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Our Creator, who made the Sabbath and blessed it, set the seventh day aside as a holy, happy day. Jesus wants us to find delight in His day, and to make Sabbath the best day of the week for our children. The easiest way to do this is to spend time out in nature, God’s first book.

Catholic Church Challenges Protestants on why they worship on Sunday when the correct Biblical day is SaturdayPart 1 Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Roman Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday. Over one hundred years ago the Catholic Mirror ran a series of articles...

SABBATH VS. SUNDAY: THE REST OF THE STORY'Deception': Christians war over worship day Two thousand years after Jesus walked the Earth, Christians are at war with each other concerning – as strange as it may sound – a day of the week mentioned in the Ten Commandments. The issue boils down to: "When is God's Sabbath?" In other words, what is His holy day of rest? Most Christians today think it's Sunday, when the majority of churches hold services. But others confidently say it's Saturday, calling Sunday worship "the most flagrant error of mainstream Christianity," believing Sunday-keepers are victims of...

Is the phrase “first day of the week� properly translated in the New Testament? The entire doctrinal basis of Western Christianity’s observance of weekly Easter, i. e. Sunday, is built around eight places in the New Testament (NT) where the phrase “first day of the week� occurs.  We are going to take a fresh look at the Greek words used by no less than five major writers of New Covenant scriptures, and question whether they have been translated properly. The KJV translates Acts 20:7 as follows: And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples gathered together to...

The Council of Laodiceaby DouglasKC When examining some of the doctrines that the church of God holds, we should understand how and why traditional Christianity has veered away from these doctrines which we hold to be biblical and truthful. In most cases this departure from the truth wasn't a sudden thing. Rather, it was a slow “evolution” of religious thought caused by subtle changes in culture, society or the traditional church. Because it was such a slow process these changes can sometimes be hard to pinpoint. But there are tools we can use to track and study these changes....

Reform Judaism in the 19th century rejected the Orthodox observance of the Sabbath as a 24-hour day of rest, but the demands of living in the 21st century are compelling reasons to once more embrace the Sabbath, a leading Reform rabbi said Saturday. The message came as nearly 6,000 Jews, wearing yarmulkes and bluejeans, prayer shawls and Ugg boots, gathered for a five-day convention of the Union for Reform Judaism. The Jewish denomination, which claims the most adherents of any in the United States today, is characterized by a belief that each generation seeks to bring contemporary expression to the...

For many Americans, Sunday is unlike any other day of the week. They spend its luxurious hours curled up in bed with the paper, meeting friends for brunch, working off hangovers, watching golf, running errands and preparing themselves for the workweek ahead. But Sunday is also, for many, the Sabbath--a special day for religious reasons. Not that you would notice. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," we are told in Exodus. Of all the gifts Jews gave the world, that of a weekly day of rest is certainly one to be cherished. And yet the Sabbath is now...

American Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld was ordered by the court to pay a Sabbath-observant realtor her fee, which he withheld due to her not having answered her phone on Saturday. The realtor, Tamara Cohen, was unavailable when Seinfeld tried to reach her on a Saturday in February, 2005, according to the New York Post. The comedian and star of the highly successful sitcom bearing his name wanted to see a luxury apartment on 82nd street but could not get in touch with Cohen. Seinfeld’s estate manager had visited the apartment with Cohen in January 2005, when the listing broker for...

Supreme Court ruling prompts N.S. premier to eliminate Sunday shopping ban James Keller, Canadian Press Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 HALIFAX (CP) - Nova Scotia's premier is scrapping the province's Sunday shopping ban, ending years of heated debate in a province that was one of the last to forbid the practice. Rodney MacDonald announced the sudden and surprising policy reversal Wednesday, immediately after a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge struck down regulations aimed at stopping two grocery chains from opening seven days a week. MacDonald said the province will not appeal the decision, and will update regulations by the end...

In order to comply with Free Republic's copyright issues re: the Journal News, I cannot post the article or the link. So, I suggest reading this article by doing an internet search. It is very easy to find. It is worth reading.

Genesis 2:2-3 (2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (3) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Go to this verse on Bible Tools This generation has a particularly difficult time adjusting from a workday mode to a Sabbath-keeping mode for a number of reasons. One is that life is so fast paced, with so many ways and activities...

