The Sabbath

[Eleventh Doctor]

Can you expand on why Saturday?

[SirWhit]

First off, Exodus 20:8-11 states "8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." But even before that, God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy. If you look at any calendar, you'll see that Sunday is in fact not the seventh day, and is the first day, and that Saturday is the seventh day of the week. Furthermore, in Romans 7:12, Paul says "12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." referring to the Ten Commandments.

A popular criticism against a seventh-day Sabbath is Colossians 2:16-17, which says "16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." In response to it, I would say that based on the context of the verse, and of the chapter, Paul is referring to the Jewish feast days, such as the Feast of Trumpets, and saying that they should not be observed.

[Eleventh Doctor]

In practice Sunday is the last day of the week. Anyway it's not like we're using the same calendar the Hebrews did when Exodus was written. So are you calling for a return to the Jewish calendar?

[SirWhit]

I'm just saying that if you look at a calendar, Saturday is the day of the week that falls in the seventh slot. I'm not sure what you mean by us not using the same calendar as the Hebrews, Exodus says seventh day, irrespective of any calendar.

[Eleventh Doctor]

Actually no, that Saturday is the seventh day is a matter of total opinion. There's no objective reason Saturday has to be the seventh day. Historically until the late Roman Empire in the ADs there have been eight or nine day weeks and even in most Liturgical calendars to this day there are eight day cycles.

[SirWhit]

Jesus died on Good Friday, and rose on Sunday. In Luke 23:53-56, it says that "53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."

And in Luke 24:1, it says "24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb." And we all know the story afterwards. Those verses would suggest that since the women rested on the Sabbath, the day after the "preperation day" which was the day that Jesus died (e.g. Good Friday), our modern Saturday would be considered the Sabbath.

Moving past the calendar part, we can see even in the Catholic Catechism that Saturday was considered the Sabbath

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….
Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

And in other sources.

"The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908

And a personal favorite of mine

The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. - The Catholic Universe Bulletin , August 14, 1942, p. 4.

[Eleventh Doctor]

Can you get me a source on that last one? As in where did you find it online? Because I've heard that before but no Catholic I've talked to has ever heard of that.

Okay so it was changed, sounds like some good reasoning for changing.

[SirWhit]

I can't find the original text online for it on the CUB website, it doesn't look like they have archives. I found it in multiple websites discussing the Sabbath, mostly ministries in my denomination like Amazing Facts, etc.

I guess this debate is over then since I don't recognize the ability of the church to change doctrine and you do

[Tarol]

Would you say that you are "holier" than people that worship on Sundays? Or that you simply believe the Bible and Christianity, properly interpreted, say we should still "worship" or "meet" or whatever you call it on Saturdays?

Do you still celebrate all the Hebrew holidays? If not, isn't that inconsistent? (this may be a bad argument, but I'd still like to know)

[Miss Friendship]

This might have been mentioned before....but....

Doesn't this verse in Romans 14 make it clear that it doesn't matter what day you worship on?

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.

[Mr. Yorp]

Maybe it doesn't matter, but Jesus did rise on the seventh day of the week...

[SirWhit]

@Yorp Matthew 28:1 "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb." As the first day of the week began to dawn meaning sunrise on Sunday.

@MF If you read a couple of verses up, it says "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things." That leads me to think that Paul is referring to the ceremonial days that the Jews observed, since the rest of the chapter is directed to new believers.

[Eleventh Doctor]

Okay let's try a fun thought experiment, Sunday is now the seventh day of the week. What difference does this make?

[DredgeAmazing]

I frankly believe that as long as you take a day out of your week to rest and worship, it's perfectly fine to work on Sunday or even Saturday.

[Ashley]

I don't think it's wrong to work on Sunday; the problem is when your work gets in the way of the purpose of the day. And I agree with Dredge, in that it doesn't really matter what day you have your "Sabbath", whether it be Saturday, Sunday, or Thursday. As long as you set aside a day to focus on and worship God.

[Mr. Yorp]

@ SirWhit: Then Jesus did not die on Friday.

Daniel 9:24-27
...and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease...

[SirWhit]

@11 Depends on if it was arbitrarily changed for whatever reason or if it was always that way. I would have to pray about it.

@Dredge and @Clara I hear that a lot but I can't seem to find any scriptural support for that.

@Yorp not following you there...

[Mr. Yorp]

John 11:9
Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

If Jesus died on Friday, he would have risen on Monday afternoon/evening. He was three days AND three nights in the heart of the earth.