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What I find to be astounding is that modern, mainstream Christianity, which would never keep a Sabbath and teaches the pagan holidays of Easter and Christmas as actual Biblical practices, allows women to call themselves "Pastor", and completely abuses its power over followers to enrich church leaders to incredible wealth, gets so hung up on homosexuality. I mean, if you aren't going to take the WORD in its truth in total, who is to say that one sin is greater than another? And if hypocrisy is judged incrementally, then what degree of hypocrisy is considered too much?

First, you should avoid painting with such a wide brush. Not all churches have given in to the secular values yet. Second, Easter and Christmas are not pagan holidays as practiced now. The original celebrations that were co-opted to use as Christmas and Easter were pagan, but Christ is celebrated in both instances by any church worth a damn, so they are, by definition, not pagan.

Finally, I hope that what you are saying is not that we should abandon recognizing anything as sin. In any church worth a damn, all sin is pointed out for what it is. The reason that homosexuality has gotten so much attention is because that is the sin, currently, that has grown into a monster and tried to invade every aspect of everyone's lives, everywhere. If the homos weren't so militantly in-your-face these days, trying to shove their beliefs down everyone's throats and trying to convert everyone to their way of thinking, it would not be necessary for the various churches to work so hard to counter THAT particular sin.

I'd say, in direct contrast to your statement, that it is commendable that some churches have taken it upon themselves to confront this issue head-on. When this sin rose to prominence, some churches rose to meet it in battle, as it should be. Now you are advocating that they divert much of that effort to sins that aren't nearly as much of a problem and of nearly as much influence these days? That is a recipe for failure to address any sin properly. When surrounded my multiple enemies, you deal with the attacker closest to you first.

fr_freak
Thank you for the answer to Chris on his comment in #11. I would say I agree with you. I would have answered him personally but I was out doing what I usually do on this the Lords day.

Chris DeWeese
The only thing left out by freak that I need to address is your assertion that Christians have abandoned the Sabbath. Well in your opinion we may have, but the Sabbath is not something a Christian is called to honor. One of the many reasons we celebrate the day our Lord was resurrected is because that is the day He proved that he defeated death. His resurrection shows us that we too shall one day be resurrected to eternal salvation.

As I said that was one reason, what follows will be a good explanation that will help you understand even better the reason we celebrate the Lords day of Sunday instead of the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday. Now I am not a follower of John Calvin, but there are a lot of good theological minds that have good information on various subjects, and the subject of the sabbath is one of them that Matt Slick has done a good job in explaining. So I figured why re-invent the wheel when he has already done the legwork. So take a look at what he has on the Sabbath.

This is from his site at carm.org. I will save my reasons for disagreeing with Calvinists on another thread and for another day, let's just say that in this case we see 100% eye to eye.

Evidence of the Change of Days can be Seen in the NT

Within the New Testament is ample evidence that the seventh day Sabbath is no longer a requirement.

Rom. 14:5-6, "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God."

The entire section of Rom. 14:1-12 is worth careful study. Nevertheless, the instructions here are that individuals must be convinced in their own minds about which day they observe for the Lord. If the seventh day Sabbath were a requirement, then the choice would not be mans’, but God’s.

Col. 2:16-17, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— ¹⁷ things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."

Notice here that time sequence mentioned. A festival is yearly. A new moon is monthly. A Sabbath is weekly. No one is to judge in regard to this. The Sabbath is defined as a shadow, the reality is Jesus. Jesus is our Sabbath.

Acts 20:7, "And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight."

The first day of the week is Sunday and this is the day the people gathered. This passage can easily be seen as the church meeting on Sunday. It has two important church functions within it: breaking bread (communion) and a message (preaching). Additionally, Luke did not use the Jewish system of counting days: sundown to sundown. He used the Roman system: midnight to midnight. This is a subtle point that shows the Jewish Sabbath system was not the one utilized by Luke.

1 Cor. 16:1-2, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.² On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come."

Notice here that Paul is directing the churches to meet on the first day of each week and put money aside. It would seem that this is tithing. So, the instructed time for the church to meet is Sunday. Is this an official worship day set up by the church? You decide.

Rev. 1:10-11, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,¹¹saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

The New Bible Dictionary says regarding the term, ‘The Lord’s Day’ in Revelation 1:10: "This is the first extant occurrence in Christian literature of heÂµ kyriakeÂµ heÂµmera. The adjectival construction suggests that it was a formal designation of the church’s worship day. As such it certainly appears early in the 2nd century (Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, 1. 67).

In many churches today, the term "The Lord’s Day" is used to designate Sunday, the same as it was in the second century.

I hope this is evidence enough to show you that the Bible does not require that we worship on Saturday. If anything, we have the freedom (Rom. 14:1-12) to worship on the day that we believe we should. And, we no one should judge us in regard to the day we keep. We are free in Christ, not under law (Rom. 6:14).