There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God The book of Hebrews uses creative comparisons to emphasize to its Jewish audience that the weekly Sabbath is a reminder of something more than just that God was the Israelites’ Creator and the One who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15).The faithfulness of Moses and Christ is spoken of in the first six verses of the third chapter of Hebrews. Beginning in verse 7, Psalm 95 is quoted to document the failure of the first generation of Israel as a lesson to God's people today. Unbelief...

French Government Enforces Sunday Rest Wednesday, July 5, 2006 Thou shalt not shop on Sunday. French courts have ruled that the Louis Vuitton flagship store must remain closed on Sundays in accordance with law. The New York Times appropriately titled its article “A French war over ‘day of the Lord.’” The suit was brought against the famous Paris fashion house by the French Confederation of Christian Workers. Three facts are revealing: 1) The union in question has no employees at the store. 2) All 300 employees of the store voted in favor of opening on Sundays. 3) An Ipsos telephone...

Nova Scotia vows Sunday-shopping crackdown TERRY WEBER Globe and Mail Update The Nova Scotia government said Friday that it will crack down on the number of stores opening on Sunday. The move will come by way of an amendment to existing legislation in an effort to close a loophole now being used by some larger retailers to do business on that day. “We believe it is important to respect the results of the Sunday shopping plebiscite held in 2004,” Premier Rodney MacDonald said in a statement. He also said, however, that recent events in the province suggest that the issue...

Today we come to Genesis 2, and one of those unexplained and unexplainable misplaced chapter divisions which we find so frequently in the uninspired division of our Bibles. The first three verses of Chapter 2 really belong with Chapter 1 and complete the record of the creative week. We must now consider the seventh day of creation. Yesterday, which was the seventh day of the week, my wife and I attended a Bar Mitzvah service for a Jewish neighbor lad, to hear him conduct the service much as a rabbi would. He read, for the first time, from the scrolls...

For the past three weeks, we’ve looked at the account of Creation as it’s given in Genesis 1. The fact is that the account doesn’t end there. As you probably noticed from our Old Testament lesson this morning, it goes on for another three verses at the beginning of Chapter 2: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and...

Shouldn't we Keep Sunday in Honor of the Resurrection? It is true that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, but nowhere is there the slightest intimation in the Bible for anyone to keep that day holy. The basis for Sabbathkeeping is the direct handwritten command of God. Many wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week, but we have no command to keep them holy. Jesus died for our sins on Friday. That is probably the most significant event in all of recorded history. It marks the moment my death sentence was commuted and my salvation...

The Rest of the Story: The Story of Rest Why did God command the Sabbath to be observed? And why is it almost universally misunderstood? Read on to get a biblical view of this subject. by Larry Walker American radio personality Paul Harvey is famous for his opening line: "You know what the news is. Now stay tuned for the rest of the story." Now we will find out the rest of the story of the story of rest. We will take a chronological journey through the history of the promise of rest presented in the Bible. The story begins...

How did Sunday Keeping Begin? How did the change from Saturday to Sunday come about in early Christianity? Did Jesus change the day of worship to Sunday or did the apostles or someone else? Author's BackgroundDr. Samuele Bacchiocchi grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist in Rome, Italy, a stone-throw from the Vatican wall in the days when considerable hostility existed against religious minorities. He vividly remembers the ridicule and rejection he experienced, especially for honoring the Savior on the Sabbath. For example, his classmates called him "Il Giudeo-the Jew," or "L'eretico-the heretic" because he would not attend school on Saturday...

Henry Asher, an observant Jewish bus driver from Los Angeles, sued his employers after he was fired for refusing to work on Shabbat. Shortly after Asher was hired, he was scheduled to work on Shabbat and a Jewish holiday. He asked that his shifts be rescheduled. When his request was denied, Asher missed two days of work without authorization, which led to his dismissal, Channel 7 reported. Asher sued on grounds of religious discrimination. He was awarded $20,000 in damages, and Los Angeles County agreed to respect the right of drivers of all religions to reschedule shifts that fall on...

WHITE HOUSE, Tenn. -- Play ball! As long as it's not Sunday morning. Alderman Darrel Leftwich is proposing that the city establish new Sunday hours for White House Municipal Park so sporting events could only be held in the afternoon. "I am concerned that we are not sending the right message to the community by having tournaments and league play during worship hours," Leftwich said. Leftwich said that he drove by the park Sunday morning on his way to services at Temple Baptist Church and saw that it was full of people at a soccer tournament. "God our Father intended...

