@ToxicFemininitySucks
I didnt mean to imply that i believe the Sabbath changed (and im also not disputing what you posted previously about the catholics basing it on sun-day worship of the sun). I was just pointing out that the Bible shows example that the apostolic times Christians gathered on Sunday.
Oh, okay.
Verses 7 and 9 mention that Paul was "preaching".
7And upon the first
day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread
, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
9And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as
Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
And, no disrespect meant, but I will stick to what the King James Bible says, but would prefer to not hijack the thread with discussion about that.
I think I'm not making myself clear because I'm not a good writer. I don't dispute the gathering, the having a meal together and Paul's preaching. All those things can and do happen on any day of the week. However God set the seventh day aside from the other six days as a holy day that His people spend with Him exclusively. We are to exclude all work and other cares of the world on the Sabbath and focus on God. That is why He said,
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (
Exodus 20:8). God says we are
"remember" and observe the seventh-day Sabbath as His holy day. It seems God knew that people would be prone to forget His Sabbath.
Yes, the apostles (who were converted Jews) observed the Sabbath, but asideaside from them reaching new people (including Jews) on the Sabbath, im still looking for a mention of gentile converts observing the sabbath.
The apostles who were Jews who had always observed the Sabbath. When they took the gospel to the Gentiles, they taught them about keeping the Sabbath according to God's ten commandment law as Christ had taught them and shown them in action.
“When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. … On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (
Acts 13:42, 44). Obviously the converted Gentiles observed the Sabbath along with the Jews. While the early church had its problems there is no mention of contention over the Sabbath between Jews and Gentiles. This also goes hand in hand with what God said in the book of Isaiah,
“Blessed is the man … who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. … Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord … everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer … for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (
Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7).
I should mention that the Sabbath is not a Jewish institution. It was given to all mankind during the creation week,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (
Genesis 1:1; 2:2, 3). Adam and Eve were not Jewish. In fact Jesus said,
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (
Mark 2:27). Its also part of God's ten commandment law which was given to all mankind too.
As i mentioned in another post, we currently do not go to church, so i don't have a personal stake in this matter. And i don't claim that the Sabbath has changed, just that there is precedent in the Bible for believer gathering, sharing a meal, and listening to preaching on Sunday.
As I've posted above and my previous post, Christians can gather on any day of the week including Sunday and share a meal and listen to preaching but the Sabbath has always got to be observed. Whether we go to church or not, we still have to observe the Sabbath. Its part of the ten commandments and the book of James says,
"Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (
James 2:10). The deliberate breaking of any one of the Ten Commandments is sin. Christians will gladly follow Christ’s example of Sabbath keeping.
Since we've already gone of topic, I feel I should post about about going to Church as well. As Christians we should go to Church and meet with other Christians (I mention the reasons why in this
post on my thread "Does God have a Church?"). When God instituted the Sabbath in Eden, He made no mention of going to church on that day; He just set it aside for a holy purpose but He would expand on this later in the Bible. In the book of Exodus, God did give us more details about the specifics of that holy day in the Ten Commandments but there was still no instruction about gathering together for worship on that day. It just gives guidelines on what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy. However in the book of Leviticus we are told,
“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (
Leviticus 23:3). The word
"convocation” means a public meeting, assembly, or gathering. Here God gave more details about the Sabbath: In this case, it’s also to be a time for holy assemblies (i.e., worship services).
Plus Jesus always went to the synagogue/church on Sabbath:
Mark 1:21, "And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught."
Mark 6:2, "And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?"
Luke 4:16, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."
Luke 6:6, "And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered."
Over and over again, we see Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath. We’re even told that it was His custom to be there on that day. The disciples also followed in the example of Jesus as we can see clearly in the book of Acts. So should we all follow Christ's example and go to Church on the right Sabbath day.
And for what it's worth, most Christians, regardless of denomination, do not do much "observing of the Sabbath" on either day. If theyre scheduled to work they still work, do manual labor around the house and yard, etc.
True, most Christian denominations do not observe the Sabbath as God intended (for starters most observe the wrong day) in the Bible but there always have been and always will be Christians who observe the Sabbath day as God tells us to in His Word and law. They are a minority of course. In my life right now, most of the Christians I know observe the Sabbath. They make sure they are not scheduled to work on the Sabbath. They do all their house chores, prepare their clothes for church and cooking on Friday (preparation day). Then they invite in the Sabbath on Friday evening. The first part of day in the Bible is the evening. So Saturday starts on what we call Friday evening.