Devon Dick ON SATURDAY, while at the competitive One Day International Cricket match between West Indies and Australia, a spectator commented that she felt sick and thought that God was punishing her because she missed church and was present at the cricket match on that day. It would not surprise me if persons felt that God was displeased with the match being held on Saturday and so he sent the rain which caused the required run rate for the West Indies to be higher than it was before the rain. Gimme a break from such thinking!
However, that was not to be, as on that same day, Brother Noel Mullings, in a letter to the editor, displayed similar thinking when, speaking of the Saturday Sabbath, he said, "This blessing and sanctity was not accorded tothe other six days." What does he think that means? Does it mean that the other six days were cursed by God or are less holy? Is this holiness a ritual or a moral holiness? It is a ritual holiness, meaning that the Sabbath is a day for activities different from those of the other days. It is a day of rest. It is special. It is no ordinary day. It is a time for reflection, renewal and restoration.
THE MULLINGIAN THINKING
Mullings also said, "I was amused that the pastor of a
Sunday Church would attempt to explain the Sabbath." I am pastor of a church that has activities every day, including worship services on days other than Sunday. The logical outcome of 'Mullingian thinking' is that I should not speak about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and allow only the Jews to use them as heroes of the faith. Sabbath does not belong only to persons who worship on Saturdays. The only group that can claim Sabbath to be exclusively theirs is the Jews. Exodus 31:17 states, "Sabbath will be a sign (covenant) between me and the Israelites forever". Mullings might be surprised to learn that Sabbath means rest and not Saturday. Does he realise that there are other Sabbaths apart from the weekly Sabbath? Why not observe those other Sabbaths? I am really amused that persons who challenge my arguments on the Sabbath do not quote me but rather interpret me incorrectly.
Mullings states, "Reverend Dick went on to say that man had lost track of time and only God knows which is the Sabbath day, not so." Indeed, it is not so. Nowhere in my articles I have said anything like that. In fact, I challenge Mullings and others to quote two sentences of my articles on the issue of Sabbath and then quote the Bible to show that what I have said is inconsistent with Biblical interpretation. The fact of the matter is that there is no seventh day that is universal to all human beings at the same time. Therefore, different persons in the human race will experience this seventh day at different times. Obviously, the Sabbath experience is not limited to one particular day or time for all persons.
Think on this, Brother Mullings: the Sabbath is celebrated from sunset on the sixth day to sunset on the seventh day but there are countries that do not have any sunset for three months. Does it mean that those persons cannot have a Sabbath experience? The Bible states that persons who do not keep the Sabbath day should be put to death. Why don't you kill those persons? Why are you changing God's commands? To justify your claim that the Sabbath has to be experienced the same way it was done in the past and only on a particular day, you stated, "I am the Lord, I cannot change."
Paradoxically, you have changed so many things. Originally, the Sabbath was a day of rest only, with no organised church services. So why do you have organised worship services? Jesus never went to a 'church' he only went to a synagogue; so shouldn't you follow the example of Jesus and go to the synagogue on a Saturday? Things do change. Even God changed his mind. In Genesis 6:7, the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air- for I am grieved that I have made them." As you realise he did not carry out that threat. God also changed his mind after telling King Hezekiah to put his house in order because he was going to die. Hezekiah prayed to God and God spared his life (2 Kings 20). Issues concerning the Sabbath will change. However, what does not change is that the focus of Sabbath is on rest. The intention of Sabbath is to give people and animals a break.
The Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church.