Why Sunday? Sunday originally was celebrated by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans as "the day of the sun." Christians transformed the day of the sun into a weekly celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. Pope John Paul II reminds us of this when he says, "It is Easter which returns week by week." One New Testament account tells us that the Christians met to break bread "on the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), which they called the "Lord's Day." For a time, it appears that Christians who were of Jewish origin marked both the...

Phoenix Bishop says "No Sunday Shopping" - A Wedge Issue in the Culture Wars PHOENIX, July 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, quoted in the Arizona Republic, told a congregation attending the most recent priestly ordinations that the world has suffered with the loss of the religious observance of Sunday as a day of rest. The article, which appeared in the July 17th Sunday edition, posed the question, "Whatever happened to Sunday?" It reflects the observation of many Christians that the day which used to be reserved to religious and family togetherness, has turned into "an...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvanians legally would be able to buy a case of beer on Sunday in their own state under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday and sent to the desk of Gov. Ed Rendell. The bill would change current law, which limits purchases to two six-packs from a restaurant or tavern. Instead, the state's 1,300 beer distributors would have the option of paying $100 for an annual license and opening between noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays to sell cases. Rendell's spokeswoman said he is expected to sign the bill. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny,...

The Fourth Commandment: Key to a Relationshup With Our Creator "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the...

LONDON - For more than a century, teams of donkeys have carried tourists down the beach at Blackpool, one of Britain’s top tourist destinations. But only now are they to get a compulsory lunch break. As part of a wide-ranging "employment rights" charter for donkeys, Blackpool council inspectors are to carry out spot-checks on the beach to ensure the animals get a statutory hour off to munch their hay. The 200 animals working at the coastal resort in northwest England ferry tourists along the beach throughout the summer. Under the new rules, donkeys must only work from 10:00 am to...

For the past few decades the persecution of Christianity around the world and in most notably in the United States of America occurs on daily basis. Christians protest over abortion, euthanasia, parental rights, removing the Ten Commandments and other Christian symbols from public view. It is not difficult to see why this is happening if we open our eyes and seek the truth. Christians have allowed themselves to be persecuted because our actions bear little resemblance to what we are supposed to believe. We scream and decry about the Ten Commandments being removed as we have allowed them, with all...

TONIGHT: Tuesday, March 22, 2004 10:00 p.m. Central Time (Milwaukee area)TITLE: "INSIDE THE LIVING CHURCH OF GOD" Inside the Living Church of God Tonight at live at 10:00,what really goes on inside The Living Church of God? A warning from former members, new tonight live at 10:00 on TODAY'S TMJ4.WTMJ TV investigative news reporter has done some in-depth investigation of the sect (mainline Christian denominations refer to it as a 'cult') which was the site, in a Brookfield, Wisconsin hotel, of a mass shooting by Living Church of God church member Terry Ratzmann earlier this month.Bump for those in...

Terry Ratzmann was laid to rest quietly Friday, at a private service emphasizing forgiveness and attended by a few dozen fellow church members, including some survivors of his shooting rampage. About half of the 75 people who attended were from the local Living Church of God congregation that Ratzmann sprayed with bullets just six days earlier before taking his own life. The rest in attendance Friday were Ratzmann family members, including his mother and two sisters, said Thomas Geiger, a member and spokesman for the local congregation. ... Despite the havoc the 44-year-old Ratzmann wreaked on his congregation, Geiger said,...

Investigators probing the massacre of seven people during a church service outside Milwaukee focused on the gunman's apparent anger with the church and brought in experts to break into his encrypted computer files, authorities said Tuesday. "All we know is he was very upset with the church, either with church generally or a portion of the church or a sermon," said Waukesha (Wis.) County District Atty. Paul Bucher. "We've ruled out everything else." Terry Ratzmann, 44, of New Berlin, Wis., shot and killed himself after the weekend rampage at a Living Church of God service at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqis are complaining about their first weekend break, and some high schoolers even went to class Saturday to protest a decision introducing a second weekly day off that coincides with the Jewish Sabbath. It's not that the Iraqis do not want time off -- they just want the extra day moved to Thursday. ''We don't want Saturday! It's a Jewish holiday!'' students chanted as they marched in protest last week to the governor's office in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. A high schooler pulled out a hand grenade and started waving it, and police fired into...

