>>its the creative act of making light and cooking which matters.<<
I thought it was "work" that mattered. I thought it was all under the concept of "day of rest."
Again, Exodus:
35:2 "In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it will be put to death."
Yet the covenant, of which that was a part, was completed by Jesus. Not done away with. And when Jesus was accused of working on the sabbath by healing, he said to the very Jews that condemned him specifically BECAUSE he worked on the sabath: (Matthew 12:11)
He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?"
Fact is, they were nailed on this statement. They obeyed the sabbath "unless."...
same thing. work is defined different ways by different people. the bottom line is that the Torah, that is the law given by G-d to the Jews, defines clearly what is "work". Those things that are explained as "work" have in common a concept of creative labor. see my earlier post about work being "defined" in the Torah as the tasks needed to build the Tabernacle. Incidentally, we hold that Torah law trumps everything afterward. a statement (if it exists) from a prophet which contradicts Torah as it relates to law is irrelevant and not followed. so much the more so for anything recorded in someone else's name who is not accepted as a prophet. the discussion about Sabbath and Kosher laws requires looking at their sources and practical application. they are as relevant today for Jews as "do not murder", etc. they are not up for debate.
See post 54. You stopped a verse short :>)
Suffice it to say, Christians generally believe that righteousness is attained by believing the correct thing, Jews find righteousness in doing the correct thing. As an agnostic, I just make it all up as I go along.
Can't we all just get along, and save our ridicule for Islamic beliefs/actions?