The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - Is the observance of Sunday a matter of Christian Liberty?

No Longer A Libertine · #90 (**permalink**) 11-28-2007, 07:44 PM

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Originally Posted by CalvinandHodges

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Originally Posted by Amazing Grace

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Originally Posted by CalvinandHodges

I am sorry that you took it that way. My apology to Bob was over a technical matter and not the question of this thread - so they are not connected.

As I understand it - the Three Forms of Unity agree with the Westminster standards on this particular matter. I used the term "libertine" in quotes to show that I was not utilizing the full force of the term. A person who breaks the Commandment in the name of "Christian Freedom" is technically a "libertine." You would have to explain yourself concerning that this "is not proper at all."

It is not proper becasue both parties do nto start with the same premise regarding the perpetual observance of the 4th commandment in the New Covenant. There they are "technically" not breakign a commandment. There is no sin where there is no Law.

HC:
LORD’S DAY 38

Q. 103. What doth God require in the fourth commandment?

A. First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained;1 and that I, especially on the sabbath, that is, on the day of rest,2 diligently frequent the church of God,3 to hear His word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the Lord,4 and contribute to the relief of the poor,5 as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the Lord, to work by His Holy Spirit in me; and thus begin in this life the eternal sabbath.6

Article 25: Of the abolishing of the Ceremonial Law.

We believe, that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime, we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty, to the glory of God, according to his will

This is all I find in the BC relating to Law...

And Dort mentions nothing.

8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. WCF

I see a big differnce actually.

Yes it is amazing. But again you are arguing from a different starting point.

Personally I am inclined, though not convince to start with Hosea 2:11

Hosea 2:11: “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths-- all her appointed feasts.”

DO you know how the Pharisee perverted the sabbath regulation? They actually had a list of over 1500 do's and don'ts for the Sabbath. Some of their Sabbath don'ts: don't rescue a drowning man; don't light a candle (but a Gentile could be hired to do this); don't walk any farther than is absolutely necessary; don't pluck heads of grain; and, what is my personal favorite, don't give birth.

Hi:

I find your post most increddible. From Ursinus' commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism:

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Keep holy. To keep holy the Sabbath, is not to spend the day in slothfulness and idleness (watching football?); but to avoid sin, and to perform such works as are holy. God is said to sanctify the Sabbath differently from what men do. God is said to sanctify the Sabbath, because he institutes it for divine worship. Men are said to sanctify it, when they devote it to the purpose for which God instituted it.
Six days shalt thou labor. God allots six days for labor, the seventh he claims for divine worship; not that he would teach that the worship of God and meditation upon divine things is to be omitted on all other days beside the Sabbath, but, 1. That there might not only be a private worship of God on the Sabbath as at other times, but that public worship might also be observed in the church. 2. That all those other works which men ordinarily perform on the other days of the week, might on the Sabbath give place to the private and public worship of God.
Thou shalt do no manner of work. When God forbids us to work on the Sabbath day, he does not forbid every kind of work, but only such works as are servile - such as hinder the worship of God, and the design and use of the ministry of the church. That this is the true sense of this command is evident from what is expressly said in other portions of the Scripture. pg. 558. parenthesis mine.

Apparently, your understanding of the Heidelberg Catechism is radically different from that of the writers of it.

What is really bizarre is what you wrote here:

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It is not proper becasue both parties do nto start with the same premise regarding the perpetual observance of the 4th commandment in the New Covenant.

Because two different parties start with two different premises means that one of them cannot call the other to repentance? Hmmm. Since Jesus had a different premise concerning the Sabbath than the Pharisees, then it was not proper for him to condemn them? Hmmmm. Since you have a different premise concerning Murder than Ted Bundy it is not proper for you to condemn him? Hmmmm.

That one party is in error concerning the observance of the Sabbath means that it is "inappropriate" to rebuke such? Your view of what is proper and not proper is flawed. In fact, it is not proper of you to rebuke me based on your own view of propriety. Your view leaves a vacuum between oposing viewpoints.

Blessings,

-CH

So now we're comparing playing catch with your son or a game of dominoes on Sunday to Ted Bundy? That seems like quite an acrobatic hoop.