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The Lord's Day - Restoring The 4th Commandment Jun. 19, 2006

4th Commandment

The Lord's Day - Restoring The 4th Commandment

The only christian "holiday" or rather Holy-day we are commanded to Celebrate in the Bible. I have seen the Sabbath fall in to disrepute amongst Christians, many christians see it as something that doesn't pertain to them. I had one American Christian friend who explained to me that "of course she goes out to a restaurant on Sunday, she's American" it seems silly and you Canadiansare probably laughing saying to yourself another example of "american arrogance" but how many Canadians "Christians" go out to eat on Sunday, look in any town or city and you will probably see that following church services are some of the times family restaurants are most crowded. I'm sure it is not just in Canada and the but is wide spread through western Christedom.

Last Time I counted There were 10 Commandemnts not 9

For some reason if I was to suggest that it was OK to kill somebody or stealing isn't really bad of an activity for a Christian to be doing you would probably jump up and down and say how could I suggest such a thing, you know you aren't suppose to kill or steal, the Commandments tell you this. Well you're right, and I suppose you would say the same thing if I said I'm thinking of having an affair, you would surely point me to the commandments again, but what if I said I think it would be nice to go out for a nice brunch after Church on Sunday, or maybe I have to go watch my kid's Hockey game, what would you say? Would you point me towards the commandments, or would you reccommend a place to eat and would I see you at the rink with your son as well? What makes the 4th Commandment any less than the other nine that we as Christians disregard it?

How can we keep the Sabbath Holy?

Preparing yourself the night before by getting a good sleep
Making sure you have enough gas in your car for going to and from Church on Saturday night
Making sure you attend church both in the morning and evening during the Sabbath
Being hospitable and having fellow christians over is good, so prepare for it the night before
If you are travelling on Sunday make sure you bring along sandwiches or whatever so you don't have to eat out
Do what you need to do around the house on Saturday so you aren't fretting about all day Sunday or tempted to do it
If your work requires you to work on Sundays and they won't compromise get another job
Don't get the Sunday paper, take a break from worrying about the world around you
Don't sit down in front of the TV, cover it over if that helps
Enjoy the world God has made by taking a walk out doors
Use this time to catch up on that Theological book you've been meaning to read put aside the novel, reports from work, the internet or whatever until Monday

The Danger of Legalism

In sabbath keeping there is the danger of Legalism much like the Pharisees, now while I suggested to get Gas on the Saturrday, there might be a circumstance where you ran out of Gas or on Saturday night you were coming back from travels late after the Gas Station closed etc. but these are rare, and of course there are the works of necessity and mercy, Doctors, Nurses, Policemen, etc. need to work on the Sabbath at times, they should try and trade shifts but they might not be able to and they are doing a necessary work, a farmer will need to milk his cows, but Sunday is not a day to plant new crops. The important thing is to do activities which are truly necessary and try not to make others violate the Sabbath by making them work unnecessarily.

Somethings you might be unsure of such as playing a game, games can be a great time of fellowship, but maybe playing an adversarial type one wouldn't be the best way of showing Christian love. Remember the focus of teh Day should be on Christ so keep your activities Christ centred.

Todays Recommended Readings

Celebrating The Sabbath by Bruce Ray

The Lord's Day by Joseph Pipa

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Category: The Christian Walk

Can you believe?

I found your blog entry by scanning on the Last 100 Entry page. It caught my eye because I had just "argued" for restoring all FOUR of the first commandments. I had been reading blogs and found the following postscript:

Journalist and author Gregg Easterbrook writes to me to note that his 1998 book, Beside Still Waters, "hangs much of its final argument on the Six Commandments concept, which is incredibly overlooked in theology."

AcceptanceWithJoy - 9:55 PM - Jun. 19, 2006

welcome to HSB!

WOW - you've put a lot in your blog in just one day!! LOL

Lovely post about the Sabbath. I am fortunate that my tradition (Eastern Orthodox) has Sat. vespers to prepare for the Lord's Day. I have found it makes a tremendous difference (for the worse) when I am unable to attend. I like the idea of getting outside, but often on Sunday afternoon I am wiped out and just want to veg.

Deb

debdillon - 7:55 PM - Jun. 20, 2006

This is great!

This is an excellent post. Our family agrees with everything you wrote. Welcome to Homeschoolblogger!

Moms4Psalms

Moms4Psalms - 12:34 PM - Jun. 26, 2006

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About Me

I'm a former resident of Nova Scotia, Canada, I relocated to PEI in 2005. I'm married and have 2 adopted children. I am a Reformed Presbyterian and attend the Free Church of Scotland. I live in Middleton, Prince Edward Island, where my wife and I homeschool our 2 children. I run an Online Christian Bookstore. I was raised Roman Catholic, when I was in University I was challenged in my faith over the next few I read Paul's Epistle to the Romans which convicted me enough to know I was on the wrong path, in 1996 I hooked up with Rev. John Shearouse who I had met when I was student and he was part of a student ministry. He had just come back to Halifax, to plant a new Reformed church and I started to attend and made a profession of faith. I have been very active in Federal, Provincial and Municipal Politics, have managed many campaigns and having run as a provincial candidate in 1998.