Please, Rainwalker, your disdain for other believers who do not adhere to your version of Christian ethics is on display here in your posts. I would suggest that you instead show love, graciousness, compassion, and forbearance to others who differ from you.
The world's disdain for Christians is enough for us to face. We do not need to be on the receptive end of such treatment fro believers. Exhortation is acceptable, as well as reproof, but sarcastic criticism of others in blanket statements is none of these biblical means of correcting one another in brotherly love mixed with grace and mercy.
While you may have a point about SOME Christians (especially leaders) who take a firm stance concerning tithing, which is not mandated by Paul or the other apostolic writers. These apostles emphasized that giving is voluntary according to the lead of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis on tithing and Sabbath keeping are two items that are not mandated in the writings of the apostles for the church. In the gospels, Jesus was living under the law in order to fulfill it completely for us. It is He who is flawless concerning the Law and the will of God. None of us are so. We are sinners, He is not. So these facts are the reason we are under the Law of Christ, where He has fulfilled all of the Law for us. This does not mean that we are to live without regard to the intent of God's moral commands.
For example, the Law says to not bear false witness against a neighbor (this is in reference to legal matters), but the Spirit of the Law is that we are honest with one another and speak truthfully concerning our neighbor.
The Law says not to commit adultery, but the Spirit of the law is to not think lustfully at all ever, let alone act in a sexually immoral way.
The Law gives very specific instructions that are helpful for us to live together in peace and love, but the Spirit of the Law gives us power to live obediently to the lead of the Holy Spirit in every circumstance. see pt. 2
Funny how so many "Christians" are adamant about the tithes, which were in "the law", but not written by the finger of God. Yet, the 4th commandment, which WAS written by The Almighty God himself, is constantly bombarded with out of context statements to try and prove that it's no longer applicable.
Thank you for your questions, Christianlady7; I assume that they are directed to whoever wishes to respond. There has been much discussion on this subject recently - you may care to pore over them as well. But if I may, I will respond to you now also with a series of questions to consider.
You mentioned, "we change things from Elohim's original intent or design...". In general, yes we have a tendency to do that, sometimes wilfully to suit our inclinations & desires, & other times, because we try to make them fit into a society & norms in which we live. So my questions: what then was Yahweh's original intent & design for the giving of the Law (the Ten Commandments)? To whom was it given? What was its purpose? And did it have an expiry date? Was there any Law instituted subsequent to it? As you no doubt have read through the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) & the apostolic teaching in the New Testament concerning these matters (especially in Romans, Galatians, & Hebrews), you will learn the answers.
Now why do some Christians hold onto the Ten Commandments as if they still applied to them, I cannot tell for sure; except that maybe they haven't thought through the questions I've shared here & even if they have, it might come down to, 'well it is in the Bible & it is given from the Mouth of God, so we must accept them & apply them even for today'. This answer sounds good, but in all things pertaining to the Bible, we need to be asking ourselves questions about the passages, doctrines, or teachings we read about, so that we not only know the Mind of God & His Purposes in them, but also if and how to apply them to us as His Church today. Blessings.
Hi Robert, I pray that your treatment did indeed go well today. I am sorry that cancer is attacking your body. I will be praying for you when I pray for those I know fighting against cancer. Keep us posted, please.
9. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (The original Greek word for hallowed is "qadash" meaning to set apart or consecrate.)
As you can see, there is nothing here about drinking wine, although you can. But this day was given specifically
for rest, not food and fellowship. But doing it that way is good. To me it is a given for us to worship God and fellowship on our day of rest.
I do whole heartly agree with this that you said: "As He is with us every day without exception , so should we be aware of Him every day and always be trying to do only those things that we know are pleasing to Him ." Being a true Christian means a 100% commitment to our Lord - including obeying ALL his commandments because the 4th is for our physical, mental and spiritual good; to rest every week on the seventh day. The church has somehow abandoned this command of God and seems to think He doesn't care, but how can we justify keeping the other's and discarding this one? Even if the early church did start worshipping on the first day of the week after the crucifixion of Jesus (they didn't) they were also being disobedient to God's commandment and at that time in history would have been severely punished by the Jews because they would have been breaking the sabbath. God Bless:)
Hi Christianlady7: Welcome to this discussion. God wrote the 10 commandments Himself and then gave Moses the laws, statues and ordinances to build on this foundation of His commandments. While they were originally given to the Jews, obviously, all the laws GOD gave are meant for mankind for always. Jesus said He came to fulfil the law not destroy it. Matthew 5:17 -18 (17)"Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (He didn't add "except the 4th, that one I've changed to the 1st day of the week." Please excuse my sarcasm. The NT has many scriptures that tell us, although we are not saved by the law, it is there to point to sin so we know why we need a Savior.
