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Question: Why do Mormons follow the practice of most Christians by resting and worshiping on Sunday?: Difference between revisions
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==Endnotes==
==Endnotes==
We believe the Lords day (Rev. 1:10) to be the first
day of the week. Ignatius, who sat at the feet of John
the Apostle, understood what the Lords day meant in
Johns book of Revelations. He said " “if, then, those
who walked in ancient customs came to a
new hope, no longer sabbathing, but living by the
Lords day, on which we came to life through
Him and through his death....”
He makes a distinction between "sabbathing" and the
"Lords day". This was centuries before Constantine.
He goes on to say “let every friend of Christ keep the
Lord’s Day as a festival, the
resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days
[of the week]. Looking forward to this, the
prophet declared, “To the end, for the eighth day,”
on which our life both sprang up again, and the
victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the
children of perdition, the enemies of the
Saviour, deny, “whose god is their belly, who mind
earthly things,” (Phil. 3:18-19) who are “lovers
of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof,” (2
Tim. 3:4) These make merchandise for Christ,
corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale; they
are corrupters of women, and covetous of other mens
possessions, swallowing up wealth insatiably;
from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ! (Ante-Nicene
Fathers 1:63, Ignatius to the Magnesians)
Here he gives a little more detail on the Lords day.
It is the eighth day, or the first day of the week,
and can be understood in Justin Martyrs teachings as
such:
“The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them]
always circumcise the
children on the eighth day, was a type of the true
circumcision, by which we are circumcised from
deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the
dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely
through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day
after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days
, is called, however, the eighth, according to the
number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet]
remains the first.” (Ante-Nicene Fathers  1:215, chap
41, Dialogue with Trypho)
Justin the Martyr (100-165 A.D.), also a renown
Christian of the day who was a disciple of
Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John. Hence he
lived, wrote and suffered martyrdom within a
generation of the apostles, writes in his first
apology “the day of the sun is the day on which we all
gather in a common meeting, because it is the first
day, the day on which God, changing darkness
and matter, created the world; and it is the day on
which Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead
for He was crucified on the day before that of
“kronos” (Greek counter part of the Roman god
Saturn which is where Saturday gets its name); and on
the day after that of “kronos”, which is the
day of the sun (Sunday), He appeared to His Apostles
and disciples, and taught them these things
which we have also submitted to you for your
consideration.”
He also taught “and on the day called Sunday, all who
live in cities or in the country
gather together in to one place, and the memoirs of
the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets
are read as long as time permits; then when the reader
has ceased, the President verbally instructs
and exhorts to imitation of these good things” (Justin
Martyr, First Apology, chap. 67, Ante-Nicene
Fathers 1:186)
Here, Justin points out that Christians worshipped on
Sunday.
He also says : “But Sunday is the day on which we all
hold our common assembly, because it
is the first day on which God, having wrought a
change in the darkness and matter, made the world;
and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose
from the dead. For He was crucified on the day
before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day
after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun,
having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He
taught them these things, which we have
submitted to you also for your consideration.”
(Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:186, chap. 67, First Apology
of Justin)
The Epistle of Barnabas which purports to have been
written by Barnabas, Paul's
missionary companion, reads, "Lastly he says to them,
I cannot stand your new moons and your
Sabbaths. Consider what he means by it: the Sabbaths,
he says, that you now keep are not
acceptable to me, but only those which I have made,
when resting from all things I shall begin the
eighth day, that is, the beginning of the other
world."  Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with
joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose
again from the dead. And when He had manifested
Himself, He ascended into the heavens. (Epistle
of Barnabas, chap. 15, Ante Nicene Fathers, 1:147)
St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) says again in his sermon
251 de temp. “the Apostles
decreed that Sunday must be kept holy” and “every
lover of Christ celebrates the Lords day,
consecrated to the resurrection of Christ, as the
queen and chief of all days.”
Dr. Adam Clark, in his Commentary treating Revelation
1: 10, says: "'The Lord's day' the
first day of the week, observed as the Christian
sabbath, because on it Jesus Christ rose from the
dead: therefore it was called the Lords day; and has
taken place of the Jewish sabbath,
throughout the Christian world."
Dr. Thomas Scott, in his Commentary dealing with this
same verse, says: "This was 'on the
Lord's day' which can be meant of no other, than the
