Posted By: Azenilto
40 Questions for Seventh-day Adventists Answered and Retributed - 05/31/09 01:49 AM
40 QUESTIONS FOR SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, ANSWERED AND RETRIBUTED
[* See explanation in:
http://www.maritime-sda-online.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=113736#Post113736 ]
1st. Question: Why do you keep only one of the ceremonial Jewish Sabbath ordered by God? Every seven years, the seventh year, the Sabbatical year, also the year of the Jubilee, was a Sabbath (Lev. 25:1-22). Why do you keep only one Sabbath and leave the others out?
ANSWER: Because they were not all in the tables of stone on which God wrote with His own finger when He uttered the 10 Commandments to the ears of the people, and it was said “and he added no more”. Nothing is said about keeping the other Sabbaths (Deu.5:22). These others belong to that law called by the Christians over the centuries (such as the Baptists, in their Confession of Faith of 1689, the Presbyterians in the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647, and before them the Catholics and Orthodox) ceremonial law. The moral law is known as the Ten Commandments by these same Christians and also is so mentioned in the different denominational confessional documents.
Questions for retribution: Why do you want to add all types of laws to that one that God pronounced audibly, as if they are all equal, when it is clearly said that after uttering the Ten Commandments (which were later written by God on tables of stone), “He added no more” (Deu. 5:22)? Aren’t you going against what God did when seeking to add to the “Moral law” other principles that are not part of the divine code, going beyond what is written (1 Cor. 4:6)?
2nd. Question: Why do you base your religion so much on the Sabbath, when we know that the Lord taught that both the law and the prophets are based on love, not on keeping the law? (Mat. 22:34-40, Rom. 13:8-10)?
ANSWER: The basis of our religion is Christ, and Him crucified. We are justified fully by faith, not by works, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, 9. This text is accompanied by another that many “forget” to mention with these two: Ephesians 2:10.
The Sabbath is part of God’s commandments about which Paul, the great champion of the message of salvation only by faith, said: “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God” (1 Cor 7:19). Obedience to the commandments of God does not enter in the field of justification, but in that of sanctification, which the Calvinists call “perseverance of the saints”.
Questions for retribution: How come Paul didn’t reveal any knowledge on the freedom of Christians to disobey the commandments of the Decalogue, as he recommends naturally and objectively the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th commandments to the GENTILES of Ephesus and Rome (Eph. 6:1-3; 4:25-31; Rom. 13:8-10)?
3rd. Question: How do you lit a fire on the seventh day despite that being forbidden in the Levitical law (Exo. 35:3)? As you do that, certainly break the Sabbath.
Note: The breaking of the Sabbath was punished with the death penalty to the transgressor. That is part of the Sabbath law, which cannot be separated. Thus, if you want to keep the law, obey it completely, beginning to stone to death those who break the Sabbath. (Exo. 31:15, Jas. 2:10) (See question 13).
ANSWER: Lighting a fire at that time was a very complicated matter, not to compare to what we have today, when just pressing a button, or rubbing a match stick against a strip of chemical material produces the flame. The custom of that time was to leave a fire constantly lit during the Sabbath hours so that on that day there was no need for all the big task of producing a wood fire. The penalty of breaking the Sabbath commandment was not different from related penalties for breaking other commandments, like blasphemy. Even a very rebel child was supposed to be sent to the elders for condemning him to death (Deu. 21:18-21), which is not attached to the moral law as uttered by God. That was part of a “penal law”.
Now , when Paul recommended the 5th commandment to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:1-3), they were not supposed to follow that rule anymore, why?
Questions for retribution: Why, instead of creating excuses like this to escape from keeping the commandment of the Sabbath, don’t you observe the day without lighting fires in the home? If that is the problem, if it is considered wrong to lit a fire in such a fast and practical way on any day, do not judge those who do so because that does not change the nature of the principle. If you prefer to follow a Sabbath keeping “a la Pharisees”, so be it . . . Keep it without lighting any fires, but observe the day, because, I repeat, this is not a valid excuse to break the validity of the commandment.
4th. Question: Tell me, when and where in the Bible did the Lord Jesus tell His Apostles that they should keep the Ten Commandments? I shall be content with the chapter and verse.
Note: The Lord Jesus Christ, instead, broke the Mosaic law of Sabbath keeping. This is categorically stated as one of the reasons why the Jews hated the Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:18).
ANSWER: Jesus told ALL His followers to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves when there was NO Gentile present. Did He say that only for Jews? By the reasoning of the opponents, the “golden rule” applies only to Jews, not to Gentiles. . . So with many of his recommendations as the Lord’s Prayer, not to worry about tomorrow, not to hoard treasures on the Earth, not judge by appearances. . .
These are universal principles, as well as ALL of the 10 Commandments, including the Sabbath, which is recognized by the three great heroes of the Protestant Movement--Luther, Calvin and Wesley. They all recognized that the Sabbath principle stems from the creation of the world, and is applicable to all men everywhere, even though interpreting it as applying to Sunday (an error of interpretation, but that does not change the ideological basis of the question). Jesus did not violate the Sabbath as the Jews accused Him of doing. (See Mat 12: 10-12).
