By Bryan Ness | 31 August 2021 | This article will be discussed at the Adventist Today Sabbath Seminar this coming Sabbath. The story of Noah’s flood has long been a favorite children’s story because of its apparent simplicity of message. Since Adam and Eve mankind has become progressively more sinful and God finally reaches […] Source: https://atoday.org/the-battle-between-science-and-a-literal-interpretation-of-noahs-flood/
Reflections on “COVID, Coercion & Conscience”
by Ben Kreiter | 31 August 2021 | COVID, Coercion & Conscience, a much-talked-about conference on the weekend of August 20-21 sponsored jointly by the Berrien Springs Village Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Liberty and Health Alliance, was billed as “neither an anti-vaccination, nor pro-vaccination event, rather it is a call to the full engagement […] Source: https://atoday.org/reflections-on-covid-coercion-conscience/
Wednesday: Serving Others Honors God’s Sabbath
In the New Testament world, the religious leaders had Sabbath keeping down to a fine art. There were dozens of prohibitions and rules established to help keep the Sabbath holy.
This included a prohibition against tying or untying anything, separating two threads, extinguishing a fire, transporting an object between a private domain and the public domain, or transporting something for more than a specific distance in the public domain.
What charge is brought against Jesus in John 5:7-16?
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
Completely ignoring the wonderful miracle that Jesus had performed and the freedom from disease that He had given this man, the leaders were obsessed that the healed man was carrying his bed in public on Sabbath. Instead of seeing how the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28) utilized this special day, the leaders were intent on maintaining their own rules and regulations. We need to be careful that in our own way and in our own context we don’t make similar mistakes.
How does Isaiah 58:12-14 outline God’s agenda for Sabbath keeping?
God does not want empty worship or pious silence. He wants to see His people engaged with other people, especially the downtrodden and marginalized.
Isaiah makes this very plain in Isaiah 58.13-14: “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken” ( Isaiah 58.13-14, NKJV).
Pursuing our “pleasure” (Isaiah 58:13, or our “own interests,” as the NRSV translates here) is equivalent to “trampling the Sabbath” (NRSV). Human agendas are not part of God’s Sabbath ideal. Rather, we are invited to look out for those who struggle, who are captives, who are hungry and naked, and walk in darkness and whose names no one seems to remember. More than any other day of the week, Sabbath should take us out of ourselves and our own selfishness and cause us to think more about others and others’ needs than only about ourselves and our needs.
Amen!
(0)
(0)The post Wednesday: Serving Others Honors God’s Sabbath first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/BiBQFb7hb44/
Aunt Sevvy, what about unfriending people on social media?
Dear Aunt Sevvy: Will I be lost because I unfriended someone on Facebook? Signed, Seriously not serious Dear Serious, You told us that you meant this tongue-in-cheek. But you raise an issue we need to talk about. Who would have guessed even a few years ago how many of our relationships would have to do […] Source: https://atoday.org/aunt-sevvy-what-about-unfriending-people-on-social-media/
Tuesday: The Stranger Within Your Gates
Read Exodus 19:6. What does this text tell us about the status of ancient Israel? (See also 1 Peter 2:9.)
Israel had been called out of Egypt to be God’s covenant people, the nation through whom, had they stayed faithful, the gospel would have been spread to the world. No question, they were the object of God’s special care and concern, given special privileges, and at the same time, given special responsibilities.
Read Exodus 23:12. What else is going on here? What does this text teach us about how God viewed others besides the Israelites themselves?
Image © Sally Weimer at Goodsalt.com
The universality of the Sabbath is something that many people miss. Of course, the most common error is that it was only for the Jews, an error exposed in the first two chapters of Genesis. After all, God created all people; so, all people should remember the Sabbath day.
Though we should always keep in mind what the Sabbath represents to us, we should remember, too, what it should tell us about others, as well. In a sense, our resting and relating to our Creator and Redeemer will drive us automatically to look at others with new eyes, to see them as beings created by the same God as we were, loved by the same God who loves us and who died for them as well as for us. As we have seen (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14), the servants, the strangers, even the animals should be given a Sabbath rest.
That even the strangers within their gates, that is even those not (yet) partaking of the covenantal promises given to Israel — that even they should enjoy the Sabbath rest says a lot. Human beings, even animals, should never be exploited, abused, taken advantage of. Every week, the Hebrew people (and we, too) should be reminded in a powerful way of just how much in common we have with other people, and even if we do enjoy blessings and privileges that others don’t, we must remember that we are still part of the same human family, and thus we are to treat others with respect and dignity.
| How could your own Sabbath keeping, perhaps, become a blessing to those who don’t keep the Sabbath? That is, how can you use the Sabbath as a witness to others? |
Amen!(0)
(0)The post Tuesday: The Stranger Within Your Gates first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/0wVhb8OS4hE/
