lack of Sabbath observance - a symptom of the problem?

Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!

Romans 16:25
Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,

What is Paul's gospel and/or the one he preached?

Artfuldodger said:

Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!

Romans 16:25
Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,

What is Paul's gospel and/or the one he preached?

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Wiki has some interesting info on this regards your question:


1.God sent his Son.
2.The Son was crucified for the sins of humanity.
3.After being dead three days, the Son was raised from the dead, defeating death.
4.The Son would soon return.
5.Those in Christ will live with him forever.
6.Followers are urged to live by a set apart (sanctified) standard—"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ".[1 Thes. 5:23]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle

Gracious. Every time I think there might be a thread to take interest in....just increased silliness.

Folks, on the 7th day God rested from his work and made it Holy. The Sabbath was created well before the Law was given and, if God rested (even though he didn't need to)....perhaps we should heed the example.

Why is there so much time spent in here these days looking for the most minute ways to justify our own distance from our Creator? The OP was simply lamenting that even Christians are beginning to believe that something God established as good is not something that is good for them....and then the rest of the thread has been spent confirming exactly what he was afraid of.

Huntinfool said:

Gracious. Every time I think there might be a thread to take interest in....just increased silliness.

Folks, on the 7th day God rested from his work and made it Holy. The Sabbath was created well before the Law was given and, if God rested (even though he didn't need to)....perhaps we should heed the example.

Why is there so much time spent in here these days looking for the most minute ways to justify our own distance from our Creator? The OP was simply lamenting that even Christians are beginning to believe that something God established as good is not something that is good for them....and then the rest of the thread has been spent confirming exactly what he was afraid of.

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Good point.
I kinda got the feeling it boiled down to "is it pleasing to God to forsake assembling together or not?" .

Huntinfool said:

Gracious. Every time I think there might be a thread to take interest in....just increased silliness.

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You and I should debate in here more often. I miss those days

Huntinfool said:

Why is there so much time spent in here these days looking for the most minute ways to justify our own distance from our Creator? The OP was simply lamenting that even Christians are beginning to believe that something God established as good is not something that is good for them....and then the rest of the thread has been spent confirming exactly what he was afraid of.

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To me, there seemed to be a cause / effect relationship established by the OP relevant to Sabbath observance. I might agree that the effects exist, but do not agree with the cause. There are a lot of things wrong with our society. However, linking increased terror, decreased blue laws, and legalized abortion to this seems far fetched. I think it (decreased Sabbath observance) may also be a symptom with the root being a general decreased spirituality amongst the people.

Society is in a current state of rebellion against the way things always were. I guess that may be a never ending process, I dunno. There are good and bad changes that come with this. However, even on a micro level, rebellion is not always the fault of the rebellious as it can be a natural reaction to over zealous application of the law, rules, etc. (this goes for any rebellion.....an angry teenager or a political uprising). Maybe some introspection within the religious community is in order? Perhaps something that doesn't involve "let's figure out a way to re-brand."

Just some thoughts.

Huntinfool said:

Gracious. Every time I think there might be a thread to take interest in....just increased silliness.

Folks, on the 7th day God rested from his work and made it Holy. The Sabbath was created well before the Law was given and, if God rested (even though he didn't need to)....perhaps we should heed the example.

Why is there so much time spent in here these days looking for the most minute ways to justify our own distance from our Creator? The OP was simply lamenting that even Christians are beginning to believe that something God established as good is not something that is good for them....and then the rest of the thread has been spent confirming exactly what he was afraid of.

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I hope I haven't given the impression that I am against respect for the Sabbath. My contention is that should we be setting aside Saturday as the Sabbath or Sunday.

If we really wanted to go back and follow the law given, We would be celebrating from sunset on Friday til sunset on Saturday as the Sabbath, as the jewish day starts around 6pm. I know that some will scream that all that died under grace, but hey, either you follow the whole law, or you are condemned by the law.

Our society has grown so far away from gospel truth and the desire to please God, that we can even justify the killing of unborn children by saying they are not alive because they haven't taken a breath. Ludicrous.

I believe we are all doing as Jesus spoke, and trying to remove the speck from a brothers eye, and ignoring the timber that we have in our own eye.

