U
Username3000
Guest
Greetings,
I am trying to work my way toward a better understanding of the RPW, the Christian Sabbath, and how these things relate to Christmas.
Thus far I understand that the Sabbath was originally instituted at Creation, not at Sinai, and therefore cannot be argued away as merely a Jewish holy day.
I also understand that as part of the moral law of God, the 4th Commandment should be as equally binding as the other 9; there is no reason why one commandment out of the 10 Commandments should be discarded.
I am also beginning to understand that God commands how He is to be worshipped, as opposed to commanding all of the ways that He is not to be worshipped.
Yet, I am struggling to fit some pieces together.
Let us use Christmas as an example. If a church holds a worship service on Christmas or Christmas Eve, is it the formal aspect of this service which makes it fall outside of God's commanded worship? If we as believers gather together informally on Christmas Eve to do the same things - read, pray, sing - this is not breaking the commandment, so the only difference I can see is the formality of the event.
I think that my uncertainty may be rooted in a misunderstanding of what exactly it is that occurs on the Christian Sabbath that may not be transferred to any other day. My current understanding is that we may do Christmas-y things as long as they do not interfere with instituted Sabbath worship, or create un-instituted worship. But what is that un-instituted worship?
Thanks for your help.
I am trying to work my way toward a better understanding of the RPW, the Christian Sabbath, and how these things relate to Christmas.
Thus far I understand that the Sabbath was originally instituted at Creation, not at Sinai, and therefore cannot be argued away as merely a Jewish holy day.
I also understand that as part of the moral law of God, the 4th Commandment should be as equally binding as the other 9; there is no reason why one commandment out of the 10 Commandments should be discarded.
I am also beginning to understand that God commands how He is to be worshipped, as opposed to commanding all of the ways that He is not to be worshipped.
Yet, I am struggling to fit some pieces together.
Let us use Christmas as an example. If a church holds a worship service on Christmas or Christmas Eve, is it the formal aspect of this service which makes it fall outside of God's commanded worship? If we as believers gather together informally on Christmas Eve to do the same things - read, pray, sing - this is not breaking the commandment, so the only difference I can see is the formality of the event.
I think that my uncertainty may be rooted in a misunderstanding of what exactly it is that occurs on the Christian Sabbath that may not be transferred to any other day. My current understanding is that we may do Christmas-y things as long as they do not interfere with instituted Sabbath worship, or create un-instituted worship. But what is that un-instituted worship?
Thanks for your help.