I especially agree with your comment of, how when we change the things of God they diminish in value. Changing the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday has, as I know you are aware, become NO day of rest for the believer or anyone else. This hurts our witness. We cannot pick and choose the commandments to suit ourselves. The early church honored the Sabbath until about 35AD to 100AD. After that time many "ravening wolves" ( Matthew 7:15) had begun to enter in and by 345AD Emperor Constantine held the Laodicean Council and changed the day of rest to the first day of the week to stop persecution of Jews and Christians for worshipping on the Sabbath. There were many people already practicing rest and worship on the first day so He made it a law to stop the persecution. This is a simple account of the history. If you search Laodicean Council you can learn a lot more about it. Just be careful to backup what you read or hear by scripture. Again, welcome and I hope you will join in with this discussion as it goes along. God Bless :)
Thanks, brother, what day we choose to go to a building called a church does not matter, it's what we do after the service and every other day of the week. Many feel good that they go to a church but after going to a restaurant where people are working to serve them or go to a sporting event and think nothing about it.
If we look at Acts 15 these Gentiles received the Holy Spirit by only hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We overlook and complicate the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:3 by creeds and stipulations as Peter said in Acts 15:8-10. Whether you were Jew or Greek back then the only way they could hear the word of God was by going to a synagogue as we see in Acts 15:21. What came later was for power and control.
What we do we do unto the Lord and for our conscience's sake.
Hi GiGi: I did just read this post and it is so wonderful to personally know the Almighty God. When I was praying this morning that is all that was on my mind. I know this post was awhile ago but I read it at just the right time for me. Thank You and may God
Hey Chris: Actually I'm glad you responded and I was wrong about being at an impass. We ARE growing closer in understanding each other and I'd like to continue. I'll respond more fully in a bit. God Bless :)
Hello Giannis. Hope you're busy day went well. I am sorry if in my discussions you felt like I was debating because I wanted to "push my beliefs on others " because that certainly wasn't my intent. I have decided to continue the discussion with Chris if he wants too. God bless :)
Hey Rainwalker: Thank you for your reply. I gather from your reply you agree the 4th commandment should be honored. I would like to say its rare to hear from a believe who does. I hope you will be a little more kind in your replies, however, we all love each other on this forum and are friends. God Bless :)
Father God we lift up David's family and ask for your blessing and protection over them, particularly his daughter's family. I've seen David's faithful posts over a long period of time asking for your help like it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. We ask you to lift up David and his family, bless them, invite them to be in closer communion with you, and use them for your glory and for furthering your holy kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Hello Christianlady7 , my thoughts are that the Sabbath of the old testament is a foreshadow of the true Sabbath which will be , the thousand year reign of Christ on earth , during which we , if we have been acceptable to God , will live and reign with Christ and be like unto the angels , helping and teaching humans in the way of truth . We are instructed to meet together to partake of the bread and wine but no specific day is given , we should be worshipping God every day , through our prayers , our reading of the Bible and by taking Jesus as our example and showing the love of God to all we come into contact with every single day . Every day should be a day of worship , without exception , our whole lives , once we know the Truth , should be centered around our Dear Heavenly Father . As He is with us every day without exception , so should we be aware of Him every day and always be trying to do only those things that we know are pleasing to Him . Being a Christian is a daily commitment , not a weekly one .
