Too much ado over something

Presence of words emphasizing the role of "evil" in the world in major
post-9/11 speeches by President Bush and in major newspaper editorials
following the speeches.


(Source)


Religion today plays a subtle but deeply significant role in politics, the economy and social life than we care to imagine. Why, for example, do most people work five days a week rather than six or seven? Why does the Middle East remain such a tinderbox? Why is Uncle Sam chasing shadows in the name of fighting terror? Why do some countries care more about nature than others? Why is Sudan divided between the north and south? Why did Pakistan and India separate?

There may be many answers to these questions, but I submit that religion is at the core of them. Followed to their conclusion, religion appears in most answers. In Christianity, a major player in world politics today, worship is the main issue, and it has a lot to do with a day.

No day has been argued over and debated as hotly as the seventh day of the week. Innocently passing every week, the 24-hour period remains oblivious of the great controversy surrounding its observance in honor of the Creator.

There are only two kinds of people in this debate: Sabbath keepers and non-sabbath keepers. