When is the Sabbath?

While on vacation this year, I picked up a free book from an old newspaper machine called "Sunday is Not the Bible Sabbath" published by Harvestime Books. Whenever there is a free book presenting a view that seems to be different from mainstream Christianity, it seems the writers and publishers go out of their way to not let you know up front which church they represent. Usually, though, it's not hard to tell. If it's published by Watchtower, for example, it's Jehovah's Witnesses. If it's published by Deseret, it's Mormon, etc. I noticed the last chapter of this book quotes from "The Great Controversy." That and the subject matter quickly let me know that this was from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

While most (myself included) would not come right out and call the SDA church a cult, they do have a couple of characteristics that make them suspect. First, in addition to the Bible, they add the teachings of their founder, Ellen G White, to almost scriptural status. Any church that says "In addition to the Bible, you need the writings of this person," or "You can't understand the Bible correctly, until you read what this person has to say," is one to be wary of. Also, any group that pushes one particular doctrine as most important (other than maybe the deity of Christ, or salvation by faith,) to the exclusion of all others is also suspect. In this case, the issue is Sunday worship. The writers of this book seem to be saying "If you worship on Sunday, you are going to Hell."

They claim that God never changed the Sabbath to Sunday. With this point I agree. But I don't agree with their assertions that the Catholic Church deliberately changed worship to Sunday so as to incorporate pagan worship. The book says if you worship on Sunday, you are worshipping the Sun God since Sunday was named for the Sun. What they don't mention is that Saturday was named for the pagan god Saturn. So if you worship on Saturday, are you worshipping Saturn? They also don't mention that in most languages, the day we call Sunday is named using some variation of "The Lord's Day." For example in Spanish, the day is called Domingo, not dia del Sol.

I am also not convinced of their arguments that because of Jesus, we don't have to obey the Mosaic law at all except for the Sabbath laws. While it is true that Paul and the other Apostles continued to go to synagogue on Saturdays, that was because that's where the people they wanted to preach to were. We also know that the early Gentile Christians (most of us in the world are Gentiles) met and worshipped on Sunday because it was the day of the resurrection.

It is interesting to note the first Christian council, the Council of Jerusalem, covered in Acts 15,  mentioned this issue. Specifically, the issue was whether Gentile Christians had to obey the Law of Moses. The decision reached by the church (by the Holy Spirit, verse 28) was no except for four things mentioned in verse 20. Interestingly, the Sabbath is not one of the things mentioned. Therefore, Gentile Christians were not required by the church, or the Holy Spirit, to worship on Saturday. Also, Paul specifically told the Colossian church "Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah." (Colossians 2:16-17)

That being said, That does not mean that Sunday is the Sabbath. The Sabbath always has been and always will be Saturday. (Or actually from Friday evening until Saturday evening.) But as Christians, we are free to worship on any day we please. If  "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," (words of Jesus himself in Mark 2:27) then man is greater than the Sabbath and is not bound by it. Don't let anyone tell you different. This is not an issue on which your salvation depends. If some groups choose to worship on Saturday, that is their option. But don't let anyone scare you into thinking that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast (Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God "Who or What is the Prophetic Beast p38) or anything like that. The only thing on which your salvation rests is your relationship with Christ. See Here

Posting Again Soon

I just got back from a 10 day vacation and am physically and mentally exhausted. Some of you may know I have had health problems stemming from severe asthma and anxiety disorder. Please keep me in your prayers. I am waiting for school to start so my daughter will be out of the house all day and I will have quiet times to post. (I love my daughter but anyone with an eight year old knows they can be a handful.) I am also finishing my second book. It will be a commentary on Genesis 1-4. (Look to the right to order the first book)
See you soon.

National Pride and Does God Care Who Wins Soccer Matches?

I just saw something amazing. I'm watching the first match of the World Cup between Brazil and Croatia. They are playing in Brazil and midway through the Brazilian national anthem, the music stopped. The crowd wasn't fazed, though. They started singing louder. I wonder what would happen at an American sporting event if the music stopped during the national anthem?

To the point, though: Skeptics will take occasions like this to ask something like the following.
"The Americans are praying for their team to win. The Brazilians are praying for their team to win. And so on for the other 30 teams. How can God answer all of their prayers?"

The truth is this. God hears all of their prayers, but that doesn't mean God will answer all of them in the way the prayer hopes. Many times the answer to our prayers is "no." God knows what we need. (Matthew 6:8) We pray to acknowledge his provision and our dependence on him.

That being said, I really don't think God cares who wins the World Cup or any sporting event fr that matter. He may be doing some work through individual players or fans but to say that a particular team winning would be either with or against his will would be pushing it.

But I'm still going to pray for the USA. They'll need it.

Sunday School Notes: God is Love

I have a bad headache and sore throat this morning so I will not be able to teach my Sunday School class today, but here are the notes from today's lesson.

Last week we looked at God's holiness, today we are looking at another attribute of God, love.

Picture at beginning of lesson asks "What makes you love someone?" For example, why do you love your spouse or kids? When you make a friend, when does liking turn to loving?

New Testament Greek uses three different words for love

philos - (Where we get philanthropist - lover of people) love you feel for a friend or family member

eros - (Where we get erotic) Sexual love or love for a spouse, which I hope is different than what you feel for your friends.

agape (ah-gah'-pay) - Love between us and God. A reverential love.

