| Author |
Message |
Gcfrankie
Registered user
Username: Gcfrankie
Post Number: 797
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 9:54 am: |     |
Not being born in SDA but joining as an adult I found it extremely hard to keep the Sabbath. My husband wanted nothing to do with the church and would let the kids do what they wanted. I would ask people at church how to keep the sabbath and I would get gobbly-gook answers but the one that everyone said was that you were not to take a nap on that day.
Our bible teacher is part Jewish and we just finished studing the laws and holy days in Lev. and the sabbath came up about the distance a person could go and he explained it was not a sin for the Jewish people to do a days walk on the sabbath which was a days walk from one end of their camp to the other so I don't see how the SDA's can justify their driving their cars to church, to go hiking, etc on the sabbath if they are truely trying to keep the sabbath. There is more to the sabbath than not working, cooking, etc. It is a time spent with God and being in His word not with the so-called prophetess EGW and her red books.
I will shut-up for now as this is a subject that really gets under my skin as I think back about all the wasted time I spent in EGW teaching than it the wonderful and joyful word of our dear lord.
Happy Easter to you all.
Gail |
Hec
Registered user
Username: Hec
Post Number: 1748
Registered: 3-2009
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 1:25 pm: | |
quote:...it was not a sin for the Jewish people to do a days walk on the sabbath which was a days walk from one end of their camp to the other...
Couldn't understand this. Could you explain it like to a child?
Hec |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 9161
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 3:16 pm: | |
Looking back now, I did not "keep" the Sabbath perfectly. i knew egw said not to sleep on sabbath afternoons, so I tried not to, but did not say anything to my husband, when we were married. As my son got older and did not take naps that was fine with me. I developed my own way of keeping sabbath (pick and choose). In nice weather we spent it outside at a park with a lake. When the winter came and it was cold I took my son to the Smithsonian Museums, the Museum of Natural History as that was the most appropriate one for sabbath???!!! |
Joyfulheart
Registered user
Username: Joyfulheart
Post Number: 831
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 7:25 pm: | |
I also came in as an adult. I remember asking the elders and being so concerned that after having gained Sabbath truth I wasn't living it. I was told keeping the Sabbath was between me and God and that He would let me know what was right to do or not do.
There were some hard fast rules though:
1. No going out to eat on Sabbath. That was HUGE at my church.
2. No swimming - wading to the ankles was ok.
3. Making salads -cutting up vegetables was ok, but putting ingredients in a casserole before putting it in the oven was not.
4. Doing dishes after potluck was ok. Doing dishes at home was not.
5. Playing with the dogs (throwing balls and frisbees to them and running around) was ok. Playing frisbeewith the other adults was not.
6. Passing out Adventist literature in the neighborhood was ok (no matter how exhausting it was) was ok. Taking it easy when the others were working was not.
7. Taking a nap on Sabbath was ok at my church and many confessed to doing it. I was surprised to see so many others around here saying it wasn't ok.
8. Shopping on the Sabbath was not ok - unless we really needed something then it was.
By the way, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the Sabbaths I spent with Adventist friends, the conversation almost never was about things of God. To me it seemed no different than conversation I always had with friends when visiting with them. I never understood what to do to keep the Sabbath holy. |
Gregkleinig
Registered user
Username: Gregkleinig
Post Number: 32
Registered: 12-2010
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 8:02 pm: | |
I can't believe how bad you Yanks were at Sabbath keeping. Going out for a meal on the Sabbath. What about some Europeans playing boad games on the Sabbath and I heard that Germans will even have a game of soccer on the Sabbath. No wonderChrist couldn't return because none of you were making enough effort. "When Christ's character is perfectly reproduced in His people then He will return." eg white. It was the northern hemisphere letting the world down. Unload those sixshooters - it was pretty similar downunder - except nobody I ever ever heard of would buy a meal on the Sabbath.