My son is struggling out of my 3 boys to find a meaningful life. After he left the army he had been taking depression medication. He's still living at home and because of the sweet heart he has, he's is been taken advantage of by another young lady who's supposedly divorced with kids. She is taking him for all his money, which makes him heartbroken because he doesn't understand why she doesn't love him. He has cried many days about this and wants to take his life. Please pray for him to have a normal life and be happy. He's only 28 with a heart of Gold. Prayers needed
Prayers for my third chemo infusion today at Moffitt Cancer Research. May God's grace and mercy cover the doctors and nursing staff as they treat me and Glory to God in the highest for His mercies and grace for He is worthy to be praised. In Jesus Christ name amen.
I agree with how the Sabbath day has been changed. Have you noticed how when we change things from Elohim's original intent or design..it also loses value. Such as marriage, drinking, gender etc. It's Satan's way..I think for these things to lose value and just diminish.
The Baptist teach that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. Not sure what to think. I understand that the new testament does warn against honoring one day over another, but not sure what to think here. Also ceremonial law was done away with by Jesus..no more need for daily sacrifices. Then there are ones who say we should just choose one day a week and rest and devote that day to Yahweh because no one really knows about the calendars from one area of the country to another, and says may have been different then, sure they weren't named days etc.
I come before You today with a heavy heart. I pray for Your guidance and wisdom for a Person who is having a difficult time with her daughter.
Lord, grant them the patience to understand their daughter's perspective, the wisdom to guide her in the right direction, and the strength to stand firm in her decisions. Help her to communicate with love, respect, and clarity.
May Your peace that surpasses all understanding guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Let Your love be the bond that holds them together, and Your truth be the light that guides their path.
Help them to remember that they are not alone in this journey. You are with them, guiding and protecting them.
Please pray for my parents and for my relationship with my parents. My marriage/divorce (narcissist) landed me with some deep seeded mental issues,anxiety/depression/ptsd/Anduncontrollable outbursts. I have recently moved in with my parents to try to regain custody of my two children. My parents are wonderful Christians however I feel like they do not understand the extreme trauma I have endured. It has scarred me to the core and some days it's enough just to make it thru the day without collapsing into a heap and giving up! I'm unemployed and having a hard time getting a job because of my anxiety and I have to pay my ex child support because after the depression he convinced the court I was mentally unstable demoting me to be the "noncustodial parent" and I will never be able to afford a place of my own when my ex is recieving well over half my wages which are measly minimum wage hence me moving in with my parents from being homeless.
My dad is very particular and likes things HIS way (he was a supervisor for 50yrs at an important military company in our city) he thinks I am lazy and making excuses, but I am up every day doing odd jobs/applying for jobs and taking care of my kids when I have them and busy living up to his strict standards of cleanliness with two (pre)teenage boys is no easy task! We had a disagreement this morning and I had an uncontrollable outburst that was well provoked by them and I pray that we can come to an understanding so they won't be so hard on me and learn to walk away and let me calm down if I'm not ready to talk about something immediately right when they want to discuss it. Respecting boundaries both ways. Thank you for your prayers!
Prayer for breakthrough in spiritual warfare, protection for my brother Micah to have safe protected Blessed travels going to and from, and Blessings over me to pass my test tomorrow and that I will remember and know all the answers to the test without any hindrances coming against me during my test and that I will have full endurance without getting tired though the whole test so I can pace myself well and pass my test in Lord Jesus Christ Name, Amen
The early Christians were loyal Jews; they worshiped daily in the Temple at Jerusalem; they attended services in the synagogue; they revered the law of Moses.
Notice in Acts 15 Paul did not try to persuade them to drop the Sabbath and start meeting on Sunday.
The dispute over the requirements of a Gentile Christian were resolved at the Council at Jerusalem and the Sabbath wasn't even brought up but the liberty we have in Christ for the Gentiles was on display. In other words, they weren't expected to be as zealous for the Jewish customs and rituals as the Jewish Christians were in the early Church.
Acts 15:22-24
Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: TO WHOM WE GAVE NO SUCH COMMANDMENT:
In Moses law breaking many of these commandments was a death sentence!
Why aren't we so passionate to execute that?
Who would be alive?
Colossians 2:14-17 shows us how we were freed from the sentencing of the penalty of these laws that brought death instead of life.
Today it is not where or when you worship. It is HOW you worship.
John 4:21-24.
