Saturday vs. Sunday Worship
I challenge you to take a look at the differences of worshiping God on Saturday (Sabbath day) versus Sunday (The Lord’s Day).
If you were to first start your study of this subject by looking at the belief systems of different religions, you suddenly realize that to find the truth you must decide upon what you believe to be an accurate source of ancient Biblical writings. That is, the first hand written accounts of the people who actually lived in those times. All of this authors studies are based on the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.
Lets look at a few of the mainstream religions:
My Concerns With The Jehovah’s Witnesses
To start, the Jehovah’s Witnesses use The New World Translation bible that they themselves claim to have translated from Hebrew and Greek in 1961 using 5 men;
Nathan Knorr, Albert Schroeder, George Gangas, Fred Franz, and M. Henschel.
Four out of the five men on the translation committee had no Hebrew or Greek training at all, and only a high school educations. Franz studied Greek for two years at the University of Cincinnati, but dropped out after his sophomore year (really?). When asked in a Scotland courtroom if he could translate Genesis 2:4 into Hebrew, Franz replied that he could not. The truth is that Franz was unable to translate Hebrew or Greek. See TowerWatch.com
Prior to re-writing the Bible to fit their doctrines more convincingly (an expressly forbidden practice according to the Bible; See Revelation 22:18-19), they used the King James version (KJV) for worship. Later they switched to their new translation and claimed it was because most Bible versions in common use, including the Authorized Version (King James), employed archaic language. And, since the The Watchtower Society believes you and I, as well as all their congregation, lack the ability to read or understand scripture for ourselves, they have ordained themselves as our saviors, not Christ.
My Concerns With The Mormons
If you believe in the Christian Bible, that is, that its words were Divinely inspired by God, then you have to ask yourself why the Mormons base their beliefs and position on their own Book of Mormon. A book that is chocked full of contradictions with the traditional Bible.
According to Joseph Smith’s account (founder of the church), and also according to the book’s narrative, the Book of Mormon was originally written in otherwise unknown characters referred to as “reformed Egyptian” engraved on golden plates. Smith claimed that the last prophet to contribute to the book, a man named Moroni, buried it in a hill in present-day New York and then returned to earth in 1827 as an angel, revealing the location of the book to Smith and instructing him to translate and disseminate it as evidence of the restoration of Christ’s true church in the latter days. Hence, the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Since the original authors wrote this “scripture” from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421, and since the Egyptian empire did not recognize the “Living God” during this time period, how could it have come from Egyptian hand, or traveled from Egypt to an America that had not yet been discovered? The evidence of their non-belief in God is apparent in their historical documentation (such as the Exodus) as well as artifacts on display in museums all over the world. It also seems strange that these writings are the only ancient Egyptian artifacts ever found buried in America from this time period.
I have more concerns but, I’ll move on for now …
The Catholics – Forgiveness Comes From A Priest, Not Jesus?
Catholics are the only mainstream “Christian” religion that believes you have to ask another human being for forgiveness, not Jesus or God. That’s right. You go to “confession” to ask your local priest to forgive you for your sins. To set things right again, he will tell you to recite some number of Hail Mary’s, or repeat the Rosary x-number of times, etc. This is a true abomination according to the Bible. Our Lord and Savior alone can forgive us our sins.
Basically, their position is that the Catholic hierarchy are the only ones allowed to directly communicate with God. The rest of us are not worthy. However, I have seen many Catholic leaders charged with various crimes in my lifetime (mostly sexual assault on children), so what makes these so called “chosen leaders” special in God’s eyes? Nothing, in my opinion. They are only special in their own eyes. The Jesus I know sees every one of us as equal in His eyes.
I also find it upsetting that the Catholic leaders feel a need to hide, or suppress, thousands of ancient documents and artifacts in the Vatican in Rome. Why? Are we not each and every one of us entitled to know as much about the history of the world as the church leaders are? Obviously, that depends on who you ask.
Then, there’s the question of amassed wealth. Churches are supposed to be “non-profit” organizations, right? In 1994, for the first time in its history, the Vatican Bank was audited by an outside element – Price Waterhouse (today PriceWaterhouseCoopers – http://www.pwcglobal.com/). In that year, the bank had deposits of $40 billion, and annual profits of $4 million. Thomas J. Reese, an American Vatican expert from Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University notes, after an interview with the head of the bank, that “it is unclear how much working capital the bank has beyond its deposits”, and that some estimated it as high as $1 billion, before 1984 payments to creditors of a collapsing Italian Bank (a scandal known as “Banco Amrosiano” Scandal). The budget of the Vatican City itself was $130 million annually, 27 years ago. Today however, they will not allow audits.
Does anybody remember the story of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple?
A Case for Sabbath Worship
Source: The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd edition, 1957:
“Question – Which is the Sabbath day?
“Answer – Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Question – Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“Answer – We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R.
So far no pastor, preacher, or priest has been able to show me scripture that grants any man the authority to change anything that is written in the Bible. Jesus and His disciples worshiped on Sabbath day, and there are several references in the Bible to the Sabbath being God’s chosen day of rest and worship for His children.
When asked, most Sunday worship observers will tell you they worship on Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday (which is not a certainty if you read the Bible carefully). In any case, there is still no declaration in the Bible that Sunday is holy in any way, or that any church was granted authority to change His day of worship.
Unfortunately, there is plenty of incorrect “interpretation” of Bible texts. This is why it’s important to study the whole Bible in its entirety yourself. Too many people just leave the studying to the theological experts, a dangerous proposition since we are talking about your eternal life here.
By far, the most commonly used reference for refuting the observance of the 4th Commandment or, for that matter, any laws that are inconvenient is Colossians 2:13-14 where it says:
“13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
Most believe that this means all Old Testament law was abolished when Jesus was nailed to the cross (very handy), when it fact it actually means that the Mosaic Law (Moses Law) and laws of the Pharisees and Sadducees were abolished. There were over 800 Mosaic Laws alone. All this bickering over who was right or wrong was tearing the Jewish people apart. Their laws also meant that if you were a Gentile (non-Jew) you had no chance of ever going to heaven.
So what was nailed to the cross with Jesus? The religious laws of man, not of God. In fact, to demonstrate that separation in their times, Moses built a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. On the outside of the Ark was a pocket that contained the Mosaic Law, but God’s Law (the Ten Commandments) resided inside the Ark to demonstrate the visible separation between mans law and God’s Law.
Then a little further down in Colossians Sunday observing preachers claim that Paul (note: Paul also worshiped on Sabbath like Jesus) clearly declares freedom to choose our own day of worship at Colossians 2:16 :
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon, or sabbaths;
This is taken out of context. Notice the reference is to sabbaths (lower case, plural), not Sabbath. In those days there were many festivals, and/or celebrations of abundance where they would sing and praise God for all His gifts. These were also considered sabbaths (as were all days of worship), but not the Sabbath ordained by God as a holy day of worship in God’s Law, the 10 Commandments. To be clear, God’s Law was never nailed to the cross, just mans laws regarding the worship of God.
Lastly, God wants all of His children to love Him and worship Him, not just the Jews (Israelites). He had to abolish all mans laws by allowing Himself to be tortured and die on the cross for us all (Gentiles as well) so that we too could be saved and live in eternity with Him.
Ephesians 2:14-18
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby :17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
It is this authors opinion that with over 95% of the world worshiping on Sunday (if at all) and in direct disobedience to Gods Law that, Satan has in fact pulled off the biggest lie in history and our spiritual leaders all over the world, in all different religions help him to propagate it daily. Please, don’t be a sheeple. Pray about it, educate yourself, and worry about your relationship with God, not any one religion.