What used to really bug me was that the Bible says you should observe the S from evening to evening not sundown to sundown. After studying every single verse on "evening" in the Bible it is almost impossible to defend the "sundown" idea. I used to see it as a time of grace from a God of grace where one could ease out of the madness of the working week and chill with God for 24 and spend some quality time with family, fall asleep whenever I liked, catch up with friends maybe over a shared meal. As one who had an over zealous work ethic I still think the Sabbath saved me from becoming worn out too early in life. I still love the freedom of stopping one day in seven and trusting my Finished Work that my unfinished work will look after itself for a day. And because my wife can't/won't try to get her head around 'not Sabbath' I still fit in with her in accordance with Rom. 14.
I think we might be on pretty thin ice scripturally by continually flogging sdas over their S keeping. Afterall, Rom 14:5 does say; "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in THEIR OWN MIND." one of the things I really hated about Adventism was it's willingness to hold everybody else up to ridicule for not thinking the same as them. And now that I've escaped please God forgive Me where I do. And boy don't I love to. Sorry God.
I find it really hard to be redemptively critical rather than vindictively critical.
Bless you guys and your work. I just discovered Proclamation magazine yesterday - Saturday. What a great time I had. Thanyou all so much.
For me on my own this website is very pleasant and thought provoking fellowship.
Bless you all.
Greg. |
Nowisee
Registered user
Username: Nowisee
Post Number: 837
Registered: 5-2009
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 8:11 pm: | |
Joyfulheart, I love #4!! I had never thought of that when I was SDA. The frisbee one is pretty cool, too. |
Jdpascal
Registered user
Username: Jdpascal
Post Number: 278
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 10:10 pm: | |
One of the favourite ways of getting around 'sabbath' concerns during conversations was to say "if it wasn't sabbath".... as in 'If it wasn't sabbath, how much would you ask to sell your car?" |
1john2v27nlt
Registered user
Username: 1john2v27nlt
Post Number: 293
Registered: 5-2009
| | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 10:24 pm: | |
Leigh Ann,
I went back & reread your original question. The answer is NO. First because I never read the entire bible so I never had anything in context, much less knew what the bible really said in its entirety.
When I got into a non-denom bible study & read whole books of the bible I was 'convicted' in reading Nehemiah 10 & 13 where sabbath reforms were enacted restricting buying, selling, & working on sabbath. Also Nehemiah closed the gates from sundown Fri to sundown sabbath to prevent the buying & selling, which reinforced 'guarding the edges of the sabbath' & sunset calendars with the exact minutes of sundown.
This of course was an OT focus. I never had any concept of NT/NC change. The NT was simply a continuation of the OT for me with Jesus as the fulfillment of the sacrificial system. All the rest remained intact. I had no concept of Jesus being our sabbath rest, or being our new covenant, which I have now found scripture foundation for in my personal reading & questioning God. That is also when I found the passage I posted earlier Ex 16:29. That part was never kept by anyone.
I was in my mid 50s before any of this happened. Until then it was an endless debate with no scriptural basis other than Ex 20:12 & traditions of man. Which I agonized over, wanting to keep God's word rather than man's traditions. But I never got into the word for myself, until about 7 years ago.
That is one reason why I am passionate about getting people into succeeding in reading the whole Word of God for themselves.
J9 |
Pnoga
Registered user
Username: Pnoga
Post Number: 463
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2011 - 6:21 am: | |
My question to Sabbatarians is this "The 4th commandments states that you shall labor 6 days and rest the 7th, and even references God's creation in 6 days and resting (ceased) the 7th, so should we not also likewise work 6 days and only rest the 7th?" SDA's like to say God rested to set an example to give to us to model. So in like manner He worked 6 days, would it be breaking the 4th commandment to not work on any of the 6 days, for example Sunday which many SDAs do not work on? If they believe they must follow the pattern God commands us then they surely should be working 6 days just as God did. God did not rest any days before he completed His work.
Just a thought,
Paul |
Pnoga
Registered user
Username: Pnoga
Post Number: 464
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2011 - 6:23 am: | |
Which leads to another question
"If you are not working Sunday, does that now mean you will receive the mark of the beast just as all other Christians whom you claim will because they do not work on Sunday?" |