Hundreds of Iraqis have marched against plans to make Saturday a day of rest, calling the proposals a "Zionist plot". Students in Baquba opposed the scheme, backed by outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, because they identify Saturday with the Jewish Sabbath. Much of the world, including several Arab nations, observes a secular day of rest on Saturday. Iraqis rest only on Friday, a Muslim holy day. Protesters said the weekend should be extended to include Thursday. Muslim rejection "We organised this demonstration in protest at considering Saturday a holiday," said high school student Mohammed Abbas, 17. "We prefer it to...

What Did Paul Really Say in Colossians 2:16? http://www.gnmagazine.org/bsc/12/paulreallysay.htm The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians, a gentile congregation: "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: which are a shadow of things to come ..." (Colossians 2:16-17, King James Version).This passage, probably more than any other in the Bible, is interpreted by those who reject God's festivals as confirmation that the biblical feast days are unnecessary observances. Regrettably, such reasoning is based on poor scholarship and misleading translations from...

The First Holy Thing Is the FIRST thing mentioned in the Bible as being "Holy," meaning set apart or sanctified by God, a person, or an altar, or a temple, or a group of people, or what? Question: In the Holy Bible, what is the very first holy “thing” mentioned?Wrong Answers: Holy ground; holy altar; holy vessel; holy water; holy oil; holy people; holy temple; holy mountain; holy apple.Answer : A day.In the history of the world the first thing labeled “holy” is a day. Not any day, but one specific day in seven—the seventh. Isn’t it surprising that a...

Keeping the Sabbath Keeping Your Job Do those who want to rest and worship God on His weekly Holy day have to work on that day? "I’d like to keep the Sabbath, but I can’t — I have to work on Saturdays."Wrong. You may think so, but you are mistaken. No one who believes in keeping the Sabbath has to work on Saturdays, at least not in America. No one is pointing a gun at the heads of American Christians and Jews and forcing them to work on Saturdays. Americans who work on the Sabbath do so by their...

When Do I Get a Break? Are you working more and relaxing less? Doing more but never getting everything done? Running here and there but only running yourself down? Maybe it's time you took a break! by Les McCullough In today's world of rush here, hurry there, a haggard lament often arises with a weary sigh: "When do I get a break? I never have any time for myself. I'm up before dawn getting ready for work, commute an hour or more, work at least eight hours, commute home arriving after dark—and I'm beat." Family responsibilities add to the load....

Jesus' Teaching on God's Law "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).Perhaps the most widespread controversies about the teachings of Jesus concern His attitude toward the laws of God recorded in the Old Testament.The approach of most churches and denominations regarding Jesus is that He brought a new teaching differing considerably from the instructions of the Old Testament. The common view is that the teachings of Christ in the New Testament annulled and replaced the teachings of the Old Testament. But do they?...

Dec. 14, 2004 22:43 | Updated Dec. 15, 2004 19:49 Saturday's slippery slope By WENDY BLUMFIELD As the controversy resurfaces about Shabbat shopping, opinions are divided. Do Israelis have the right to spend their one day of leisure as they wish? It is not simply a divide between Orthodox and secular. While the Orthodox do not want their neighborhoods disturbed by commercial traffic on Shabbat – as will happen if the status quo changes in Haifa and the Grand Canyon mall stays open seven days a week – not all secular people want to see Shabbat degenerate into yet another...

An ultra-Orthodox group is said to have suggested the initiativeAn Israeli bank says it is to launch a credit card that cannot be used on the Sabbath - the Jewish day of rest. Bank Leumi, one of Israel's biggest banks, said it was developing the card in response to requests from the observant Jewish community. Religious leaders say that hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews do not currently own a credit card. Strict Jews refuse to drive cars, use electricity or operate telephones during the Sabbath. "It's an initiative that started among religious people," Bank Leumi PR officer Guy Keider...

(Kersten, The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons, Vol.2, Part 12) Keeping the Lord's Day Holy Lord's Day 38 Psalter No. 420 st. 1 Read Matthew 11:11-30 Psalter No. 348 st. 1, 2, 3 Psalter No. 227 st. 1 Psalter No. 250 st. 1 & 5 Beloved, In the passage of Scripture which was read to you, the Lord invites those who labor and are heavy laden, saying, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." The Lord did not mean those who labor physically, or those who are laden with external difficulties. This is very clear from the sharp...

