6:19 pm
Posted by Bigfish69
Question 1
May
we work on Sundays and do any activity we want? Or, are Sundays sacred
where working is to be avoided and our activities are limited to only certain things?
And, if we believe a Sunday is sacred, may we justify this by stating it as God's will?
Didn't
God rest on the last, on the seventh day of creation? Hasn't he also
asked his people do do likewise, take a day of rest from work every week
(see the 10 commandments)?
But the bible also reads that ...
Jesus
did many things which the people of the day considered 'work'. He
healed. He picked corn. Indeed Jesus even chastised people for their
hypocrisy for they too would do things considered 'work' if they needed
to (e.g. Luke 13:15).
But that is different to earning an income
on Sundays. Is it? Yes, the examples Jesus was involved in were not
about income earning. They were simply about doing stuff. But, just
because income earning is not among the examples doesn't mean it is not
on the avoid doing list. Maybe. But the point is, these examples
reveal work is not directly connected to income. And thus earning an
income on a Sunday cannot be put into a special category.
Question 2
What
is work? By definition work is exerting effort to produce or
accomplish something. So, is work what we physically do? Or can work
also be something else? For example, have you heard someone say they,
for example, they are "making an effort to change their attitude" or
"making arrangements to go on holidays"? Indeed they may say it in other
ways, 'trying to' or indeed 'working at'. The point is the same ...
effort is being given to achieve something.
Work.
So should
we avoid trying to change our attitudes on Sundays? Is that even
possible? Would trying to stop, itself, be a type of effort or work to
achieve? Are priests and ministers making an effort, working, to teach
us Sunday morning?
Question 3
So, if avoiding work is
impossible, let alone on Sundays, then surely we should minimise it?
That is a good thought but whose list will be followed? And will they
create boundaries between people? What does God say about what worship
is, about living harmoniously, about favouritism? (read Acts 10; Romans
2; Galatians 2; Colossians 3; Ephesians 6 and also ... James 2)
One more question:
If God chose to have a rest on the seventh day of creation, are we still in it, or did he go back to work?
- Do we still live in God's day of rest?
Anyone who has a full time job and also rests on Sundays, works for at
least 85% of the week (and this only accounts for income earning
income). So, does God ask us to work while he is resting and for how
long will this continue?
- Has God returned to work? And
if so are we to apply it to a 7 day weekly calendar or something
different? If God's calendar is synchronised with our Sundays off, will
he then heal or forgive on the Sunday? Yes? Then surely God is working
on the very day we suggest is designated, by him, for rest. Are our
requests therefore falling on deaf ears on that day, because he is
resting? Should we even therefore bother about church attendance on
Sundays? Indeed, why would people claim to be healed while at church on
Sundays?
Conclusion
Either God asks us to live one way
and he another, or he intends his actions and ours, though imperfect,
to be the same. My suggestion is that if it is the first way, then we
may continue living the way we are. However, if he indeed intends his
and our actions to align then we must reassess how we approach Sundays,
rest and his will.
Incarnation: The making of something physical, real, able to be touched and interacted.