If you are born of the spirit, you are sons of God and has joined him in his rest.
Hi everyone, I would like to comment on the Sabbath rest mentioned in Exodus 20:10 and entering in that rest mentioned in Hebrews 4:10-11.
Israel as a Nation and under the Law did not enter in that rest and I will attempt to explain why.
There still remains a rest for the people of Israel. This speaks volumes on several topics; However, I would like to focus on one.
Now this is not the Church, we have joined him in his rest as mentioned here in Hebrews 4:3
Israel as a Nation stumbled as that Rock of offence by nonbelief. Yet for the most part they kept the Sabbath rest. Which was ritual pointing to one that could give them rest.
THE LAW WAS THE VIHICLE WHICH BROUGHT US TO THE ONE THAT CAN GIVE US REST!
Galatians 4:1-5. Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
We join him in his rest by way of sonship.
So, what about the written articles of God? I will speak on that in a moment.
Please pray that I can pull my business through, after three and a half years of terrible numbers, due to Covid. This business has been going for over 45 years and I would hate to lose it now. Thank You
Thanks Momsage. I respect that you don't wish to continue this discussion on the Sabbath Day; though I don't see that we have reached an impasse, rather we are drawing closer to understanding each other, using Scripture & Church practise as our rule, as we eliminate spurious references to Sabbath Day or Sunday worship.
You wrote in another post that you provided much evidence to support the belief that the Church maintained its 'Sabbath Day worship' position. I may have missed it, as I only remember you quoted Constantine, the Laodicean Council, an RC Priest Enright, Jeremy Taylor, & maybe others. Yet, verifiable references were given you of men/writings such as Justin the Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, the Didache (apostolic teachings), Clement of Alexandria, and others, who referred to Christians meeting on a Sunday rather than the Sabbath - all these were men who preceded the men/council you referred to. It is true that Sunday worship was ordered & ratified much later by those of the RC persuasion, but the point in this discussion is, where does the truth lie & does an RC edict cause all believers to blindly follow it? I would think that a lot more weight needs to be given to the testimony of those men (post-apostolic) & if not, then the reason(s) for their disallowance needs to be given.
And lastly, the Ten Commandments are a single unit of obedience & requirements for Israel, not given to Gentiles nor the Church. The breaking of even one of them meant judgement - for the Law could never give life ( Galatians 3:19-21). How many in the Church have converted that Law given only to Israel to now apply to the Church as well, still mystifies me (as I read how the Law, though holy & good, has now been abrogated through Christ's death). The point that should be discussed is the relationship of that old Law to the Law given us (applied to our hearts) by the Spirit, & why some choose to fuse the two together when it cannot be done. See Hebrews 7:12,18,19. GBU.
The world's disdain for Christians is enough for us to face. We do not need to be on the receptive end of such treatment fro believers. Exhortation is acceptable, as well as reproof, but sarcastic criticism of others in blanket statements is none of these biblical means of correcting one another in brotherly love mixed with grace and mercy.
While you may have a point about SOME Christians (especially leaders) who take a firm stance concerning tithing, which is not mandated by Paul or the other apostolic writers. These apostles emphasized that giving is voluntary according to the lead of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis on tithing and Sabbath keeping are two items that are not mandated in the writings of the apostles for the church. In the gospels, Jesus was living under the law in order to fulfill it completely for us. It is He who is flawless concerning the Law and the will of God. None of us are so. We are sinners, He is not. So these facts are the reason we are under the Law of Christ, where He has fulfilled all of the Law for us. This does not mean that we are to live without regard to the intent of God's moral commands.
For example, the Law says to not bear false witness against a neighbor (this is in reference to legal matters), but the Spirit of the Law is that we are honest with one another and speak truthfully concerning our neighbor.
The Law says not to commit adultery, but the Spirit of the law is to not think lustfully at all ever, let alone act in a sexually immoral way.
The Law gives very specific instructions that are helpful for us to live together in peace and love, but the Spirit of the Law gives us power to live obediently to the lead of the Holy Spirit in every circumstance. see pt. 2
disrespect me and turned to other women and left me brokenhearted
Father God, he wants to work, so bless him with a good paying job. Noel will witness of Your love and mercy.
