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HopeSS: The Covenant — 7 Comments

1. Christian greetings!
   Hello, I am a Graduate of Adventist University of the Philippines. And I would just like to clarify some things about Sabbath keeping. My batchmates are currently reviewing for our licensure exams and it is our daily routine to study the lessons every night, and one of us has the strong belief that as seventh-day adventist we shouldnt cook, boil nor take a bath on sabbath because it is stated in the bible (exodus 16) and also on EGW's writings that we shouldnt. But some of us believes that we can. And until now it still remains a gray line for some of us. Regarding this matter is it connected to the old covenant and the new covenant? Thank you and God Bless!

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2. GM I don't know that the difference would be the Old or New Covenant, as the law did not change, but rather the New covenant brings us grace as the means of keeping the law, (Which was God's original plan) instead of by legalism or our own works and effort which is the old covenant. God writes His law on our hearts by grace instead of us doing it on our own which is legalism. The New covenant is not a new law but a "new" means to keeping the law.

   In my humble opinion, which is subject to error, I think the reason why some Adventists feel comfortable cooking on the Sabbath now is because with modern stoves it really is not much work. Lighting a fire is not a lot of work now so many of us don't see it as breaking the Sabbath. This post that was published last year may shed some more light on your question.

   https://ssnet.org/blog/preparation-day-the-other-forgotten-day/

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3. In my own view the reason why preparation day was put immediately before the Sabbath was to prevent or lessening doing many things that would disturb in keeping the Sabbath well. Am to be corrected if I miss the point .

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4. Another reason why we cook on Sabbath takes into the kind of food we have these days. During the time the law was given we had maana and wheat these kinds of food could last a considerable amount of time as opposed to millet bread, posho, bananas etc

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5. I wonder if it is not the principal that matters here rather then modern times versus ancient time cooking facilities ? Is it not that the holy hours of the Sabbath belongs to the Lord and are set aside to worship Him ? We know what a lot of time preparation of a meal can take.Nobody commented on the matter of bathing on Sabbath ?

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6. I think that sometimes we concentrate so hard on the detail of the "things" of Sabbath observance that we miss the blessing. And sometimes we look over out shoulders at what other people are doing to the extent that sometimes we forget where we are putting our own feet. Sabbath observance is about rest and worship, and there are two considerations:

   a) Whatever we do should bring us closer to God, and
   b) it should bring us closer to one another.

   What works for you may not work for me, but we need to respect one another. For example: Some people switch off their technology on Sabbath. For them, the moratorium on Facebook and email etc provides them with the opportunity for rest and worship. On the other hand I find that I am my most creative when sitting at the computer on Sabbath and find new ways to worship and communicate y relationship with Jesus. (Besides, my Bible is on my iPad these days! 🙂 )

   We need to share creative ways of sharing and appreciating the Sabbath that support the rest and worship ideal. I used to be heavily involved in church worship on Sabbath. It was full-on activity and planning from Friday night through to the end of the church service and I have to say that while it was fulfilling it was not all that restful. I was "relieved" of my church activity a couple of years ago and while initially the experience hurt a lot, it gave me time to re-evaluate my spirituality and my church experience. Today I appreciate much more the personal rest and the opportunity for renewing my spiritual experience that was lacking in producing the "big church experience". Sabbath has become more meaningful to me because I had to fill the gap previously occupied by my church activity.

   Rather than thinking about what we cannot do, we need to think creatively about the gift of the Sabbath that God has given us.

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   • Thank you Maurice. As you say, "What works for you may not work for me..."

     This reminds me of the thought, that "there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God that worketh all in all." (1Cor 12:6)

     Managing diversity (difference) within the church can be fraught with problems. People have tried to deliver God's people from this problem by using set formats, effectively saying, "You must do things such and such a way". But enforcing "uniformity" on our people cannot make the problem go away. Enforced uniformity is a curse. (Always has been, always will be.) Diversity/individuality is very much needed, and it must be given room to exist.

     With Sabbath-keeping there is really only one proviso. The activities of the Sabbath day are to be "holy". (Holiness should not be confused with "sanctimonious formality".)

     But it has always been a role of the ministry to teach the difference between the holy and the common. (Eze 44:23, Eze 22:26) It is also the role of an enlightened conscience to discriminate between the "holy" and the "common". So regardless of the amount of effort involved, if we feel that a certain activity [on Sabbath] is not "holy", then it is best for our own conscience sake to remove ourselves from it.

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