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Obj:
That’s your prerogative. Christians do not keep any day of the week special, nor force the day they meet on others - nor do they ridicule those who meet on days they don’t. Meeting on the first day of the week is Biblical; and celebrating the Lord’s supper during the assembly is also very Biblical - according to Paul, especially. The Lord’s supper, according to the Bible, was celebrated when they met on the first day of the week - a celebration to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection until He comes again! There is no obligation for a Christian to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on a Saturday anywhere in the Bible. Do you find anything wrong with what I said?”
Ans:
Re:
“Christians do not keep any day of the week special”. I think you know full well it’s untrue. Only look around you on Sundays. Only think of the Gospels -— they were written years after the establishment of Christianity, and reflect nothing like that “Christians do not keep any day of the week special”— on the contrary the ‘special keeping’ of the Sabbath byin earliest Christianity gave cause for much of the Gospel’s writing! And ‘special keeping’ of the Sabbath is always in the Gospels directly linked to Christ’s practice and teaching of, and on, it.
Never ever do the Gospels – these latest of Christian writings – hint in the direction of ‘special keeping’ of the First Day of the week. Now exactly this utter absence of ‘special keeping’ of the First Day of the week has been the cause and reason for dishonest translators, to artificially and artfully create an impression of ‘special keeping’ of the First Day of the week in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament through false, corrupted and mutilating ‘translating’ of it. Shame on Christianity! And shame on “Christians”, that they “do not keep” the Sabbath Day of the LORD your God -— “The Lord’s Day” -— “special”, but discarded it as a thing of filth, and replaced it with the pagan ‘Day of the lord Sun’ as a thing of supreme glory. Shame on Protestantism that it in wonderment followed after the false prophet and antichrist, in this the greatest of his traits and triumphs over true Christianity.
Re: “Christians do not ..... ridicule those who meet on days they don’t.” True. That doesn’t give them leave to neglect their Christian duty of rightly dividing and proclaiming the Word of God.
Re:
“Meeting on the first day of the week is Biblical”. It is not ‘Biblical’.
Re:
“celebrating the Lord’s supper during the assembly is also very Biblical”. True, but not “also”, meaning also “meeting on the first day of the week” and “on the first day of the week .... celebrating the Lord’s supper during the assembly (on the first day of the week)”. That, is NOT true, “especially” not, “according to Paul”.
Re:
“according to Paul, especially. The Lord’s supper, according to the Bible, was celebrated when they met on the first day of the week”
According to Paul and therefore according to the Bible, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated: “WHEN on the First Day of the week HAVING BEEN ASSEMBLING STILL after they before HAD HAD ASSEMBLED to break bread (to ‘celebrate The Lord’s supper’) : PAUL” -— the only Subject of the only verb of the only sentence -— “discussed matters (‘dielegeto’) with them”; which unequivocally declares the PERFECT (Tense): the assembled, quote: “Assembled BEFORE they STILL were assembling on the First Day of the week”; which IMPLIES unequivocally the assembled, the disciples, “assembled” on the Seventh Day and Sabbath Day BEFORE “on the First Day of the week” when “they still were assembling”. ‘Synehgmenohn’ is NO Verb; it is a Participle and a Perfect Participle at that. To say “The Lord’s supper was celebrated when they met on the first day of the week” depends completely on FLAWED -— on purpose FLAWED -— ‘translation’ of the Greek in Act 20:7 (as were it an INDICATIVE, FINITE, NOMINATIVE, Imperfect or Aorist).
Re:
“There is no obligation for a Christian to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on a Saturday anywhere in the Bible.” Yes, ‘on a Saturday’. But listen to this: “Because Jesus had given them rest God would not speak of an opportunity of salvation again, THEREFORE emphatically (‘ara’) a keeping of the Sabbath Day REMAINS OBLIGATORY FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD: HE (Jesus) HAVING ENTERED into his own rest as God in his own.” Jesus of course “entered into his own rest” and “gave them rest” by nothing other than that He rose from the dead again! There cannot another relation be drawn THAN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST FROM THE DEAD between the “rest” that “Jesus had given THEM” and “He having entered into his OWN rest as God in his own” and “the People’s still obligatory keeping of the SABBATH Day”. “The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword” Hb4 goes on immediately to say! We cannot play around with the graveness of these elements that constitute the essence and form the basis of the declaration for Christians in Hebrews 4:4-5,8-10— “thus concerning the Seventh Day” that -— as “a keeping of the Sabbath Day -— remains for the People of God” the Christian Believers, to ‘celebrate’ or “FEAST” as Paul says in Col2:16-17 they actually DID.
Please, for the sake of clarity, note that where I wrote, “According to Paul and therefore according to the Bible, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated: “WHEN on the First Day of the week HAVING BEEN ASSEMBLING STILL after they before HAD HAD ASSEMBLED to break bread (to ‘celebrate The Lord’s supper’).....” I could better have said, “According to Paul and therefore according to the Bible, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, as follows:
“WHEN on the First Day of the week HAVING BEEN ASSEMBLING STILL after they before HAD HAD ASSEMBLED to break bread (to ‘celebrate The Lord’s supper’)....” I did not mean to convey the idea the Lord’s Supper was on the First Day of the week: I meant to say it was NOT on the First Day because the disciple “were STILL on the First Day gathered together” in the same place “AFTER they BEFORE HAD HAD” by implication “gathered together” on the PREVIOUS day, the Sabbath.
My study of religious History did not reveal Christians holding a "sabbath" day as a special day to meet for worship. However, History does show that early Jewish Christians continued to assemble on the Sabbath. I imagine that there may have been many arguments about it by Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians. But, suffice to say, 99% of the writings of early Christians record that the first day of the week was the day they met to worship and partake of the Lord's supper.
The Gospels do not mention anything about the first day of the week for worship, period. The Gospels closed at the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The subject was not considered before the "Church" was started on Pentecost. It was the introduction of the Gospel to the Gentiles when the first day of the week was chosen to be the day for meeting together for worship, "communion or the Lord's supper", teaching, fellowship and exhortation to grow in the knowledge of Christ. I don't see anything in the letters of the NT to indicate that Christians should set aside a Sabbath for meeting together for worship, etc. What you say is not all that clear - it is a mix of opinion and parts of Scripture IMHO.
Paul, in Romans 14:1-8, reveals some very interesting insight into this subject - especially verse 5! "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." As I stated before, let me back it up with what Paul has to say (Verse 4): "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? to his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."
To me, those two verses sum up Paul's exhortation on the keeping of a special day or on not keeping a special day set aside for assembling together for worship, etc. If you notice, I did not put my opinions in those verses - I just let them speak for themself. However, if you want to keep a Sabbath day as the day you meet together with others of the same mind, I have no problem with that, and praise you for continuing in living your life for the Lord. The same would apply if you chose not to eat meat, or if you chose to eat only vegetables. Consider that.
Your writing shows you have faith...keep it strong!