Also, Father God, heal Noel so others will see that You still perform miracles for Your children. Thank You, Lord God Almighty.
In the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ.
Blessed be Your Holy Name. Amen
You mentioned, "we change things from Elohim's original intent or design...". In general, yes we have a tendency to do that, sometimes wilfully to suit our inclinations & desires, & other times, because we try to make them fit into a society & norms in which we live. So my questions: what then was Yahweh's original intent & design for the giving of the Law (the Ten Commandments)? To whom was it given? What was its purpose? And did it have an expiry date? Was there any Law instituted subsequent to it? As you no doubt have read through the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) & the apostolic teaching in the New Testament concerning these matters (especially in Romans, Galatians, & Hebrews), you will learn the answers.
Now why do some Christians hold onto the Ten Commandments as if they still applied to them, I cannot tell for sure; except that maybe they haven't thought through the questions I've shared here & even if they have, it might come down to, 'well it is in the Bible & it is given from the Mouth of God, so we must accept them & apply them even for today'. This answer sounds good, but in all things pertaining to the Bible, we need to be asking ourselves questions about the passages, doctrines, or teachings we read about, so that we not only know the Mind of God & His Purposes in them, but also if and how to apply them to us as His Church today. Blessings.
8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (The original Greek word for hallowed is "qadash" meaning to set apart or consecrate.)
As you can see, there is nothing here about drinking wine, although you can. But this day was given specifically
for rest, not food and fellowship. But doing it that way is good. To me it is a given for us to worship God and fellowship on our day of rest.
I do whole heartly agree with this that you said: "As He is with us every day without exception , so should we be aware of Him every day and always be trying to do only those things that we know are pleasing to Him ." Being a true Christian means a 100% commitment to our Lord - including obeying ALL his commandments because the 4th is for our physical, mental and spiritual good; to rest every week on the seventh day. The church has somehow abandoned this command of God and seems to think He doesn't care, but how can we justify keeping the other's and discarding this one? Even if the early church did start worshipping on the first day of the week after the crucifixion of Jesus (they didn't) they were also being disobedient to God's commandment and at that time in history would have been severely punished by the Jews because they would have been breaking the sabbath. God Bless:)
I especially agree with your comment of, how when we change the things of God they diminish in value. Changing the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday has, as I know you are aware, become NO day of rest for the believer or anyone else. This hurts our witness. We cannot pick and choose the commandments to suit ourselves. The early church honored the Sabbath until about 35AD to 100AD. After that time many "ravening wolves" ( Matthew 7:15) had begun to enter in and by 345AD Emperor Constantine held the Laodicean Council and changed the day of rest to the first day of the week to stop persecution of Jews and Christians for worshipping on the Sabbath. There were many people already practicing rest and worship on the first day so He made it a law to stop the persecution. This is a simple account of the history. If you search Laodicean Council you can learn a lot more about it. Just be careful to backup what you read or hear by scripture. Again, welcome and I hope you will join in with this discussion as it goes along. God Bless :)
Thanks, brother, what day we choose to go to a building called a church does not matter, it's what we do after the service and every other day of the week. Many feel good that they go to a church but after going to a restaurant where people are working to serve them or go to a sporting event and think nothing about it.
If we look at Acts 15 these Gentiles received the Holy Spirit by only hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We overlook and complicate the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:3 by creeds and stipulations as Peter said in Acts 15:8-10. Whether you were Jew or Greek back then the only way they could hear the word of God was by going to a synagogue as we see in Acts 15:21. What came later was for power and control.
What we do we do unto the Lord and for our conscience's sake.
God bless,
RLW
Bless. :)
The Baptist teach that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. Not sure what to think. I understand that the new testament does warn against honoring one day over another, but not sure what to think here. Also ceremonial law was done away with by Jesus..no more need for daily sacrifices. Then there are ones who say we should just choose one day a week and rest and devote that day to Yahweh because no one really knows about the calendars from one area of the country to another, and says may have been different then, sure they weren't named days etc.
Thoughts,?
Lord, grant them the patience to understand their daughter's perspective, the wisdom to guide her in the right direction, and the strength to stand firm in her decisions. Help her to communicate with love, respect, and clarity.
