|
|
|
||
|
||||
| |||||||||
The following discussion is my reply to a critique of my SDA article "Sabbath Keeper? Don't Kid Yourself!" My comments are in blue bold and the SDA's comments are in black... Hello XXXXX. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Based on your comments below, I recommend that you talk to more people who are less ignorant about the Bible than those whom you apparently have run into so far. Your points seem reasonable enough to those who only have a superficial knowledge of the Bible but when you check things out thoroughly - with the Bible, you will find serious holes in Adventist doctrine. Ray, I read over your presentation [Sabbath Keeper? Don't Kid Yourself!], but all of your observations and challenges have been answered by the Seventh-day Adventists long, long ago -- so let me hit some of the high points here.
Point #1: Sunday-keepers
don't have one single verse in the N.T. to support the keeping of Sunday --
but the Bible is full of verses describing the importance of the 7th day
Sabbath.
Immediately after Christ was
crucified and was risen again the disciples began to meet together on the
“first day of the week.” John 20:19. Jesus appeared with them and said,
“Peace be unto you,” showing His approval upon the meeting. If it was
not proper for them to meet and if they needed to be corrected regarding
Sabbath worship, wouldn't Christ have done so and wouldn't it be noted
in scripture? Scripture is full of correction for God's people. What a
strange "omission" if the Adventists and others are right
about Saturday Sabbath keeping.
The early Church gathered together on the first day of the week in honor of the Lord’s resurrection; “And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.” (Acts 20:7). Paul told the Church to collect an offering on the first day of the week, since that was when they met together. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” I Cor. 16:2 Paul was continually correcting churches through his epistles. Funny that he neglected to "correct" the Sunday Sabbath practice, isn't it? Are SDAs smarter than Paul or the Holy Spirit? Have SDAs discovered something that God missed?
Point #2: The 7th day
Sabbath was instituted during Creation Week, BEFORE mankind sinned, so the
7th day Sabbath is not a "shadow" -- the 7 yearly Sabbaths were
shadows of the work that Christ was going to do to deal with the sin
problem, and those 7 yearly Sabbaths were the ones nailed to the cross when
Jesus/Yeshua was crucified.
Sorry, but *God* rested on
the 7th day, not man. Sabbath keeping was not a command for Adam and Eve.
Not until Moses received the 10 commandments on Mt. Sinai, was it a
commandment (see Exodus chapter 20). While several of the 10 commandments
spoke of sins that were specific "actions", Christ pointed out
that we could break these commandments even without doing anything - just by
our thoughts. With that in mind, do you realize you break the Sabbath by
just thinking about the work you could be doing on the Sabbath, whatever day
it is? Jesus said it was the sin of murder to hate someone and the sin
of adultery to lust after someone in your mind, did He not? Do you think
that it is not equally sinful to be wishing you were doing something for
yourself rather than for the glory of God, on the Sabbath or on any day of
the week for that matter? It only takes one sinful thought to
"profane" God's holy day. And we all have plenty of selfish and
sinful thoughts all day long every day. Looks like we all in big trouble,
are we not? We surely are if we are depending on Sabbath keeping or anything
we DO to help us get to heaven. We are all incapable of UNDOING sin.
Point #3: Isaiah 66:22-23
says that the Sabbath shall be kept by ALL of the redeemed throughout ALL
Eternity in the New Earth -- so there is no doubt as to its importance, even
for non-Jews! ALL redeemed Christians shall forever be keeping the
Sabbath!
I hate to tell you but you
apparently have been taught to seek the letter of the law while missing the
spirit of it. No human being is a proper, perfect Sabbath keeper. For all
have sinned. Those who are preoccupied with the letter of the law do not
see that they are lost spiritually and do not see that God demands perfect
obedience all the time to all his commands.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and
anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave
the other undone."
Mark 12:42 "And
there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a
farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith
unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in,
than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they
did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she
had, even all her living."
Please read James 2:10 as
many times as necessary until you understand what it means about YOU and
the fact that you are lost and undone and no amount of Sabbath keeping on
your part will help in the least to remedy the fact that you are hell bound and helpless to DO anything about it:
James 2:10 " For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all."
We know that Isaiah
understood this principle of his unworthiness and uncleanness when we read
Isaiah 6:5...
Isaiah 6:5 "Then
said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen
the King, the LORD of hosts."
Whether they realize it or
not, the sabbatarians teach their followers to think like the Pharisee in
this passage:
Luke 18:9 "And he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the
temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I
am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that
I possess [i.e. I KEEP THE SABBATH, I TITHE, I DO THIS, I DO THAT, I, I, ETC.]. 13
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a
sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Believe it or not the Greek
word in Luke 18:9 in this phrase: "I fast twice in the week"
is the Greek word "sabbaton" which stands for SABBATH. So, it is
correct to conclude that the Pharisee was using his Sabbath keeping as one
of many WORKS that he expected God to accept, in order to make himself
righteous before God - just as Cain expected God to accept him on his own
terms in Genesis chapter 4.
Point #4: Jesus said that the Sabbath would still be kept after His ascension -- Matthew 24:20 refers to when the Temple would be destroyed in 70 A.D., nearly 40 years after Jesus was gone -- and He still expected His people to be keeping the Sabbath!
