Posted on 12/07/2014 4:30:17 AM PST by wheat_grinder
James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, 88th ed., pp. 89.
"But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify."
Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed., p. 174.
"Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
"Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her-she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."
John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies (1 936), vol. 1, P. 51.
"Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the New Law, that He Himself has explicitly substituted the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His Church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."
Daniel Ferres, ed., Manual of Christian Doctrine (1916), p.67.
"Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"Answer. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church.'
James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1877-1921), in a signed letter.
"Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day -Saturday - for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes . Did Christ change the day'? I answer no!
"Faithfully yours, J. Card. Gibbons"
The Catholic Mirror, official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
"The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday."
Catholic Virginian Oct. 3, 1947, p. 9, art. "To Tell You the Truth."
"For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the[Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible."
Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Sunday worship was unchallenged in Christendom from before 100 AD (Ignatius of Antioch, who died in Rome as a martyr AD 110, commends his readers for "no longer Sabbathing") until Ellen Gould White. Where in the Scriptures do you see evidence for the Holy Spirit taking a 1700 year long nap, and letting the church of Christ sink into apostasy?
It means the Sunday keeping protestant church’s follow the tradition of Sunday observance instead of the scripture in this matter.
Catholic ping!
"The New Testament makes it clear that the observance of a particular day was not imposed as a binding obligation. Romans 14:5-6 makes it clear that there was some freedom in the matter of special days. Colossians 2:16-17 commanded the church not to allow anyone to act as their judge in regard to sabbath days. And Galatians 4:9-10 warns against going back under the Law by insisting on the legal requirement of special days.
The records that remain in the New Testament show that the first day of the week soon became a day of worship. When Paul wanted to collect an offering from the church at Corinth, he asked them to gather the money on the "first day of the week" (1 Cor. 16:2). And when he wanted to meet with the believers at Troas, the gathering took place "on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7).
In Revelation 1:10, the apostle John described himself as being "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Most writers have thought he was referring to Sunday, so that our use of "the Lord's Day" as a term for Sunday comes from this verse.
A person's decision concerning sabbath observance probably hinges on the question of how we view the entire Old Testament. If all of it is still binding on us, then so is the sabbath. If there are parts that are no longer binding because they were directed specifically to the Jewish nation, or because they were for ritual purposes, then the sabbath is open for discussion.
No matter what position a person takes, it is important to recognize that God has a claim to all of my time. When I give Him one day of the week, it reminds me that He owns all seven!
Pentecost happened. That's enough for me.
Amen
Evidently by your reference to Ellen White you think I’m a SDA. I’m not. I just keep the correct Sabbath. I worship exactly the same way I did as a Baptist just on the seventh day now. As far as the new testament goes I read that and other books that are not “cannonized”. I cannot control what history has done to the Word but I can study and seek truth.
LOL... Don’t think I have to be Jewish to observe the Sabbath. Got a scripture reference for that?
Why do some Roman Catholics think it has to be an "us against them" situation? Is it not possible that we both (RCs and Protestants) profess to worship the same God?
The very beginning Christian worshipers were NOT Roman Catholics, they were Jews. Eventually, local churches ceased to be autonomous by giving way to the control of "bishops" ruling over hierarchies. The simple form of worship from the heart was replaced with the rituals and splendor devised by men. Ministers became "priests." The Roman Emperor Constantine established himself as the head of the church around 313 A.D., which made this new "Christianity" the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Though history proves this RC church was corrupt in many ways, it is also true that many of its priests still held in their hearts the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are all grateful that during these Dark Ages they preserved the Holy Scripture. I hope that we can all agree that it was the work of the Holy Spirit that certain biblical writings were chosen as the New Testament and then lovingly preserved.
So to answer your question, or should I say challenge, I would say that as a Protestant, I hold the New Testament to be the "Holy Word of God" not because the RC church says it is, but because the Holy Spirit deemed it so and used the only available resource at the time to proclaim it and preserve it.
The observance of Sunday as the day of worship commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, the most important day in human history.
“If Christ is not raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.” (I Corinthians 15:17)
Txrefugee, well said.... I totally agree with you.
Not true. Acts 20:7 tells us Paul and the Christians gathered together to break bread on the first day of the week. This long predated the Roman Catholic Church.
Thanks. I thought of that verse as soon as I saw that strawman argument, but couldn’t recall the reference.
Acts 20:7 — note he spoke past mid-night. They took communion afterwards and then fellowshipped until morning.
I Corinthians 16:1-2 — “Upon the first day of the week...”
Revelation 1:10 — “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day...”
Some commentaries associate the Roman day with Acts 20:7, saying the day changed at 6:00 p.m. instead of our day change at midnight.
Where have I read, ‘Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.’? Was that in the Reader’s Digest?
“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39-40).
I urge you to do a study on the above statement by Jesus and research the day Christ was crucified on and when he arose. It is a full 3 days and nights. Friday to Sunday does not pan out.
Right next to “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Have a blessed Sabbath.
I suspect God is more interested in whether or not we truly seek Him, and is less interested in which days our sanctification of Him is ramped-up rather than actually realized.
yes, it does pan out.... The Bible is clear that Jesus was crucified on the Passover, Friday, then buried later that (Friday) afternoon or evening before the Sabbath (Saturday) began, and then rose from the dead the first day of the week (Sunday). How could there be a fulfillment of Jesus' prediction that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth? What exactly does this mean? 3- literal 24- hour days or a statement related to a certain time period.
In Old Testament the expression “one day and one night” was an idiom used often by the Jews for a day, even when it was applied to only a part of a day. The Jewish reference to this period as three days and three nights is strictly in accordance with the Jewish mode of reckoning. Evening and morning, or night and day, is the Hebrew phrase for a natural day. It was a maxim among the Jews in computing time, that a part of a day was to be received or computed as the whole.
Christ was dead at three o’clock on Friday, they had before six o’clock, three hours to bury Him. After going through the red tape with the Romans it took less than an hour. The Jewish reckoning of time is found in the Jewish Talmud and the Babylonian Jerusalem Talmud (the commentaries of the Jews), said any part, an “onan”, any part of the day is considered a full day. On Friday before six o'clock by Jewish reckoning, any minute was considered one day and one night. From Friday night at six o'clock to Saturday at six o'clock, was another day and another night. From Saturday night to Sunday was a third day. Thus, Jesus was in the grave part of Friday (a whole “natural day”), through all of Saturday (the second day), and from Saturday at sunset a part of Sunday (the third day). Thus, it is likely that the part of the day (Friday) on which Jesus was crucified, the entire day He was in the grave (Saturday), and the part of the day on which He rose again (Sunday), estimated as entire days. The concept of three days would be an idiom, not necessarily meaning 3 full 24- hour periods.
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