May Your peace that surpasses all understanding guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Let Your love be the bond that holds them together, and Your truth be the light that guides their path.
Help them to remember that they are not alone in this journey. You are with them, guiding and protecting them.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
My dad is very particular and likes things HIS way (he was a supervisor for 50yrs at an important military company in our city) he thinks I am lazy and making excuses, but I am up every day doing odd jobs/applying for jobs and taking care of my kids when I have them and busy living up to his strict standards of cleanliness with two (pre)teenage boys is no easy task! We had a disagreement this morning and I had an uncontrollable outburst that was well provoked by them and I pray that we can come to an understanding so they won't be so hard on me and learn to walk away and let me calm down if I'm not ready to talk about something immediately right when they want to discuss it. Respecting boundaries both ways. Thank you for your prayers!
The early Church.
The early Christians were loyal Jews; they worshiped daily in the Temple at Jerusalem; they attended services in the synagogue; they revered the law of Moses.
Notice in Acts 15 Paul did not try to persuade them to drop the Sabbath and start meeting on Sunday.
The dispute over the requirements of a Gentile Christian were resolved at the Council at Jerusalem and the Sabbath wasn't even brought up but the liberty we have in Christ for the Gentiles was on display. In other words, they weren't expected to be as zealous for the Jewish customs and rituals as the Jewish Christians were in the early Church.
Acts 15:22-24
Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: TO WHOM WE GAVE NO SUCH COMMANDMENT:
In Moses law breaking many of these commandments was a death sentence!
Why aren't we so passionate to execute that?
Who would be alive?
Colossians 2:14-17 shows us how we were freed from the sentencing of the penalty of these laws that brought death instead of life.
Today it is not where or when you worship. It is HOW you worship.
John 4:21-24.
If you are born of the spirit, you are sons of God and has joined him in his rest.
God bless.
Part 1.
Hi everyone, I would like to comment on the Sabbath rest mentioned in Exodus 20:10 and entering in that rest mentioned in Hebrews 4:10-11.
Israel as a Nation and under the Law did not enter in that rest and I will attempt to explain why.
There still remains a rest for the people of Israel. This speaks volumes on several topics; However, I would like to focus on one.
Now this is not the Church, we have joined him in his rest as mentioned here in Hebrews 4:3
Israel as a Nation stumbled as that Rock of offence by nonbelief. Yet for the most part they kept the Sabbath rest. Which was ritual pointing to one that could give them rest.
THE LAW WAS THE VIHICLE WHICH BROUGHT US TO THE ONE THAT CAN GIVE US REST!
Galatians 4:1-5. Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
We join him in his rest by way of sonship.
So, what about the written articles of God? I will speak on that in a moment.
See Part 2. The early Church.
You wrote in another post that you provided much evidence to support the belief that the Church maintained its 'Sabbath Day worship' position. I may have missed it, as I only remember you quoted Constantine, the Laodicean Council, an RC Priest Enright, Jeremy Taylor, & maybe others. Yet, verifiable references were given you of men/writings such as Justin the Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, the Didache (apostolic teachings), Clement of Alexandria, and others, who referred to Christians meeting on a Sunday rather than the Sabbath - all these were men who preceded the men/council you referred to. It is true that Sunday worship was ordered & ratified much later by those of the RC persuasion, but the point in this discussion is, where does the truth lie & does an RC edict cause all believers to blindly follow it? I would think that a lot more weight needs to be given to the testimony of those men (post-apostolic) & if not, then the reason(s) for their disallowance needs to be given.
And lastly, the Ten Commandments are a single unit of obedience & requirements for Israel, not given to Gentiles nor the Church. The breaking of even one of them meant judgement - for the Law could never give life ( Galatians 3:19-21). How many in the Church have converted that Law given only to Israel to now apply to the Church as well, still mystifies me (as I read how the Law, though holy & good, has now been abrogated through Christ's death). The point that should be discussed is the relationship of that old Law to the Law given us (applied to our hearts) by the Spirit, & why some choose to fuse the two together when it cannot be done. See Hebrews 7:12,18,19. GBU.