Comment on Christians and the Sabbath by wesley kime.
At the beginning, back in the early church, the first several centuries of it, the rationale for the switch from the 7th to the 1st day was that Christ Himself had tacitly done that by being resurrected on the 1st day, surely a cosmically crucial event worthy of the most sacred ceremonialization. This was offered as self-evident and overwhelming, and duly validated by the very vicar of Christ, as documented by Sean, if only distantly but discernibly scriptural or unscriptural.
Now about 2 millennia later the reasoning is really quite different, startlingly different. It turns out that God never actually gave a specific day that needed formal switching, or has lost interest in one, but being consummately compassionate was all along mainly yearning to give us rest. Promises of rest, often presented metaphorically as “Sabbath rest,” are abundant in both the Old and New Testament, more abundant than clear declarations of a switch of day, and precious, increasingly precious as the world becomes increasingly stressful. And the same Jesus who was so grieved by the Pharisaical obsession with ritually detailed 7th-day slavery is infinitely more concerned with this gift of rest, plus the bonus of the possibility of undivided communion with Him or at least a lovely choral Te Deum echoing in a magnificent cathedral or Worship Complex, than the specific day. Notable advocates of this lovely picture of “the Sabbath rest” that come to mind are Abraham Heschel, noted Jewish thinker, plus sundry emergent evangelical thought leaders, and, most cogently, recent popes, once the ex cathedra thunder from Sinai, now the global vicar of gentle nonjudgmental Jesus. Or so it is presented.
As I understand foundational Adventist prophecy, to which I still adhere, this summer of rest and the promotion thereof will prove only as a preparatory, transitional device, temporary. Circumstances, terrible ones, will require a categorical, unequivocal, no pussyfooting or evasive obeisance to the re-emergent and re-inaugurated Commander of the Universe and savior of humanity, a rerun of the yes-or-no arguably arbitrary conditions laid down by the very same God, or virtually the same, at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, in the form of the Tree of Good and Evil – a “silly thing” like that. The 7th day, yes or no.
wesley kime Also Commented
Christians and the Sabbath
@george: Howdy, ole pard, ole sidekick. Yup, long ‘o tooth, that’s me. ‘N how long you’n me been out hee-are on sheriff Sean’s ole badlands, a-palaverin’ with our city-slicker Beverly hillbilly-li’l Abner -Wyatt Earp-Rick O’Shay aykscents? ‘Bout hey-uff a decade, ah reckon. Ah may be gettin’ so old ah’m a-losin’ me marbles, but by cracky if ah ain’t purty sure we been goin’ roun-‘n-roun in these here same egg-nostic ruts more’n a hunnerd times now, same tumblin’ tumble weeds, same ole egg-nostic prickly pears, same ole mirages, all dried up by now. Wall, whadeva ‘t takes, ‘cause you’n me’ll we’ll be a-strummin’ ‘n a-pickin’ ‘n a-circlin’ on into the sunset, sho-nuff hope so.
Christians and the Sabbath
@Kerry Wynne: Reader Wynne’s contribution is not at all unwelcome, for it is timely, providing a cogent precisely obverse support for the validity of God’s great gift to mankind, the 7th day. As Mr. Wynne says, “for those of you who are interested” in who Wynne is, the following is how he introduces himself, http://www.bible.ca/7-sabbathgate-1888ad-Kerry-Wynne.htm “I am a third generation Seventh-day Adventist of over 50 years of sabbath Keeping … [but] no longer believe in Ellen White. After a review of what was available on the Internet regarding the Sabbath versus Sunday question… I began attending a Bible-only, full Gospel, non-denominational church on Sunday morning. That was about four years ago. Fear of God and His judgment has been replaced with ever-increasing love for Him … Adventism is a more dangerous cult than ever.”
Now then, Wynne’s and my journey are rather similar, though in altogether opposite directions. I, like him, am a third generation Seventh-day Adventist of over 50 years (more like over 80 years) of sabbath keeping, and after reviewing the Bible, not the internet, and my own inner self, in communion with Jesus who Himself gave us the Sabbath, having rested on it at Creation and during it for our redemption, I am convinced that Seventh-day Adventism is a more pivotal message than ever.
Christians and the Sabbath
@george: Bless my slicked up or down mustache if palaverin’ with you ain’t like chasin’ after a tumbleweed. But you’ll never hear from me a discouraging word, out here on Sheriff Sean’s celestial range. Saddle up and tumble on!
Recent Comments by wesley kime
Dr. Walter Veith and the anti-vaccine arguments of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche
Informative and stimulating, but proceeding into more confusion. A veteran of Moderna vaccinations, I trust, hope, they are effective, at least until otherwise. The whole business, being part of End Times, is in the hands of God, not humans expert and as degreed as they may be.
Brilliant and Beautiful, but Wrong
Brilliant, beautiful, and so right! Speaking of your presentation at LLU recently. Great to see you and your family (especially my namesake, Wes. God bless! WK
Complex Organisms are Degenerating – Rapidly
@Bob Helm: Dr. Sanford is very familiar to most of us. He was invited to speak at LLU several years ago and I and a great many were privileged to hear him.
Evolution from Space?
Hats off yet again to Sean for pursuing this topic as a scientist should, no nonsense, and in it’s proper setting — as a revival of one of the ancient ideas recently upgraded as a desperate alternative to the increasingly compelling intelligent design data. I had occasion to review panspermia a few years ago and as is my wont I found it more amusing than scientific. If you would like what was intended to be a satirical response to panspermia and other related curiosities you could check out: http://www.iessaythere.com/black-hole-humor.html
Meantime, Sean’s article is of far more cogent worth.
The Sabbath and the Covenants (Old vs. New)
As he has done on this site many times, Sean in his line-by-line-item response to C. White (not EG or EB) has, to my mind, clearly enunciated the issue and resolution.
When all the hermeneutics, quoting, and arguing and inordinately judgmental riposte are over, it comes down, as I understand it, to two things: 1) Whether the 7th day Sabbath (whether enunciated in the famous 10 commandments or otherwise) is still valid, and 2) Does the grace obtained by the vicarious sacrifice by the shedding of Christ’s blood or other divine process too deep for us to understand in this life, cover every sin automatically and without ado, altogether passively on our part, or is it only on condition that we first totally and deeply accept it? Other details always hassled forever are distractions.
I accept that I must accept it, wholly, actively, even with agony, with my whole being.