Questions for retribution: This type of “argument from silence” is the weakest way to defend or combat an idea. There is no clear, specific, verbatim commandment of Christ to Jews or Gentiles that meets the 3rd commandment (not to take God's name in vain), to not use sculpted images of the Church's saints, and nothing prohibiting communication with the dead. By the reasoning of this 4th question, could a Gentile (or Jew) Christian: a) take God’s name in vain; b) worship sculpted images of the Church's saints; c) communicate with the dead. . .?
5th. Question: Can I get some text in the Bible where it orders Gentiles converted to Christianity in the New Testament, to observe the Sabbath commandment in accordance with the law given to Israel in the Old Testament? Again, just give me the chapter and the verse.
ANSWER: Again, the methodology of that weak “argument from silence.” As already mentioned in the previous question, there are many principles that Christians heed universally, but are not defined in the New Testament so objectively, specifically and clearly. Where is there ever any commandment to the Gentiles not to consult the dead? However, Jesus said that “the Sabbath was established because of man” without defining that it referred only to the Jewish man. It is the same man-anthropos that leaves his father and mother to cling to his wife (Matt. 19:5, 6).
Question for retribution: Since Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and it is understood that it applies only to the Jewish man, does that mean that marriage is meant only to the Jews?
6th. Question: You state, without proving it, that the Sabbath was kept before the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. The law of circumcision was also given before Moses (Gen. 17:10). Thus, why don’t you practice circumcision, being that one of the clearest commandments of the Levitical law? Remember that the Gentiles only could keep the ceremonial law, which included the Sabbath, as you profess to keep, after being circumcised (Acts 11:2-3; 15:2) Once more I ask: Why do you keep a commandment, but despise the other? (Jas. 2:10).
ANSWER: Because circumcision was a common costume of that time, as well as polygamy, afterwards incorporated in the law for Israel, which took into account many things of cultural character, along with moral principles. What defines the law of MORAL and UNIVERSAL character is what God uttered on Sinai to the ears of the people.
Christians ALWAYS understood that the 10 Commandments are a special law, which deals with these universal principles, and were in force BEFORE Sinai, and keep on being valid and in force AFTER it, such as “thou shalt not kill”, “thou shalt not commit adultery”, “honor thy father and thy mother”. It is not a ceremonial precept.
And the Sabbath stems from the creation of the world (Gen. 2:2, 3), as we already mentioned, which is recognized historically by the Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, as one can read in their confessions of faith, creeds, catechisms and their works of religious instruction, Bible commentaries, etc.
Questions for retribution: Where is it said that the Sabbath WAS NOT observed before Sinai? Where is it said specifically that before Sinai men should not steal, lie, covet other people’s things and to honor father and mother?
7th. Question: The apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:19 that the law was given because of the transgressions. You teach that the part of the law that refers to the Sabbath commandment was given to man immediately after his creation, however the Scriptures say that it was after the Fall. Can’t you see that the Adventist theory that the law was given in two occasions doesn’t agree with the facts?
ANSWER: The problem is the tremendous ignorance that prevails among modern Evangelicals, especially among those who follow this line of false teachings of the neo-antinomians dispensationalists. NOT ONLY THE ADVENTISTS teach that God granted men His law at creation, which was written in their hearts. How about reproducing the 1689 Baptist Confession of faith, which indicates the sentiments and teachings of Christendom since past centuries?:
The Law of God
1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience which was written in his heart, and He gave him very specific instruction about not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By this Adam and all his descendants were bound to personal, total, exact, and perpetual obedience, being promised life upon the fulfilling of the law, and threatened with death upon the breach of it. At the same time Adam was endued with power and ability to keep it.
2. The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the Fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in the ten commandments, and written in two tables, the first four containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.
Question for retribution: Why is there such a profound ignorance about these historical data on the official doctrines taught for centuries by Evangelicals/Protestants, and even before them, by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, regarding the nature of the original law given to man since his creation?
8th. Question: Why is it that in the commandments given to our first parents in Eden, and in those given to the patriarchs Noah, Abraham and others, there is not a single reference on the duty to keep the Sabbath? Why the word Sabbath is not mentioned but after two thousand years had elapsed since man’s creation? If the Adventists theories were right—shouldn’t references to Sabbath keeping occur many times before Exodus 16?
Note: Not even Abraham received any order to keep the Sabbath, which was given only to Moses. Could the Adventists show us any text that proves that the patriarchs kept the Sabbath as they advocate?
ANSWER: Again, the weakest “argument from silence”. But besides what we said in the previous question, how about this important commentary of a scholar from the Moody Bible Institute, which is not an Adventist institution?:
“As presented to us in Scriptures the Sabbath was not the invention of any religious founder. It was not at first part of any system of religion, but an entirely independent institution. Very definitely it is presented in Genesis as the very first institution, inaugurated by the Creator himself. It was purely religious, wholly moral, wholly spiritual. It had no prescribed ceremonies, no sacramentarian significance. It required no priest, no liturgy. It was for man as God’s creature, steward and friend”. -- W. O. Carver, Sabbath Observance, p. 41, Produced by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“The week, with its Sabbath, is an artificial device. The reason for it is found only in the Old Testament Scriptures. Here it is always associated with revelation from God. . . .
