and He knows that we need it. And we keep His Sabbath holy by spending time with Him because we love Him." And sometimes we may need to dedicate a 24-hour period of time just to spend time with God in prayer, praise, devotion and bible study. And for some of us (including me) Saturday seems to be the best time because at other times it may not suitable. | ||
| Michaelmiller Registered user Username: Michaelmiller Post Number: 233 Registered: 7-2010  |
-quote from original post- ...That would require a change in the law...In no place does the Bible tell us of this change in the law... -end quote- Compared with Hebrews 7:11-19: If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come—one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. Michael | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 328 Registered: 5-2009 |
My post was not intended to judge sabbatarians. I simply wanted to show how the logic sounds very Adventist, very Ellen White-ish. | ||
| Hec Registered user Username: Hec Post Number: 1617 Registered: 3-2009 |
Yes, it does sound SDA. Why? Because SDA got the Sabbath from the Seventh-day Baptist. Hec | ||
| Alison1 Registered user Username: Alison1 Post Number: 46 Registered: 10-2010 |
Maybe it sounds Adventist and Ellen White-ish. But it was a Seventh-day Baptist woman (I can research this out for you, if you're interested and I'll post) that introduced the Sabbath to her and her husband. Also the Sabbath teaching is older than the Adventist Church. So Ellen White didn't just dream this up. | ||
| Alison1 Registered user Username: Alison1 Post Number: 47 Registered: 10-2010 |
Ok, here the history behind the SDAs and the SDBs. "Sabbath was introduced to the Adventist movement of William Miller and his followers by the Seventh Day Baptists. The group of "Sabbatarian Adventists" emerged from 1845 to 1849 from among the Adventist groups, later to become the Seventh-day Adventists. Joseph Bates was the foremost proponent of Sabbath amongst this group. A young Seventh Day Baptist layperson named Rachel Oakes Preston living in New Hampshire was responsible for introducing Sabbath to the Millerite Adventists. Due to her influence Frederick Wheeler began keeping the seventh day as Sabbath after personally studying the issue in March 1844 following a conversation with Preston, according to his later report. He is reputed to be the first ordained Adventist minister to preach in support of Sabbath. Several members of the church in Washington, New Hampshire he occasionally ministered to also followed his decision, forming the first Sabbatarian Adventist church. These included William Farnsworth (biography) and his brother Cyrus. T. M. Preble soon accepted it either from Wheeler, Oakes, or someone else at the church. These events actually preceded the "Great Disappointment" which followed shortly after, when Jesus did not return as expected on October 22, 1844. Preble was the first Millerite to promote Sabbath in print form; through the February 28, 1845 issue of the Hope of Israel in Portland, Maine. In March he published his Sabbath views in tract form as A Tract, Showing that the Seventh Day Should be Observed as the Sabbath, Instead of the First Day; "According to the Commandment.". This tract led to the conversion of J. N. Andrews and other Adventist families in Paris, Maine, as well as to Joseph Bates (in 1845). These men in turn convinced James and Ellen White, as well as Hiram Edson and hundreds of others.[22] Preble is known to have kept seventh-day Sabbath until mid-1847. He later repudiated Sabbath and opposed the Seventh-day Adventists, authoring The First-Day Sabbath. Bates proposed that a meeting should be organized between the believers in New Hampshire and Port Gibson. At this meeting, which occurred sometime in 1846 at Edson's farm, Edson and other Port Gibson believers readily accepted the Sabbath message and at the same time forged an alliance with Bates and two other folk from New Hampshire who later became very influential in the Adventist church, James and Ellen G. White. Between April 1848 and December 1850 twenty-two "Sabbath conferences" were held in New York and New England. These meetings were often seen as opportunities for leaders such as James White, Joseph Bates, Stephen Pierce and Hiram Edson to discuss and reach conclusions about doctrinal issues.[23" | ||
| Hec Registered user Username: Hec Post Number: 1619 Registered: 3-2009 |
Alison, where did you get this from? Hec | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 1005 Registered: 2-2008  |
"God created the heavens and the earth. Though the creation of the heavens and earth was complete on the sixth day of creation, there was one thing yet to be created, the Sabbath." OK... I've never understood this whole thing about the weekly sabbath being "created". Where in the Bible does God say that the weekly sabbath was "created"? It was another day. Days had already been "created" during the week. If the weekly sabbath was "created" then all the feasts, monthly and yearly, were "created" too. Then who defines when God is done with creation? I don't get that. vivian p.s. my husband asked my mom what was the most important that God created. She said the sabbath. sigh. | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 329 Registered: 5-2009 |
Of course! Like everything else EGW, she got her "revelations from God" from some other source. Thanks for the clarification. Whether or not once chooses to set aside a day to spend with the Lord, exclusively, the Sabbath doctrine spelled out in my first post is unbiblical, period. | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 1007 Registered: 2-2008 |
... I think that when you need this much rationalization to support your belief of worshipping on a specific day, that you've already made the day more important than it needs to be. vivian | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 1008 Registered: 2-2008 |
... especially when the gospel, our salvation can be articulated in less words: Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried and was raised and the third day according to the scriptures (1Cor. 15:3,4) vivian | ||
| Alison1 Registered user Username: Alison1 Post Number: 48 Registered: 10-2010 |
Hec, I found it in Wikipedia. |
