ATTACK ON THE SABBATH AS OLD AS THE ATTACK ON JEWS - "HATH GOD SAID...?"

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The attack on the Biblical Sabbath by professed Christians has been ongoing and includes but by no means confined to the following:

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1. The Saturday Seventh Day Sabbath was only for the Jews & is not binding on Christians

2. The Seventh Day Sabbath is included in the law that was nailed to the Cross when Christ died

3. The Seventh Day Sabbath was for the Israelites but God has a different Sabbath

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This third objection about the Biblical Seventh Day Sabbath being only for the Jews and not binding on all Christians and that God has a different Sabbath Day is something I came across recently (Nov 2023). This was being promoted by a very likeable and smart Christian, Sam Shamoun, in attacking Seventh Day Adventists because of their stand concerning the Biblical Seventh Day Sabbath.  There are other denominations who keep the Seventh Day Sabbath including the Seventh Day Baptists and various groups which broke away from the Worldwide Church of God. The Latter is now known as "Grace Communion International" and have abandoned the Seventh Day Sabbath.   

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DOES GOD HAVE A DIFFERENT SABBATH FROM THE ONE HE GAVE THE JEWS?

 

SABBATH NOT CHANGED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

In his You tube video, "Why Christians worship on Sunday if Sabbath is on Saturday? Understanding Sabbath",  Christian apologist, Sam Shamoun freely admits that there is no Biblical evidence that the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday and cautions Catholics, Coptics, the Assyrian church of the East and Orthodox to avoid using the argument that the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday, because "... you won't find it, its not in the New Testament, its not there" says Sam.

 

Great, but then Sam comes up with the idea that Israel's Sabbath was modelled after God's Sabbath. That in fact Israel's Sabbath was different from God's true Sabbath. He quotes Exodus 20:8-11 and Exodus 31:12-17 to try and prove the point that the true Sabbath is God's Sabbath after which Israel's Sabbath was modelled. That the Seventh Day Sabbath spoken of in the Scriptures, the one God gave the Israelites is different from God's true Sabbath. In fact God's seventh day Sabbath has been ongoing since creation week and every day is now the Sabbath.

 

Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

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Exodus 31:12-17 "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."

 

If you watch Sam's video closely, you will notice that the words he quotes in the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20 tells that the seventh day is THE sabbath of the LORD thy God:" which does not seem to register with him. Sam Shamoun then goes to the Genesis week of creation and correctly defines a day as consisting of an evening and a morning although he originally, unintentionally I believe, misquotes it as a morning and evening.

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Notice in the two passages above God refers to the Sabbaths as His Sabbaths "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:" and "my Sabbaths" not Israel's or the Jews' Sabbaths as Sam suggests.

 

The Seventh Day Sabbath is God's Sabbath, not the Jews or Israelites Sabbath. Nothing was modelled after anything. God points to creation as an example of what Sabbath keeping ought to be so that in resting after his work of creation, God gives this example to Israel to follow in the weekly cycle of days and in doing so, God leaves them a reminder of his creator-ship and power. The length of the day was the same, it consisted of an evening and a morning else the Sabbath Commandment would make no sense.

 

• God gives Israel six literal days, six evening and mornings to do "all thy work"

• God then commands them to rest on the seventh day, the seventh evening and morning

• But Mr Shamoun says this 7th Day has never ended ever since God rested on the 7th day of creation.

• Every Day of creation was a literal "evening & morning" which Sam agrees with.

• But the seventh day according to Sam never had a literal evening and a morning

• The 7th day Sabbath, God's TRUE Sabbath has continued every day for thousands of years to our day

• That this TRUE Sabbath includes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday

• But the Christian world has chosen Sunday as the Sabbath to commemorate Christ's resurrection 

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EVERY DAY IS THE SABBATH FROM SUNDAY TO FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Sam quotes Hebrews 4 and 8 and tries in some convoluted way to eventually suggest that GOD's SABBATH day does not consist of an evening and a morning and in fact from the days of creation God's Sabbath Day has been ongoing from one day to the next, hence every day of the week is the Sabbath.

 

This reminds me of conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses who when questioned as to why they keep Sunday sacred say, everyday is the Sabbath. Then why chose Sunday if every day is sacred? Don't criticise or ridicule Adventists for choosing Saturday if every day is the Sabbath, right? But that's not the point. The point is what is the truth about which day is God's day according to the Bible.

