Note: The following article contains some observations I’ve made and I urge Christians to do your own research on any matter such as The Sabbath and other matters of doctrine, custom and commands so that they can be separated and understood from the Bible and not man’s opinions.
So how so? It’s on their website. This came as a surprise to me when I learned it a few years back and I expect it will to many of you. The Catholic church openly tells us and is quite proud of the fact, on its website and in it’s doctrinal book; The Catholic Catechism – that they purposely “changed the Sanctity (holiness) of the Sabbath from the Saturday to the Sunday” – or more precisely in God’s terms; it has not been done away with but the holiness (sanctity) changed or moved from the 7th day to the 1st day of the week (God is obviously not interested in the the Pagan terms we made up and commonly use for the days of the week i.e Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday etc and expressly uses numbers for the days since this is related directly to work in The Bible; “and on the 7th day God rested” (i.e after 6 days of work). This change they say; “is their mark of authority.”
It is possible to change the Sabbath? You decide
Why they did this, and what one is to make of this I am not 100% sure. Secondly, I am not sure (with my limited knowledge) how one can change something that God institutes, in this case, first in the garden of eden and later when He wrote the 4th command with His own hand in stone on the ten commandments, but I’ve no doubt there are reasons given that I need to read up on.
The sabbath isn’t about meeting – it’s about resting from work after 6 days!
The tradition of Sunday keeping was then transferred to the Protestant church from Catholicism some time later and still continues today. Obviously meeting with your Christian brothers and sisters any day of the week can never be a problem itself – it’s to be encouraged where possible, but the Sabbath (the 4th command) as far as I can tell (and I may be wrong so please do your own research) was not so much about meeting, but something that was “made for man” to be a blessing to man, i.e resting from work (possibly God foreknowing that all forms of commerce and trading would tend to be corrupt and corrupting to some degree or other in the future but more importantly as a physical REST – a physical blessing that God himself modelled at creation!) and to keep it holy, that is, if one reads the 4th commandment.
Meeting as ‘church’ is not actually mentioned in this commandment and does not seem to be the point here as far as I can tell, though it meeting with other Christians for fellowship and worship can never be a bad thing, in any case Jesus told us himself that ‘church’ was the living stones – the people not the building or the meeting.
What is The Sabbath? A holy day of rest, a meeting or both?
Making the Sabbath a ‘meeting’ seems to be more of an addition to the 4th commandment. We are told elsewhere in the Bible “not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together” – of course to care for one another and build each other up in times of trouble and to worship – but notice no day 1st/2nd/3rd was mentioned meaning either the day was not important (as the 4th command; to keep the 7th day holy clearly was) or the reason was already known to the people who the text was aimed at. Early Christians we know met on Sundays to celebrate the rising of Christ and it seems that this celebration, today for most Sunday keepers called church, and the Sabbath, the day we are told to keep holy have been combined.
What is the biblical Sabbath?
One interesting note; The Catholic Church state categorically; that if Christians are to keep the biblical Sabbath then it should be Saturday – the 7th day – no question, and also that their ‘changing’ this from 7th to 1st (Sat to Sun) is in fact their “mark of authority”. However, the question; should Christians be keeping the Sabbath at all? is a another question entirely. Please do your own Bible research here as their may be a blessing in it depending on what you find is the case. Steer clear of man’s interpretations – often altered to suit their own lifestyles), get a Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you straight from the word of God.
Learning the origins of the ‘changing’ of the Sabbath and Saturday/Sunday meeting (which as I have stated above seem separate things to me) has opened my eyes somewhat and I recommend people do their own research into this as to better understand the history of the church as we know it today, and how we got the traditions, customs, commands and Christian denominations we currently have.
Interesting fact about the name used for Saturday around the globe
Did you know that in many, many, many languages, the word used for ‘Saturday’ is not related to Saturn – as it is in the US and the UK, but the word used for the 7th day comes from the word used for Sabbath? It’s interesting to say the least that many countries recognise this in their actual naming of the days of the week – look this up in case you think I might be making this up.
I love God, Christ, The Bible. art, painting, playing music, improvising music, guitar (first instrument), drumming (not very good at it:), and anything musical or art related. Quick note – my articles are usually spun off in minutes so forgive any errors – hopefully you get the essence of the article and I’ll pick up mistakes later. If you want to write of 101ChristianMagazine and inspire and edify Christians with articles on faith, general news, hobbies or anything that interests you email me at: epgb101@gmail.com:)