“Religious ideas and practices among all peoples, in varying degrees have been associated with all the time divisions which men have adopted. But in connection only with the week is religion obviously the explanation of its origin, and the week only is uniformly attributed to command of God. The week exists because of the Sabbath. It is historically and scientifically true that the Sabbath was made by God”. Idem, pp. 34, 35.—Highlight Added.
Question for retribution: Since nothing is said that BEFORE Sinai there were specific commandments against stealing, lying, coveting the things and wife of the neighbor, not to take God’s name in vain, not to worship sculpted images, would that lead one to conclude that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could lie, steal, take God’s name in vain and worship sculpted images, etc.? If not, why not?
9th. Question: Where do we find in the Scriptures that God had given any commandment on Sabbath keeping before the people of Israel was delivered from the Egyptian bondage? Remember to mention the chapter and verse in each case, without making any reference to Genesis 2:1-3, for there is no commandment there on that either.
Note: The seventh day was sanctified only in God’s mind. We see that the Bible mentions only that which God communicated verbally to man; there appears only the words “. . . and He said to them. . .
ANSWER: Again, the poor resource of the “argument from silence”. In Exodus 16, when the Sabbath is mentioned all indications are that it was a pre-existent institution. In vs. 4 it is indicated that the mannah would be granted in six days, with the exception of the seventh day, so that it served as a test on the people’s obedience to the divine law WHICH ALREADY EXISTED. As additionally says the Bible Commentary:
“Contrary to what some think, there is nothing in the text or its context that indicate that the Sabbath was given then to the Israelites by the first time. Actually, it is implied that they knew the Sabbath already, however had become negligent as to its observance (chap. 16: 4). Thus, the Sabbath commandment was renewed, and its observance reinforced as the day of worship”.
Question for retribution: Can you prove that when it is said that Abraham obeyed God’s commandments, statutes and laws, in Genesis 26:5, that applied only to those principles corresponding to NINE out of TEN commandments, the principle of Sabbath keeping being excluded, but not any other of the nine?
10th. Question: If the commandment was given to Adam on the creation day, how could God have mistaken the date? Adam was created on the sixth day, and the seventh day, to which Genesis makes reference, was the second of Adam’s existence. If Adam had to work six day, then rest on the seventh, he would be mistaken for five days in his calculation. The Sabbath would not be the seventh day because he would have worked only one day. Adam’s Sabbath would have been a Sabbath of the second day.
Note: It’s interesting that the Adventists also make a great confusion in the calculation of days, caused by their Pharisaical zeal in attempting to keep the Levitical law given to the people of Israel, and not to us, Christians among the Gentiles. In Exo. 20:9 we read clearly that one should work six days. It is an order and part of the law to be fulfilled. But the Adventists work only five days, for they take advantage of the “Sabbath” of the Gentile Christians, observed on the 1st day of the week (Revelation 1:10) and have an extra day off, generally going to the beach or strolls. So, they break the law they so much attempt to fulfill, being reproved even before the end of the first sentence in the commandment.
ANSWER: There is no problem, at all. This is pure sophistry as one more excuse of those who want to escape from a Bible precept that seems quite “inconvenient” to them. When God invited the foreigners to accept the pact He had set with Israel, in Isa. 56:2-7, it is not said that they should do it at sunset of the Sabbath day so that they could fulfill the “quota” of six days of work before observing their first Sabbath. If a Christian is baptized on a Wednesday, he or she certainly will have a shorter first week as a believer, which makes no difference before God.
Also the commandment says that in six day, “all your work” should be executed, which involves any other secular activities, such as business, sports practice, home tasks, recreation. The working six days doesn’t apply exclusively to a job in a factory, office, shop or farm.
Questions for retribution: Can you prove that Adam worked as a gardener in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15) during ALL the seven days of the week, just pausing at night to rest, without dedicating any day to God? Also, can you prove that the first Sabbath was a holiday only to the Creator, not to the creature?
11th. Question: Haven’t you read Nehemiah 9:12-14 where it is clearly said that the Sabbath was given to Israel at the Sinai mount? Since the Sabbath was given only to Israel, why do you insist to have others observing it?
ANSWER: Anti-Sabbatarians wish that Nehemiah have adopted their same agenda to denigrate the Sabbath, when there was no climate for that at his time. Even after that, God indicated the importance of the Sabbath through Ezekiel and Isaiah (Eze. 20:12, 20 and Isa. 58:13, 14). Nehemiah is presenting a historical review of how God was favorable to the people, and among the different episodes of Israel’s history he recalls them their privilege of having the Sabbath, which is the only one of the commandments mentioned.
This is no indication that the origin of the Sabbath was at Sinai. If that was so we would have a contradiction to many other data that indicate the origin of the Sabbath from Eden. As the SDA Bible Commentary puts it: