If we are no longer to keep a Sabbath rest one day per week, are we now morally obliged to work for seven days a week?

Surely if the Sabbath has been abrogated in the NT, then non-Sabbatarians should be exhorting observers of the Sabbath to repent of their idleness and engage in productive labour seven days a week?

__________________
Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Excellent point. Here's a blog post by an antisabbatarian I came across the other day that maintains their exegesis is correct but nonetheless realizes something is missing. The Sabbath made for man indeed!

Redeeming The Time: Sabbath Rest

__________________
Chris Poe--Attending Grace Community Baptist Church, Mandeville, LA

"There never was a man in the world without a creed. What is a creed? A creed is what you believe. What is a confession? It is a declaration of what you believe. That declaration may be oral or it may be committed to writing, but the creed is there either expressed or implied."—B.H. Carroll

There are many non-sabbatarians who still recognize the sacredness of the Lord's Day, just not to the extent of the sabbatarian. The 1689 LBC states:

There are many non-sabbatarians who prepare their hearts beforehand, do not labor in their secular job, and devote the day to worship and fellowship. But they do not feel constrained to avoid a family BBQ or taking a nap in the afternoon. Would you define these individuals as partial sabbatarians, in that they view they day as sacred, albeit not strictly observed as some?

__________________
Bill Brown
Elder
Grace Baptist Church
Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

In my experience the antisabbatarians quickly get down to absurdity. One pastor told me that we didn't know what day the sabbath was originally anyway.

I don't think anyone says taking a nap is out of line. The WCF and the LBCF are essentially the same and are both sabbatarian and explicitly say Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Maybe you are thinking of the applications in the Larger Catechism instead. Regardless, what is in view in this thread (at least as far as I am concerned) is the position that every day is the same and that it doesn't matter whether we worship on Sunday or Thursday. This really is the dominant position within evangelicalism, it seems to me. Witness all of the megachurches with their Saturday evening services and the popularity of those services and all of the money spent by churchgoers on the Sabbath at retail stores and restaurants. I am learning that even in many ostensibly confessional Reformed churches you will be looked at like you are old fashioned at best or a legalist at worst if you have a concern for keeping the Sabbath day holy.

I am not educated enough in the anti/pro sabbitarian debate to understand what I may be inadvertently stirring up , but I do agree with the "sabbath rest" principle. I would say that I am not a strict Sabbitarian subscriptionist today in that I believe that at one day out of seven should be set aside for rest and corporate worship, but that circumstances may require some irregular praxis and that the practices of the Sabbath are not as strictly rule bound as in the OT.

That is, the old "ox in the ditch" principle.

So - I would say your point is apropos as it concerns consistency, but I would not think even an strict anti-Sabbatarian would support your proposal for pragmatic reasons.

__________________
-JD
1Thess5:21
Ordained Deacon, PCA
Serving in the SBC
MS

Team blog: ChristianSkepticism.org | Personal:...a Longmire rambles | facebook

Chris, I've been on both ends of the spectrum. When I was a student at the Word of Life Bible Institute (a very good Arminian school), the Lord's Day was taken seriously. We had worship in the morning, lunch, an afternoon of rest (where we were encouraged to read the word, fellowship and pray), evening meal followed by another worship service. Recreation was not allowed and demerits were assessed for those who broke this rule. This from an Arminian school who would staunchly deny keeping the sabbath. I concur that there is a loose and watered down evangelicalism that treats the Lord's Day as just another day. But there are many churches that, while not Calvinistic or sabbatarian, still view the Lord's Day as sacred and separate from the other six days.

Indeed, but those churches plus the Reformed sabbath keeping churches are a distinct minority today compared to those who see Sunday as just another day and who go to church that day merely because it is the traditional day to do so.

Chris, so what do you make of a church that claims not to be sabbatarian yet treats the day as sacred (like the example I gave of Word of Life)? What would you call a church like that? How would you label them?

A happy inconsistency. Better a church that denies the Sabbath in theory but keeps it in practice than one that subscribes to a Sabbatarian confession but denies it with its actions.

But my sense also is that if they think they have no grounds for keeping the Sabbath, what will the next generation do since it would seem they merely keep it out of tradition or pragmatism? (What other grounds would there be for those who reject exegetical ones?)

I believe they do view their non-sabbatarian position as exegetical. They would claim there is no positive command in scripture to observe a Christian sabbath. They would state the sabbath was part of the Law, and therefore fulfilled by Christ's perfect obedience to the Law. Their support for observing the Lord's Day are scriptures such as: Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Hebrews 10:25, Ephesians 5:14. They would also draw correlations to the practices of covenant Israel. The only reason I am seem like an apologist for these churches is because I was one of them. You call it a happy inconsistency. It may be. My own sabbath position is somewhat muddled, although I am reviewing it.

