Sabbath vs Sunday research....

[imroc]

I was doing some research on the Sabbath and Sunday issue. While looking up information, I came across a pretty neat site…at least that’s what I thought at first. It mostly talked about the SDA church belief on the Sabbath, which was mostly what I was looking for. I found the info to be enlightening, but my attitude changed really quick when I ran across this little piece:

False Catholic view:
Catholics teach that the Pope changed the Sabbath to Sunday. Catholics worship God on the right day (1st Day) for the wrong reasons. Catholic theology is often confused within itself. Having observed that Christians have always met on Sunday, they figured that God must have transferred the significance of the Sabbath commandment to Sunday. This is simply untrue. The Sabbath is abolished. Sunday is not a day of rest. The resurrection of Christ is the primary reason why Christians meet on Sunday. Catholics flatter themselves into thinking they made the change. Yet even Catholics have always taught that Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:1-2 and Rev 1:10 are clear Biblical references supporting the practice of worshipping on Sunday. Although some Catholics have suggested that the pope changed the Sabbath well after Christians had an established practice of Sabbath keeping, this point has been strongly rejected by the highest Catholic authorities today. Notice these quotes:

“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church,” (Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore replying for the Cardinal in a letter dated February 10, 1920)“The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the old law,” (Kansas City Catholic, February 9, 1893)In reality, what the Catholic church believes is that apostle Peter was the first pope (the first pope was in 606 AD not Peter) and that the very earliest Christians, in apostolic times “transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday”, by the will of God. Officially Catholics have always taught that the universal practice of the earliest Christians was to meet every Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists actually misrepresent the official teaching of the Catholic church. Yes the Catholic church does teach that it, by authority given to it by God, made the change, but that change was realized early in the Apostolic age. (33-96AD). So Catholics mistakenly call the 1st day, the Sabbath, borrowing the term from the Old Testament, rather than abolishing it with animal sacrifices. Catholics, however, do a lot of judaizing (bring Mosaic practices into the church).

Notice that Catholics DO NOT say that Christians once kept the Sabbath, (Saturday) then CHANGED the day of worship to Sunday. Rather they actually teach that this change took place at the time when Christians first started to worship on Sunday in 33 AD. It is critical to keep in mind that the Catholic church claims direct apostolic authority from the present Pope in Rome right back to Peter.

After reading that, I no longer found their information to be true, dependable or even worthwhile. I especially didn’t enjoy how they passively tried to undermine the Church’s authority. I found that to be completely off the topic and down right ridiculous. I did email them about the topic at hand and told them that I didn’t want to discuss the passive comments because I did find them off topic. I can’t explain my disappointment in these people. I was rather let down and disturbed, I guess. It’s amazing how people (and I won’t generalize) of the “protestant” denominations (not all, I guess) try to insert their comments, blunt or otherwise, about the Church. Why are they so blind! I feel for them and I want to help them all, but I sometimes feel like I’m talking into thin air! I guess you can’t help those who don’t want to be helped, but at least I planted a little seed. I’ll let the Holy Spirit take control and not let it get me down, while I begin to calm down and realize that it IS His place and I’m just the instrument of His work.

 

[krysianka]

What site did it come from? Sorry if it was in there (I didn’t see it)! At least it will tell the rest of us to stay away.

I haven’t done much research on this subject but have been curious for a while. Hopefully some folks on this forum can enlighten me!

 

[SDA2RC]

There is a good book on this subject, it is a compilation of Protestant scolars, who each take a different time period and discuss the Sunday vs. Saturday issue. It is called From the Sabbath to the Lords Day, if I remember correctly. I think the editor is named Carson. Let me know if you are looking for it and can’t find it… I can get the specifics.

Brandon

 

[imroc]

bible.ca/

I guess their argument is that the Church (catholic) claims that one of our Popes, through his infallibility “changed the Sabbath to Sunday”. Which is completely false. The problem is that they quoted some catholic “authorities” who made such claims. I’m not sure if these certain “authorities” truly did make these claims in mistake or if they were completely misrepresented. If you read the above comment from their page, you’ll note that they use the terms “highest catholic authority”, but yet quoted archdiocese clergy and such