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Tomarctus
Registered Member
Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 12
| Posted 8/4/2001 2:36 PM (GMT -6) |   | I'm sorry if this post is out of taste or annoying in any way (I'm just a neo-somethingorother so I don't know what the s.o.p. for posting is) but I need help with something.
For some reason, in my walk with Christ I run into a lot of "Seventh Day Adventists" and to be honest I am getting worn down with being told that I have a "ticket to death" and that I have the "mark of the beast" (Rev) for not "honoring the sabbath".
Apparently because I go to Church and worship on Sunday I am breaking one of God's commandments and furthermore because I do it knowingly I am not justified in my belief that my sins are forgiven through Jesus - even when it comes to breaking the 10. (ACTS 13:38-39) I almost wish I had never met any SDA's because then I would be able so say I was not doing it "knowingly".
I try to explain that no-one is declared righteous because they observe the laws but rather that the laws make us become concious of the sins that are forgiven through Christ. (ROM 3:20-24) But they keep referring back to their belief that we are forgiven for sins that we commit unknowingly but not if we use pride to turn our back on God's commandments.
The references they always use are: Luke 23:56, Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1,2, Mark 15:37 & 42, Leviticus 23:32, and Matthew 12:8.
They also tell me I am going to hell for observing Christmas and Easter because these are "Pagan holidays" based on worshiping the son of the sun god... Thomar (sp?) but I would argue that it matters not how these dates fall on a calendar but that we are giving glory to God.
So I guess my question is: Am I condemned because I go to Church on Sunday and play football on Saturday?? (Please don't laugh)
Thank you.
Tom.
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GregBoyd
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818
| Posted 8/4/2001 3:23 PM (GMT -6) | | Tomarcus,
The Church on Sunday is fine, but football on Saturday will DEFINITELY end you in eternal torment. You might consider dropping it and taking up baseball. A much less violent sport. 
Okay, seriously, you're dealing with some hard cord "Adventists." Most today have softened on their stance, saying Saturday is the TRUE day of rest, but stopping of short of condemning to hell those who worship on Sunday. Two thoughts:
1) Paul explicitly addresses this issue in Colossians 2.
Col. 2:13 When you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,
Col. 2:14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.
Col. 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
Col. 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.
Col. 2:17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Col. 2:18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,
Col. 2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
Col. 2:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,
Col. 2:21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”?
How could Paul say it any clearer. In the New Testament, the particular DAY is not the issue. And its urgent we DON'T LET ANYONE MAKE IT AN ISSUE FOR US.
2) If Adventists want to insist on keeping the Old Testament Sabbath, fine. But then they should KEEP IT -- which none of them DO. Read all the regulations that pertained to keeping the Sabaath in the Old Testament. Don't do so much as pick up sticks! (in one passage a man was slain for doing so). You can only go so far from your house (like 100 yards). etc... (Talk to an orthodox Rabbi and you'll see what keeping the Old Testament Sabbath REALLy looks like). So, the Adventist don't even keep their own teaching, but condemn YOU for not keeping the limited part they DO keep.
This is what is universally true of legalists. They need to feel righteous about their "doing," so they quite arbitrarily select certain "dos" and avoid others,looking down on those who don't keep the select criteria they've opted for. (For example, n my first church -- hyper legalistic to the core -- it was okay to be 300 pouds overweight and gossip, but if you drank wine, went to movies or smoked [the list was quite long actually] -- you were going straight to hell. )
Don't let them bug you Tomarctus. Point them to an orthdox rabbi to see if they really want to be legalistic about keeping the Sabbath.
Later
Doc
"Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." C.S.Lewis
Edited by - GregBoyd on 08/04/2001 8:23:57 PM | | Back to Top | | |
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Tomarctus
Registered Member
Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 12
| Posted 8/4/2001 3:57 PM (GMT -6) | | You're a good man Dr. Boyd.
I just wanted to say thanks.
Tom.
Edited by - Tomarctus on 08/05/2001 06:42:58 AM | | Back to Top | | |
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