Since the word
"day" is not in the Greek text it is possible that what is being
referred to in Matt. 24 is the "sabbatical year", or
the seventh year, when no crops would be found in the fields and so
food would probably be scarce.
Point #5: Paul wrote in
Romans 14:5 that "One man esteemeth one day above another; another
esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own
mind." Accordingly, each of us is given the freedom to esteem a
day as special -- so esteeming the 7th day Sabbath as special is a
believer's God-given right! You therefore have absolutely no business
complaining against the people who keep the 7th day Sabbath -- you need to
show them love in Christ because they are your brothers in Christ!
"Esteeming" the
observance of a particular day is one thing, making it a condition for
salvation is quite another. Also, Adventists are not *my* brother in Christ
since they preach a false, man-centered, works gospel. My brothers in Christ
are those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and by the work of
Christ at Calvary *alone*. We do not trust in ourselves to cooperate with
God that He might find us acceptable. He finds us totally unacceptable,
until and unless God in His mercy applies the righteousness of Christ to ungodly
sinners such as ourselves...
Romans 4:5 "But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness."
Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."
Point #6: The Catholic
Church has clearly boasted for over 15 centuries that Sunday worship was
their creation -- and the history of that church is so riddled with bad
spiritual decisions and evil works that there is NO WAY for a knowledgeable
student of Christian history to side with them -- which is why
"Protestants" reject the errors of the pagan Roman Catholic
Church.
And Rome says the Bible was
their creation, so by this analogy, we should discard the Bible, correct?
(along with anything else they claim to have created)?
Point #7: Yes, Paul wrote
some things that can "seem" like he is saying that only grace now
exists and "the law" is gone -- but don't kid yourself
I never said the law was done
away with. I agree with Christ that if we love Him we will keep his
commandments. But the Bible which says that keeping the law does not
save anyone because no one can keep it perfectly...
Romans 3:20
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Revelation 14:12 describes those who reject the
mark of the beast: "Here are they that KEEP the commandments of
God, and the faith of Jesus."
The only ones - from God's
perspective - who keep the commandments are those whom God saves, since they
have the righteousness of Christ:
Philippians 3:9
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith"
Also, those whom God saves He puts His spirit in, enabling them to more faithfully obey His commands in scripture.
Paul also wrote that we would not know what
"sin" was unless we paid attention to the Law -- (1John 3:4
"Sin is the transgression of the law.") -- and 2Peter 3:15-16
warns that Paul wrote some things that were "hard to be
understood" but that people had better be careful not to twist Paul's
meaning "unto their own destruction"!
That admonition in 2Peter
applies to sabbatarians as well. The WHOLE Bible is God's law, His law
book. Did you know that God commands people to do things they
cannot do?
Matthew 5:48 "Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect."
Are you perfect? If not, how
then do you expect a thrice holy God to put up with you for eternity?
True believers are only perfect in a legal sense, and that happens once God saves them, once He applies the righteousness of Christ to them.
Paul upheld God's Law -- but clearly wrote that
we are saved by grace. BOTH exist. As soon as you step out from
being covered by God's grace by continued sinning, God's Law is going to be
there to nail you as being an unrepentant sinner!
How does a true believer
"step out" from being covered by God's grace? Christ would have to
unsuffer and undie for that to happen. You have been taught a man-centered
gospel that says that salvation is something you have control over which is
not true. God saves His elect when He pleases and He is able to keep them
from falling:
Jude 1:24 "Now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy"
Ephesians 1:4
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace"
BOTH exist, law and grace.
Both exist but saving grace
is available to God's elect ONLY, and only because the sinless Lamb of
God fulfilled the law and paid the COMPLETE penalty owed by those particular ungodly sinners whom
Christ suffered and died for...
Isaiah 59:16 "And
he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor:
therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it
sustained him."
You're in big trouble if you
think your own righteousness is of benefit to the salvation of your soul.
Surely, when any man obeys God's commandments, there are temporal benefits
such as avoiding jail, avoiding damage to our bodies, avoiding problems in
our relationships with others. But we dare not think that somehow we
procure, secure or maintain our salvation or contribute towards it
in some way.
If you have never done it, you really need to
sit down and talk with an SDA pastor -- ask all the tough questions that you
wish, but be willing to listen to his answers, because those answers come
directly from Scripture. If you only talk to non-SDAs about our
beliefs, then you are not giving us a fair hearing.
I have done better than that,
I have listened to several hours of tapes from a former SDA pastor who grew
up in the church, went to their college and seminary, and left it all
after God converted him to the true Christ and the true salvation plan of
the Bible. I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS WEB SITE TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR
CHURCH HAS MIS-TAUGHT YOU OR NEGLECTED TO TEACH YOU...
I became an SDA back in 1984, and in the past 17
years I have encountered not one single solid argument for me to give up
believing in and keeping God's 7th day Sabbath -- and I look forward to
being able to also keep it throughout Eternity, as should you too, my
friend!
Sorry XXXXX, you're not
really keeping it, just because you go to church on Saturday. You have no
idea how holy God is if you feel comfortable in your own righteousness.
Romans 10:2 "For I
bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
2 Corinthians 10:12 "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."
Have a good and godly day.
Ray Kane
|
| |||||||||