Reading is from 1 John. Written by the apostle John who is called "The one Jesus loved." Most likely means he was Jesus' closest friend.

First reading is from 1 John 4:7-8

In verse 7 we see that true love comes from God. If we truly love someone, it is because God has given that love to us. Many people think they love others but if they don't know God then what they feel is not true love.  As Kirk Cameron said in "Fireproof"  "You can't give what you don't have."

In verse 8 we see that if someone has no love, then that person does not know God.  Jesus said "This is how the world will know you are my disciples, by your love for one another."  It also says that God is love. An interesting exercise is to substitute the word "God" for the word "love" in 1 Corinthians 13.

Next reading is verses 9-10

One of the greatest passages in the Bible. The only reason God sent Christ to die for us is because he loves us. How many people would you willingly give your life for? How many people that you don't love would you willingly give your life for? Paul said "Hardly would anyone die for even a good man, but Christ died for us while we were sinners." In verse 10 John says that God did not do this because we loved him, but because he loved us. "Propitiation" (Pro-pitch-ee-ay'-shun)means "acceptable substitute." Christ's death was an acceptable substitute for our deaths for our sins.

Last reading is verse 11-12

Verse 11 is pretty obvious. If God loved us enough to die for us, we should love each other. Remember, Christ died for everyone, even those that we find unloveable, so we should love them, too.

In verse 12, John reminds us that even though no one has seen God, if we love others, they will see God in us because we are showing God to them.

Links go to corresponding passages at www.BibleGateway.com. A great site for Bible study and comparison of different Bible translations. Feel free to leave comments or questions about this or any other subject below.

Gay Marriage Encouraged by the Church?

I just read that the United Church of Christ along with others is suing the State of North Carolina over its ban on same-sex marriages. What part of Leviticus 18:22 don't they get? To think that a church is suing to allow its ministers to perform something which the Bible says over and over is wrong.

Before the normal arguments come in...
1. Leviticus 18:22 clearly says that homosexual behavior is sinful.
2. As Christians, we are not required to obey the Law of Moses for salvation, (1 Corinthians 6:12) but the Gentile Christians were advised not to participate in sexual immorality. (Acts 15:20,  1 Corinthians 6:13)
3. Jesus does tell us to love others, but that does not mean condone their sinful actions or worse, encourage them. (John 8:11)

So how a church that calls itself Christian can call for a government to allow homosexual marriage is beyond me.

To avoid another argument, homosexual marriage is not about equal rights. It is about the homosexual community getting the government to sanction their beliefs. Homosexuals already had equal rights as far as marriage. They were not allowed to marry the same sex: Heterosexuals weren't allowed to either. They were allowed to marry the opposite sex: So were heterosexuals. They claim they weren't allowed to marry the one they loved: Neither were polygamists, pedophiles or people who wanted to marry animals. Should we allow them to marry the ones they love, too? By the way, polygamists are already suing for the right to have more than one spouse using the same argument as homosexuals.

Why is Abortion Wrong?

A question about abortion

Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus.   


Abortion is a very hot topic. Rush Limbaugh once said that it would be the nation's next civil war.  While I hope it won't go that far, this is not a topic that should be discussed lightly.

Like most Christians I am against abortion for any reason except possibly to save the life of the mother. Our reasons for this stand come from the fact that we believe that, from the moment of conception, the unborn child is a human 
being in every sense of the word. If the child is a human who has done no wrong, then to kill it by abortion is the same as committing murder.

Some of our reasons for this belief come from the Bible itself.

"Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?" Job 31:15

"Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;" Isaiah 44:24

"Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb," Isaiah 44:2

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

and others.

These verses show that people are human and called by God even before they are born. If God considers a fetus to be a human then shouldn't man do the same?

Other reasons come from science.

From the time a fetus is formed, it has its own set of DNA. The DNA is human DNA, not fish or monkey or anything else. The DNA is different from its mother, father or anyone else.

Before the woman even realizes she is pregnant, the fetus has its own brain, heart and blood. The blood is separate from the mother and may even be a different type.

And there are many other reasons.

So the reason most Christians are against abortion is we believe it is murder of an innocent human. Exodus 20:13

And, yes, God desires that, after they are born, all of these children would accept Christ, although he knows that not all of them will.

Click on the links to get further commentary on the selected verses from www.biblegateway.com which is a great site to get Bible Studies.

Jesus' DNA

Here's another question from the skeptics. If God is the father of Jesus, what is Jesus' DNA like? Does God have sperm? If he doesn't, where did Mary get the DNA from that was needed to make Jesus? This would make Mary asexual and Jesus would then be a girl. No Y chromosome.   

 As a scientist, I have always said that I'd love to get a look at Jesus' DNA. We aren't given the biological details of Mary's pregnancy in the Bible  because (as the skeptics are so fond of saying) the Bible is not a science book. In other words, the details are not essential to the message of the Bible. All the Bible says is  "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

If God can create the universe, then he can certainly create a Y chromosome for Jesus' maleness inside Mary's egg along with the rest of the other half of Jesus DNA during this "overshadowing". (Don't you wish you could decide exactly what your son's DNA was like?)