 

GOD'S DEFINITION OF A DAY!

• The Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the FIRST DAY" - Genesis 1:5

• And the Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the SECOND DAY" - Genesis 1:8

• And the Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the THIRD DAY" - Genesis 1:13

• And the Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the FOURTH DAY" - Genesis 1:13

• And the Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the FIFTH DAY" - Genesis 1:23

• And the Lord said, "... And the evening and the morning were the SIXTH DAY" - Genesis 1:31

• And the Lord said, " And on the SEVENTH DAY God ended his work which he had made" - Genesis 2:2

• And the Lord said, "...he rested on the SEVENTH DAY from all his work which he had made" - Gen 2:2

• And the Lord said, "he blessed the SEVENTH DAY and sanctified it:..." - Genesis 2:3

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Yet Sam wants us to believe that the Seventh Day has no such constraints of an evening & a morning.

For six days in creation God clearly defines that a day consists of an evening & and a morning.

Yet according to Sam when it came to the SEVENTH DAY, God allows us to arrive at our own conclusion as to what he means by the word DAY, that somehow after defining what the days consisted of, Sam expects us to believe that God's True SEVENTH DAY Sabbath has been a never ending Sabbath such that the Sabbath Day continues into Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then he makes the excuse like Papal Rome does that Sunday is celebrated as the TRUE Sabbath Day because Christ rose from the dead on that day. Well how about Monday being the TRUE Sabbath Day? ... and Tuesday etc. No, Sam says, we keep the True Sabbath Day which is Sunday

 

Well Christ certainly did not command that Sunday ought to be kept as the new Sabbath for Christians in remembrance of his resurrection! 

 

In fact Jesus said to do this "in remembrance of me":

Luke 22:19

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

 

1 Corinthians 11:24

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 11:25

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

 

Jesus said: "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:7-9

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THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF EVERY DAY BEING THE SABBATH

• Sam reckons Israel's Sabbath is modelled after God's Sabbath which is every day after creation week

• If God's true Sabbath is every day of the week than in what way is this reflected in Israel's Sabbath?

• If God has been 'resting' every day, then how is this reflected in Israel's Sabbath? It doesn't!

• If God blessed his true Sabbath Day which is every day of the week, then how is this seen in Israel's?

• If God sanctified his true Sabbath Day, which is every day of the week, then how is this seen in Israel's?

• If God has been resting on every day of the week, then shouldn't Christians follow his example?

• If every day is the Sabbath Day, then God gave Israel a bad commandment & made them work 6 days

• God is confusing, he rested the Seventh Day which is every day & sanctified it, he set aside, every day?

• Yet, according to Sam, God sanctified every day of the week yet set aside a special day - Sabbath???

• He set a special literal 7th Day for the Jews but tells the Christian, he can 'rest' every day of the week?

• Did God mislead Israel in giving them a literal 7th day Sabbath instead of His TRUE Sabbath Day?

• Was God a respecter of persons in giving a false Sabbath to the Jews & the true Sabbath to Christians?

• And the true Sabbath now consists of every day of the week? Come on man!

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The truth is God worked six days, six evening and mornings and rested, the seventh day, the seventh evening and morning. And that cycle of six days and then the seventh day Sabbath has continued from the beginning even to our day

 

• Sam, brother, please stop wasting your time defending the indefensible.

• Sunday is NOT the Sabbath Day of the fourth commandment

• Don't pay lip service to the 4th through some mental gymnastics of the Scripture to arrive at Sunday

• No Sam, you do not keep the Ten Commandments, you keep only nine of them

• Reminds me of Papal Rome who changed the 10 commandments and make it appear they keep all 10

• Become a true commandment keeping Christian Sam.

• God wants you to work for him with the intellect he has blessed you with. 

• Keep all TEN of them and not some Scripture manipulated version of the ten commandments.  

• God loves you and wants you in the kingdom.

• Love is the fulfilling of the law my friend - Romans 13:10, John 14:10.

• God wants you to be a champion of his holy law. Matthew 5:17-19

• Stop following your man made Christian traditions and take God at his WORD.  Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4

• God said to remember the Seventh Day Sabbath which is Saturday

• The only response from a True Christian is Amen and again I say Amen!  John 8:31,32

 

God bless you brother.

Hope to see you there.

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