|
Sunday Morning Blues
-truth about the sabbath-
During colonial times, several states enacted "blue laws" to enforce the observance of Sunday as a day of worship. Many people were arrested for playing cards or fixing wagon wheels on Sunday. In the Palmetto State of South Carolina, these laws forbid people from shopping on Sunday morning or purchasing alcohol. In Virginia it is still against the law to hunt on Sunday. A person who watches pornography on Sunday can receive a five year jail sentence for violating the "blue laws" of Connecticut. Many of these laws are still binding. Should the state enforce a mandated Sunday Sabbath on all people?
History records the first blue law was passed by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. In 321AD an edict forbid work on the first day of the week for everyone but farmers. It said, "Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence, the favorable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions of heaven be lost."
Note that Constantine made this decree in honor of the SUN and not the Biblical Sabbath. Don't be mistaken! This edict wasn't given to push people towards true worship. The emperor was an absolute pagan who murdered those who disagreed with him and refused baptism until he took his last breath. Constantine set aside SUNday to unify his empire for one common day to worship the sun. In doing so, Constantine passed the very first "blue law."
Until then, the first church kept the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week as eternally commanded in the book of Genesis. "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done," Genesis 2:1-2. The importance of a specific day for worship is repeated with the giving of the Ten Commandments as well. The specific day of our worship and rest does indeed matter to the Almighty.
The modern calendar clearly shows what day is what. Plus, in the latest edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, the definition for 'seventh day' references: "Saturday, the seventh day of the week."
The Sabbath wasn't changed in the New Testament. Messiah Himself, kept the true Sabbath, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read," Luke 4:16. Even the Apostle Paul kept Saturday as holy. "And Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks," Acts 18:4. Notice that Jews and Greeks were worshipping together. Saturday isn't the "Jewish" Sabbath, but the Biblical one. Seventh day Sabbath observance is intended for all Bible believers.
History shows that the day of worship wasn't changed by the Creator, but by man. The first "Blue Law" was enacted by a Roman empire. Such laws continue in South Carolina and other states to erroneously promote a false day of worship. The Savior said in John 4 that true worshippers worship in "spirit and in truth." Do you worship on the true day?
| 