God forgive us.

Galatians 5:4 -- Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Huntinfool said:

Gracious. Every time I think there might be a thread to take interest in....just increased silliness.

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Interesting, substantive threads are a rarity these days.

I wonder how many folks who say they don't believe in working on Sunday would want somebody working for the hospital to come get them on Sunday if they had a heart attack? Or how many stop to eat out after church on Sunday morning in a place where people work to prepare and serve the food?

When I was a kid we weren't even allowed to fish on Sunday. Or do much of anything else. I think that one day is the same as another, and if you have a relationship with God, it should be on every day, not just one special one.

NCHillbilly said:

I wonder how many folks who say they don't believe in working on Sunday would want somebody working for the hospital to come get them on Sunday if they had a heart attack? Or how many stop to eat out after church on Sunday morning in a place where people work to prepare and serve the food?

When I was a kid we weren't even allowed to fish on Sunday. Or do much of anything else. I think that one day is the same as another, and if you have a relationship with God, it should be on every day, not just one special one.

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Good post !

NCHillbilly said:

I wonder how many folks who say they don't believe in working on Sunday would want somebody working for the hospital to come get them on Sunday if they had a heart attack? Or how many stop to eat out after church on Sunday morning in a place where people work to prepare and serve the food?

When I was a kid we weren't even allowed to fish on Sunday. Or do much of anything else. I think that one day is the same as another, and if you have a relationship with God, it should be on every day, not just one special one.

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That sounds like my childhood which was even more liberal than my parents childhood. My mother couldn't even play cards or say "I swear."
It also depended on our preacher as to what we could do. Different guideline given by different preachers. At one point we couldn't even buy a loaf of bread on Sunday. Definitely couldn't go to the river or play ball.
We were required to rest meaning, take a nap.

It was mentioned that the Sabbath started on Friday at 6pm. If one started their Sabbath on Sunday morning, wouldn't they be in violation of not keeping the Sabbath correctly? I would think this to be worse than not keeping it at all.

I can't see how Sabbath keeping is related to abortions and same sex marriage. It's more in relation to how society changes over the years. Mixed marriages are now accepted when once they weren't. Women now wear pants to Church and teach men. Churches now sell Pumpkins for Halloween even on Sunday. Halloween for God's sake, and on Sunday.
These are legalism issues that have nothing to do with God's grace. Salvation is of the Lord's and not by our works. We couldn't follow the Law even if we wanted to thanks to Adam. This is why we needed Salvation in the form of a Redeemer. Any other Gospel is not the Gospel of Paul. We must follow the teachings of Paul as he was the teacher of the Gentiles.

God set aside 1 day, a specific day. That's all. It's not a complicated thing, a burdensome thing, or a bad thing in any way. He said remember THE Sabbath and keep it Holy (as in continue to keep it Holy because he had already made it that way). Yes, a relationship with God is a daily thing. But He commanded also in the 4th commandment that 6 days a week we shall work. Keeping Sabbath every day isn't holy, it's lazy! Sabbath is about trusting that our Creator will provide for our needs. It's about putting our daily nonsense aside for worship, fellowship, prayer, and the rest that our bodies were physically designed to need. Our God is to be obeyed, not bargained with--in His authority as the creator, He designated a specific day and asked us that if we love Him, to keep His commandments. Not mold them to fit our preferences and schedule.

Nic, you mention hospital work. As Jesus said, it is not sinful to do good on the sabbath. He healed on the Sabbath, why would it not be OK for us to follow likewise? He also said "which of you, if your ox fell in a ditch on Sabbath, would not labor to pull him out?". He was not tearing down the Sabbath, just that the idea that we should neglect the "life happens" emergencies for the sake of it. Rest on Sabbath. Don't work for the sake of income, trust that God will meet your needs and bless your obedience. But if someone needs help, help them, even if it means labor!

Sabbath is not for repairing your car. But if you pass someone on the side of the road struggling with a flat, help them!

Sabbath is not for cleaning your house. But if you dog has an accident, pick it up.

