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In a recent Catholic church newsletter it stated, "Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. 'The Day of the Lord' [dies domini] was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power..... People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become [Seventh-Day] Adventists, and keep Saturday holy." Saint Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995.
No Scriptural Support
"Sunday is a Catholic institution and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles..... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August 1900.
The Vatican's Mark of Authority
"Sunday is our mark of authority..... The church is above the Bible, and this transference of sabbath observance is proof of that fact." The Catholic Record, London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.
Catholic Catechism
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?"
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath."
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"
"Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, by Peter Geiermann, 50.
Vatican Pushes for Sunday Legislation
In Europe the Sunday Law issue is expected to be contentious as Pope John Paul II continues to press for mandatory Sunday closing laws. Church and State, May, 1992.
Currently the Vatican is asking the "civil authorities" to cooperate with the Church in the legislation of Sunday as the nation's day of rest.
"The civil authorities should be urged to cooperate with the church in maintaining and strengthening this public worship of God, and to support with their own authority the regulations set down by the church's pastors. For it is only in this way that the faithful will understand why it is Sunday and not the Sabbath day that we now keep holy." Roman Catechism (1985).
What do you Think?
If "civil authorities" pass a national Sunday law, does that prove that Sunday is the Sabbath day for man?
Should the "civil authorities" pass a national Sunday law because they are pressured by religious powers?
Should individuals be penalized for worshiping on a different day other than Sunday?
Does it seem reasonable to you that the Church of Rome would push for Sunday legislation when they admit that Sunday is not the true Biblical day of rest?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
What will happen to our nation if we force people to worship on Sunday? The #1 bestseller, Cosmic Conflict (Great Controversy), addresses this important question, and much more. The news media can tell you what's happening today, this book will tell you what will happen soon and why.
Rome's Challenge to Protestants:
Excerpts from The Clifton Tract, Volume 4, published by the Roman Catholic Church in 1869:
"Why Don't you keep Holy the Sabbath Day?"
I am going to propose a very plain and serious question for those who follow 'the Bible and the Bible only' to give their most earnest attention. It is this: Why do you not keep holy the Sabbath Day?
"The command of Almighty God stands clearly written in the Bible in these words: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.'" Exodus 20:8-10.
"You will answer me, perhaps, that you do keep the Sabbath; for that you abstain from all worldly business and diligently go to church, and say your prayers, and read your Bible at home every Sunday of your lives."
"But Sunday is not the Sabbath day. Sunday is the first day of the week: the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. Almighty God did not give a commandment that men should keep holy one day in seven; but He named His own day, and said distinctly: 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day'; and He assigned a reason for choosing this day rather than any other -- a reason which belongs only to the seventh day of the week, and cannot be applied to the rest. He says, 'For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it' Exodus 20:11; Genesis 2:1-3.
Almighty God ordered that all men should rest from their labor on the seventh day, because He too had rested on that day: He did not rest on Sunday, but on Saturday. On Sunday, which is the first day of the week, He began the work of creation; He did not finish it. It was on Saturday that He 'ended His work which He had made: and God blessed the 7th day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.'" Genesis 2:2-3.
"Nothing can be more plain and easy to understand than all this, there is nobody who attempts to deny it. It is acknowledged by everybody that the day which Almighty God appointed to be kept holy was Saturday, not Sunday. Why do you keep holy the Sunday and not Saturday?"
"You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God had spoken and said, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,' who shall dare to say, 'Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day: but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead?' This is a most important question, which I know not how you answer."
"You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet, in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as the holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the 7th day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding. Who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible, and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this 4th commandment is expressly altered."
Excerpts from "Why don't you keep holy the Sabbath Day?" pages 3-15 in the Clifton Tract, Volume 4, published by the Roman Catholic Church in 1869.
http://www.benabraham.com/html/rome_s_challenge.html
(Editor's comments, Do I attend church services? Yes, Well like the rest of the world we meet on Sunday's!!)
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