day on which the Lord Jesus arose from the
dead, even "the first day of the week": and it is
conclusive proof, that the first day was set apart,
and
kept holy, by the primitive Christians, in
commemoration of the great event: for on what
other account could it have been thus mentioned!"
In the Commentary of Jameson, Fausett, and Brown on
this same passage this is recorded: ".
. . on the Lords day--Though forcibly detained from
Church communion with the brethren in the
sanctuary on the Lord's day, the weekly commemoration
of the resurrection, John was holding
spiritual communion with them. This is the earliest
mention of the term 'the Lord's day!' But the
consecration of the day to worship, almsgiving, and
the Lord's supper, is implied, Acts 20:7;
One- Corinthians 16:2, cf. John 20:19-26. The name
corresponds to 'the Lord's supper,' One-
Corinthians 11:20. Ignatius seems to allude to 'the
Lord's day' (ad. Magnes, 9) and Irenaeus in the
Quaest. ad Orthod. 115 (in Justin Martyr). Justin
Martyr Apology 2:98 &c. 'On Sunday we hold
our joint meeting; for the first day is that on which
God, having removed darkness and chaos,
made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior rose from
the dead. On the day before Saturday
they crucified Him, and on the day after Saturday,
which is Sunday, having appeared to His
apostles and disciples, he taught these things.' To
the Lord's day Pliny doubtless refers (Ex 97, B
10), 'The Christians on a fixed day before dawn meet
and sing a hymn to Christ as God.'"
In the Didache which was
written around 140 A.D. it says “on the Lords day of
the Lord gather together, break bread and
give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so
that your sacrifice may be pure.” Again, on
the Lords day, Sunday, you want to gather together and
have a sacrament meeting. Now the
redundancy of “the Lords day of the Lord” in Greek
indicates that the term “Lords day” had
already become a common usage for Sunday, so much so
that it is now used as a distinct term
apart from its root meaning.
The Roman historians, Suetonius and Pliny, who lived
and wrote in the first centuries of the
Christian era, during the bloody martyr ages, are
good witnesses in this problem. As they were
neither Christians nor Jews, but heathens, and not
concerned in the controversy in any respect,
their incidental historic testimony is unimpeachable.
They certify, in their simple accounts of the
Christian martyrdom, that when persons were arrested
on suspicion that they were Christians,
tried and put to death under the imperial edict
prescribing all the Christians and interdicting their
worship on penalty of death, their persecutors
propounded to them the question: "Dominicum
servaste?" — "Hast thou kept the Lord's day?" The
Christian responded: "Christianus sum" — "I
am a Christian." "Intermittere non possum" — "I can
not omit it." Then they proceeded with the
bloody work of death.
It is a well-known fact that the Jewish Sabbath never
was called "the Lord's day," but simply
"the Sabbath day." If the primitive Christians had
kept the seventh day, they would have been asked:
"Sabbaticum servaste?" — "Hast thou kept the Sabbath
day?" But this question never was asked by
their persecutors. It is utter folly to deny that the
Lord's day was kept from the Apostolic age.
  It is a significant fact that the day
of Pentecost, upon which day the apostles received
their spiritual endowment by the outpouring of the
Holy Ghost, “that year fell on the first day of the
week.” Or Sunday. (see Smiths Bible Dictionary,
Hackett and Abbott’s edition, vol. 2: art. Lords day,
p. 1677. Also Bramhall’s work, vol. 5: p. 51, Oxford
ed., Discourse on the Sabbath and the Lords day) “and
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were
all with one accord in place.”
It is very possible that all the believers were in
"one place" was because they were worshipping
together.
    While the Old Testament does refer to the Sabbath
many, many times, it is just that, the Old Testament.
Laws, worship, and teachings were considerably
different then. As Hebrews 7:12 says "For the
priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a
change also of the law." We know that the Priesthood,
Temple worship, worship in general, and law was
changed when Christ came. Now the change in law, spoke
about in Hebrews, would include the Sabbath as well,
it being part of the law.
Also, if we did keep the sabbath spoken about in the
Old Testament, would also have to keep the seventh
month of every year, and the seventh year as sabbaths
also. In the seventh year, the fields which you grew,
was to be left to the poor, and the beasts of the
field. You were to  release all debts in this self
same year. You were also to prepare all food the
evening before the sabbath.  We would be put to death
for breaking the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14-17), wouldn't be
able to kindle a fire on the sabbath (Ex 35:3). It is
not the same sabbath spoken about in the Old
Testament.
Acts 20:7 reads "And upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and
continued his speech until midnight."
On Sunday, a group of followers of Christ gathered
together in a house (where Church meetings were held
in those days), where bread was broken (a term used
for the sacrament (1 Corinthians 11:24), while a
Church leader teaches of Christ. This sounds like a
Church meeting held on the Sabbath




Revision as of 09:28, 20 September 2006

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Question

The Old Testament commands men to rest on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Why do Mormons then follow the practice of most Christians by resting and worshiping on Sunday?

Answer

Endnotes

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