Sabbath is meant for our own good. It is a recognition of God as the creator--the 4th commandment is the authority clause of the law. Because he created the earth, and because he made the 7th day holy, and because he ceased his labor on the 7th day, so we are to do likewise in recognition of this. It is because of creation and sabbath that our 7 day calendar even exists, and in every language but english around the world the word for Saturday IS Sabbath.

It goes back to the OP. Why are christians arguing so hard about what they shouldn't have to do, instead of opening their hearts and begging "God, what more can I do to show my love for you in response to your amazing grace?"

And moreso, obedience to God is a free will choice that should not be legislated by government. You cannot force worship. There shouldn't need to be laws forbidding work on Sabbath, in a christian nation there shouldn't be any desire to to begin with.

Look at Little Debbie. The founders, the McKee family, are Adventist. They live in Collegedale, TN. Little Debbie headquarters closes down every Friday at 4:00 PM to give the workers time to get home, and doesn't re-open until Sunday. It costs them $1,000,000 a week to do this complete shut down and re-start. But they haven't suffered for it one bit!

I seriously doubt the cost of shutting down production and restarting production in a bakery cost $1MIL.

You never answered the question about starting the Sabbath on Friday evening... God plainly says evening and morning are a day. Not midnight, morning, afternoon and evening are a day.

Huntinfool said:

The OP was simply lamenting that even Christians are beginning to believe that something God established as good is not something that is good for them....and then the rest of the thread has been spent confirming exactly what he was afraid of.

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This is true.

Does anyone besides myself wonder if the descent we have experienced as a people and as a nation are related to our hearts turning away from God? I can't help but feel that there is a direct relationship there. And since I believe that this nation was inspired by God and founded for His purposes, we have a certain obligation to worship Him, or lose his special blessings.

RNC said:

Galatians 5:4 -- Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

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Are those who use grace as a justification for violating God's commandments in jeopardy?

hawglips said:

This is true.

Does anyone besides myself wonder if the descent we have experienced as a people and as a nation are related to our hearts turning away from God? I can't help but feel that there is a direct relationship there. And since I believe that this nation was inspired by God and founded for His purposes, we have a certain obligation to worship Him, or lose his special blessings.

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Special blessings? Can you list examples please?

NE GA Pappy said:

I seriously doubt the cost of shutting down production and restarting production in a bakery cost $1MIL.

You never answered the question about starting the Sabbath on Friday evening... God plainly says evening and morning are a day. Not midnight, morning, afternoon and evening are a day.

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Sabbath is sundown friday to sundown saturday night, a 24 hour period.

hawglips said:

This is true.

Does anyone besides myself wonder if the descent we have experienced as a people and as a nation are related to our hearts turning away from God? I can't help but feel that there is a direct relationship there. And since I believe that this nation was inspired by God and founded for His purposes, we have a certain obligation to worship Him, or lose his special blessings.

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Were we a better , more Christian nation while we were killing and taking native Americans land? What about as a Nation that was deeply involved in Slavery, were we more Christian nation then?
Were we more of a Christian nation when we expelled people from church membership for picking peas on Sunday ( actually happened in the county I was born and raised in ) ?


Maybe I'm just one of the few that thinks things are getting better, with up's and downs along the way.

America is not now nor has it ever been a nation reflective of Christ's character. Now less than ever. We are the second beast of revelation. There are those who use the blessings of being an American to bring Christ to the world, but the nation as a whole is not a Christian nation.

If we were a Christian nation, there would be no call for welfare programs because the church would have already taken care of the needs of every poor person, widow, orphan, and homeless soul.

If we were a Christian nation, we wouldn't even think up half the laws and regulations that are on the books, because the populace would never think of doing the things that made folks pass them.

If we were a Christian nation, it would be like Israel under Solomon's Godly part of his reign -- folks from around the world looking to us for instruction in awe of how amazing everything was, instead of blaming us for global problems and seeking to control us or tear us down.

A christian nation cannot exist, nor will it exist, in this fallen world. The only holy nation that will ever exist is the new Jerusalem established in the new heaven and earth after the second coming.

ryanh487 said:

America is not now nor has it ever been a nation reflective of Christ's character. Now less than ever. We are the second beast of revelation.

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