Baker officials hope to ban 'satanic' holiday By CHUCK HUSTMYRE Special to The Advocate BAKER -- Ghosts and goblins, costumed superheroes, even little girls dressed up like Cinderella -- none may be welcome on the streets of Baker next year if some city officials get their way and drive Halloween out of town. "We're going to introduce an ordinance to stop Halloween -- period," City Councilman Fred Russell said. During this week's City Council meeting, Russell announced that he was in favor of eliminating Halloween beginning in 2005. Russell is not alone in taking this stance because throughout the Bible...

WASHINGTON, July 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Liquor stores will be open on Sundays in 31 states, up from 21 just two and a half years ago, the Distilled Spirits Council said today, noting that the trend of rolling back Prohibition-era blue laws is catching fire in states across the nation. Lifting Sunday sales bans is a trend that is being driven on the one hand by the need to increase consumer convenience in a modern era where Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the year, the Council noted, and on the other hand by the desire for...

Va. Error Reinstates Blue Law Workers Can Insist On Sundays Off By Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 2, 2004; Page A01 RICHMOND, July 1 -- Virginia's legislature and governor have accidentally resurrected an archaic law that allows employees to demand Sunday as a "day of rest," throwing many of the state's business leaders into a panic about the possibility that stores, airlines, hospitals and factories might be forced to shut down on weekends. From: City To: City Departure Date: Return Date: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1 2 3...

On Saturdays and Sundays, rain or shine, locals and visitors fill the restaurants, boutiques, bookstores and coffee shops of Carytown, a popular residential and commercial district here. At night, restaurants bustle, and the line for the second-run movie theater wraps around the block. But thanks to an unnoticed clerical error in a new state law, some here fear that could all change. Advertisement Even after the bill's sponsor, Senator Frederick M. Quayle, a Republican from Chesapeake, said unequivocally that the bill was in error, the mistake has Virginia's business community reeling back to colonial times, when working on Sunday was...

Days after confounding fans with a so-called "special announcement" that fell short of expectations, organizers have confirmed that Black Sabbath will headline Ozzfest 2004. The timing of the announcement comes as more of a surprise than the news it contained, since, for weeks, assumptions were high that the legendary metal quartet was on board for the trek. Last week, Ozzfest.com promised a big announcement on Friday, though visitors to the site were met with a message about an unsigned-band contest instead of the news that Ozzy Osbourne himself first hinted at in a radio interview in early April (see "It's...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) on Friday said Sunday should be a day for God, not for secular diversions like entertainment and sports. "When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of 'weekend' dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens," the pontiff said in a speech to Australian bishops. John Paul criticized the "culture of the 'here and now,'" urging Church leaders to "lead men and women from the shadows of moral...

VATICAN CITY () - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) on Friday said Sunday should be a day for God, not for secular diversions like entertainment and sports. "When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of 'weekend' dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens," the pontiff said in a speech to Australian bishops. John Paul criticized the "culture of the 'here and now,'" urging Church leaders to "lead men and women from the shadows of moral...

<p>NEW YORK -- The Rev. Charles Rush, pastor of a church in a well-to-do New York City suburb, knew for sure weekend sports tournaments were encroaching on the sacred day for worship when parishioners informed him the only time their children had for youth activities at church was Sunday nights.</p>

Not only did Constantine enforce SUNday observance in the Roman empire, Pope Alexander III decreed at the Council of Tours in A.D. 1163: "Whereas a damnable heresy (Sabbath-keeping) has for some time lifted its head...and spread infection...concealing itself like a serpent in its folds; as soon as its followers shall have been discovered, let no man afford them refuge on his estates; neither let there be any communications with them in buying and selling..." (Rev. 13:17). People were forbidden to engage in commerce with these "heretics" and "Judaizers." As the hate America/Israel movement grows and spreads across the world, fanned...

Whippings, fines, burnt tongues, severed ears: such were the Puritans' penalties for breaches of the Sabbath. Under the "blue laws" of the 1700s, the punishments could be invoked for simple misdeeds ranging from shuffleboard to skipping church. Most colonial edicts have gone the way of scarlet letters. But one has remained intact in states from Connecticut to Texas: the ban on Sunday sales of alcohol. Now, a stubborn seam of Puritanical America is coming undone. With Gov. Mitt Romney's decision last week, Massachusetts joined five states that have relaxed bans on Sunday sales in the past 18 months. Today, as...