Comment on The Origin of the Sabbath and the 7-Day Week by Faith.
Holly Pham: Are most SDA pastors this spineless?
It seems to me that there has been a great deal of emphasis on the prohibition of criticism of the church–beginning way back when the heresies began creeping in. The ministers have been indoctrinated with the thought that we are not to criticize the church ever for any reason–and other ministers likewise.
This is not altogether wrong–but when error is seen in the church or the ministerial ranks, there should be no hesitation on the part of any of us to raise the alarm. There are ways outlined in the Bible and SOP to do just that, so we must be supposed to do it.
It is my belief that Satan misuses the non-critical platform to stop us from nipping in the bud the heresy that has come into the church. There is a fine line to walk in this, but truth must be upheld no matter what. It seems to me that the general membership of the church should be a sort of check and balance to the leadership. They aren’t perfect and if they make wrong decisions, the membership needs to point it out before it goes too far. If this had been done decades ago we wouldn’t be here now.
Table of Contents
Faith Also Commented
The Origin of the Sabbath and the 7-Day Week
Interesting to not that cultures and peoples who left off the worship of the God of Creation often tried to change the 7-day weekly cycle–as did the French at one time. Yet, they seem to return to the 7-day fold. Like Charles, I do not know of a country today that does not use the 7-day weekly cycle.
The Origin of the Sabbath and the 7-Day Week
Ken: The Epic of Gilamesh predates the Noachian flood doesn’t it? Why did the Sumerians get it wrong and Moses get it right?
Hi Ken,
I believe that everything was destroyed in the Flood, so I don’t think the Epic of Gilamesh predates the Flood. I think you will find that the story was passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth for quite sometime before it was written down.
You see, Ken, God Himself has preserved the Scriptures throughout the ages. It was He who commissioned Moses to write the historical accounts in Genesis. That is why Moses got it right and the Sumerians didn’t. I fully believe that God gave Moses a vision of the historical events of the world up to his day. It would have played somewhat like a movie, so all Moses had to do was write down what he was witnessing. This “movie” would have been 100% accurate.
The Sumerian account, unprotected and uncommissioned by God, would have been corrupted, even though it does have some points that strongly resemble the accounts in Genesis; however, it isn’t 100% accurate. Sort of like the comparitively more modern movie of the Ten Commandments. That movie had the basic storyline correct, but it had numerous errors in it.
Because the Sumerians had ceased to worship God and He had left them to the false gods they had chosen to worship, their account was dependant on human memory which had been intermingled with the worship of false gods. So while it more or less follows the same storylines in Genesis, it definitely departs from the whole truth.
Recent Comments by Faith
Changing the Wording of Adventist Fundamental Belief #6 on Creation
And you are correct, Sean, PK must consider where his influence is going–for God or against Him.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Mr Taylor,
After reading your comment above, I must say PK isn’t the only one in that boat.I would make some comment as to how I really feel about you, but I know Sean will only delete it and you won’t benefit from my insight anyway–seeing as Sean is more concerned about other people’s feelings than you seem to be.
How you have the nerve to come to this website and call us all a bunch of morons (which is really what you are doing) is beyond me. You and your cronies are the ones drowning in error. Anyone who dares to accept man’s opinions over the Bible or SOP isn’t to be trusted to define truth for anyone.
Too straight-forward in my comment? Trust me, I have restrained myself admirably. If you only knew….
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Further to my comment on skeptism and our professors, I’ve got to tell you that I found Prof Kent to be extremely annoying in his comments on EGW. He seems to think that she is an embarrassment to the church when she speaks on Science.
Personally I find people who dis her to be the embarrassment to the church. I really don’t see how they dare to contradict and mock God’s prophet. By doing this they undermine a lot of our church’s beliefs to outsiders as well as church members. God will hold them accountable for that.
Furthermore, David’s unpublished manuscript plus other books I have read on archaeology have reported skeletons of the type that EGW mentions. Also found were artifacts such as huge iron bedsteads made for and buried with kings of huge stature.
Just because you haven’t done your research, PK, don’t jump to the conclusion the evidence isn’t there. It’s there, all right, and you make yourself look a little foolish for not knowing about it.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
David Read said:
“Ellen White’s statements about larger antediluvian life forms are well attested with regard to many different types of flora and fauna. They’re not even controversial…
Hi David,
As you know, I took advantage of your kind offer and I read your manuscript as well as I purchased 3 of your books, one for me, one for my sisters, and one for the church library. It took me a week to finish the book, and I and my sisters are very impressed with it. My one sister calls it “one incredible book”. It has answered a lot of the questions we had on the subject of evolution vs creation science, and, yes, I believe we (you and I and my sisters) are on the same page in our beliefs. We have immensely enjoyed discussing the various aspects of the subject as we read. It makes perfect sense to us.
I still have a couple of questions–new ones will probably always keep popping up–but I would say you have covered the subject admirably. Thanks so much for this book.
I agree with Elder Wilson, this is something every Adventist should read. In my opinion it should be used as required reading for science courses. It is exactly the way I would want science courses in the universities to treat the Creation/evolution debate in the classroom. And if the professors at LSU and the other SDA institutions would do this we wouldn’t be constantly losing our young people and, for that matter, our professors, to skeptisism.
Thank God someone has the courage to publish the truth and expose error.
God Bless you, David.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Hi Sean and Bill,
I am wondering if the difference of opinion here is due to varying definitions of the word ‘science’. As we all know there is true science and there is worldly psuedo-science.
If Bill’s understanding of ‘science’ in this case is actually worldly psuedo-science, then he is correct in not wanting any truth to be compromised with it.
From Sean’s post, I believe he is referring to true science, which is definitely part of our beliefs on origins and is well supported by the Bible and SOP, as Sean admirably demonstrated.
Not having seen the exhibit myself, I cannot comment on whether or not they are mixing psuedo-science into it. (Perhaps a few of you posters out there can see the exhibit and report back to us.) Knowing the general philosophy of SAU, I would be surprised if they did.
Their goal is “to provide scientific evidence that substantiates the Bible’s account of creation.” Sounds good to me.
They also say: “Religion and science don’t need to be at odds.” And that is true when you are referring to true science, which I believe they are.
However, I do understand Bill’s reaction in that these days when people use the word ‘science’ without qualification it so often means evolutionary pseudoscience, that we tend to be suspicious.
I think, Bill, that in this case we don’t need to worry. I believe SAU’s heart is in the right place and I am so glad that at least one of our institutions is willing to stand up and be counted on the side of Creation, even though they will probably draw much criticism from the ‘scientific’ community as well as from the TEs in their own church.
God bless them for their fidelity to Him. And may God strengthen them to meet the onslaught that is most likely to follow, is my prayer for them.
