| Author | Message | ||
| Polgarahh Registered user Username: Polgarahh Post Number: 10 Registered: 9-2013 |
We all now by now that Constantine had nothing to do with the implementation of the Sunday as a worship day among early Christians. We all know by now that all the Christians (including apostles and their disciples) were keeping the first day of the week already by 140 AD. There are many historical evidence and writings of early Christians to prove it. There is NOT A SINGLE evidence proving that early Christians kept the weekly Sabbath (Saturday). So, consequently, we all know that Constantine could never change the Saturday to Sunday, for Sunday had already been celebrated for more than 200 years prior to his Decree. He only made OFFICIAL something that had been in force for centuries before his Decree. However, as SDAs still quote this Decree of Constantine, I felt the need to ask some questions about it (as someone who studied literature, this was one of major topics of my university education): 1. Let us (for a moment) accept the fact that early Christians prior to the Decree DID keep the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) and that Constantine wanted to force the Christians to celebrate Sunday instead. Imagine you were one of those early Christians, whom God forbade to worship anyone but HIM. Now, you hear the Decree of Constantine saying: "And let the HOLY DAY OF THE SUN be the holy day of Christian worship". What would you do? Would you EVER even consider to obey a command like that? Would you ever accept to worship the Sun God on Sunday? What about your Christian brothers? Would they also accept such thing, after they having been tormented, thrown to lions, killed, tortured, after they parents died as martyrs for refusing to worship any pagan deity? 2. Wouldn't Constantine use ANOTHER name for Sunday if he ever intended to force Christians to celebrate it? Wouldn't it be logical for Constantine to say: "And let all the Christians gather and celebrate the day of the Lord's Resurrection and the day of Pentecost"? Wouldn't that be much more acceptable for you as a Christian celebrating weekly Sabbath? Would you EVER think that Constantine would want you to worship the Sun god if he worded his Decree in this way? Would it not sound much more "Christian" to early Christians? 3. If Constantine wanted to force the Christians (who allegedly kept the weekly Sabbath) to celebrate Sunday, would he not NAME that day in a more Christian manner, acceptable to Christian, and not OPENLY give it its pagan name? Wouldn't its pagan name automatically create a rejection among Christians? Certainly it would. 4. For this reason (giving the first day of the week its pagan name) it is obvious to all the linguists and historians that Constantine wanted something else, and not to force Christians to celebrate the day of the Sun god. He actually wanted the PAGANS to celebrate the ALREADY ESTABLISHED WORSHIP DAY OF CHRISTIANS. Think logically (and politically) about it. Constantine's empire was troubled and divided, and making Christianity the official Roman religion was a great strategic and political move of the Emperor to unify the troubled empire and finally bring social and political peace. Therefore, he institutes Christianity as the official and MANDATORY religion of the Empire, meaning that now PAGANS have to become CHRISTIANS. It would also mean that the pagans would have to accept Christian holidays. If he said to pagans: You are to celebrate the day of Christ's resurrection, the pagans would probably have no idea which day it was. Therefore, he names the day in the manner known to PAGANS, so that THEY could know which day it actually is. Conclusion: Constantine did not force Christians to celebrate Sunday, he actually forced PAGANS to accept (already established) Christian day of worship. Also, the claim that ROMAN Church made this change from Saturday to Sunday is ridiculous and historically totally incorrect (should I say: FALSE). Actually, the EASTERN Church was the one who OFFICIALLY stated (around 140 AD) that Christians are to gather on Sunday, as the apostles did, based on the widespread practice of Christians in Antioch, Alexandria, Corinth etc. Also, this EASTERN Church (later Greek Orthodox Church) was the one who APPOINTED the bishops of ROME and told them what to do and how to behave (and on which day to worship in churches). I have to wonder why God "misinformed" poor EGW that it was not Constantine who changed the Saturday to Sunday, that it was not the Western Church (Rome), but actually Eastern Church, some 200 years before Constantine's Decree? I asked this question to most prominent SDA theologians. Up to now, I received NO answer to the question: If weekly Sabbath is the truth, why do you defend it with LIES? | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 14628 Registered: 12-2003  |
Very good points! Colleen | ||
| Butterfly_poette Registered user Username: Butterfly_poette Post Number: 363 Registered: 5-2011  |
thank you! | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3231 Registered: 7-2007 |
The key word here is "kept." Why would God establish another shadow when Jesus was the Substance, the Fulfillment of all the various Sabbaths? (Now I know that the Christians gathered together to worship God, but did they "keep" a day holy? Take a look at this passage of Scripture: "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God." Colossians 2:13-20 If God had stepped back and given the church ANOTHER shadow pointing to Christ - one representing the REST that Jesus is; wouldn't He have said so? Instead Romans says that it doesn't matter if a person keeps a day or not: "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." Romans 14:5 | ||
| Resjudicata Registered user Username: Resjudicata Post Number: 27 Registered: 4-2014 |
"1. Let us (for a moment) accept the fact that early Christians prior to the Decree DID keep the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) and that Constantine wanted to force the Christians to celebrate Sunday instead. Imagine you were one of those early Christians, whom God forbade to worship anyone but HIM. Now, you hear the Decree of Constantine saying: "And let the HOLY DAY OF THE SUN be the holy day of Christian worship". What would you do? Would you EVER even consider to obey a command like that? Would you ever accept to worship the Sun God on Sunday? What about your Christian brothers? Would they also accept such thing, after they having been tormented, thrown to lions, killed, tortured, after they parents died as martyrs for refusing to worship any pagan deity?" From my reading of the First and Second and third Century Christians, they would happily go to the Lions rather than compromise their love of their Lord Jesus Christ one bit. White's paranoid conspiracy theory of Sabbath Apostasy is just a slanderous smear on heroic and selfless and devoted people she clearly knows nothing about. "Also, the claim that ROMAN Church made this change from Saturday to Sunday is ridiculous and historically totally incorrect (should I say: FALSE). Actually, the EASTERN Church was the one who OFFICIALLY stated (around 140 AD) that Christians are to gather on Sunday, as the apostles did, based on the widespread practice of Christians in Antioch, Alexandria, Corinth etc. Also, this EASTERN Church (later Greek Orthodox Church) was the one who APPOINTED the bishops of ROME and told them what to do and how to behave (and on which day to worship in churches)." The official position of the Easter Orthodox Church is that Sunday Worship and Easter Celebration commenced within the first year after the Resurrection. In no way did it take until 140. And don't forget, Eastern Orthodoxy split from Rome 500 years before the Protestants did. They probably hate the papacy as much as SDAs do. |