Some helpful thoughts concerning the Sabbath.

Reformed Baptist Fellowship

enjoy,
Steve

__________________
Steve Clevenger, Pastor
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church
Warrenton, VA
www.covenantword.org
http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wordpress.com

I take a nap in the afternoon myself due to health problems; I don't see how this could be a breach of the Sabbath since the Sabbath was made for man's benefit. What I am talking about, however, is the view that the Sabbath has been abrogated (I presume most of the compilers of the LBC believed in the Sabbath).

The thing I never understood when I was a non-sabbatarian was the reason behind keeping the sabbath, To glorify God and enjoy Him. We do not keep the Sabbath out of a legalistic heart or we would be as those God scolds in Isaiah 58(?), but rather we rest in him, enjoy him, praise him, and recieve blessings from him. I held to the same position as John MacArthur and many others that the sabbath is gone but the Lord's Day stands until I understood passages such as Isaiah 58 and the teachings of Jesus on the sabbath. Also upon understanding that the Lord's Day means giving a whole day to the Lord for worship not just a couple hours in the morning I realized that I held the same posistion as Sabbatarians but for some illogical reason rejected the term Sabbath.

__________________
Bryan Riddle
1689 London Baptist Confession
Bethel Baptist Church Owasso, Oklahoma

I think it is important to note the distinction between the Sabbath being abrogated and the Sabbath being fulfilled in Christ, so that all non-sabbatarians aren't lumped into the former position. I thought, however, that all non-sabbatarians believed the Sabbath was fulfilled in Christ, instead of it just being abrogated. Luther and Calvin did. So, from that basis, non-sabbatarians would tend to say that the ceremony of the sabbath was typical, and foreshadowed the ceasing of our labors towards the perfect obedience of the law, and the resting in the work of the Messiah to write it upon our hearts. As a shadow, it would pass at the arrival of the substance.

Blessings!

__________________
Charles Plauger
Member/Grace Reformed Church
Oakland, MD

I am one who has just come out of the closet as a BR... which I guess I am perhaps. Still not sure.


But, I hold to the 1689 and generally agree with its words on the sabbath.


I prefer to call the Sabbath, however, the Lord's Day since that was the NT word for it. Also, when it comes to refraining from "worldly amusements" I buck at this as a phrase open to many interpretations.

So, am I a "Sabbatarian" or not?

I usually shrink from this phrase because I associate it with some of the practice of the Scots, who I have read developed many specific rules about how to keep the sabbath. Nonetheless, the Lord has not abrogated any of the 10 commandments because the 10 commandments are a summary of his moral law, which can never change.

My own practice is to play with my son extra-much on the Lord's Day and make an extra effort to spend time with family, one of God's chiefest gifts. This is not "worldly" amusement, but good stewardship and enjoyment of a holy gift of God. We also teach stories, often Bible stories, and sometimes I take long walks.

__________________
Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

According to a poll on this website 54% of PBers agree with you on calling it the Lord's Day. What term do you prefer to use for the first day of the week? I think the early church would have called it that in order to declare the difference between it and the still practiced Jewish Sabbath. (I dont know jack about church history though thats just my assumption).
The term sabbath can often have bad connotations with it, and this is one of the reasons I use this term more often now. I want to use it so I can help clear up the miss teachings of those who place unneeded walls around the sabbath command that distract from the delight we take in the Lord on this day.
This is a thread I started about a month ago that helped me in understanding whether to call it the sabbath or Lord's Day, especially Bruce's statements.
http://www.puritanboard.com/f67/lord...sabbath-28614/

My daughter is only 11 mo. old so I am limited as to what activities I can do with her, but I too spend extra time playing with her on the sabbath. The problem could come about as she gets older that by playing with her in certain ways, for instance playing catch as you mentioned above, could send a teaching to her that worldly recreations are what the sabbath is for. This is not something I would judge anyone else on, but a consideration to be kept in mind. I think there is sometimes a fine line between Christian/Family Fellowship and Wordly Recreation and a thick wall will not fit on the line.

I am slowly beginning to move toward a Sabbatarian position, however as a college student with roommates, it is very easy to be productive on Sundays. The past couple of weeks I have been attempting to rest and honor the Lord's Day, but prior to that, Sunday's were a big day for me to study and do homework.

__________________
Brian Vandenburg
Attend Intown Presbyterian Church (PCA)
"The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God."-Westminster Confession of Faith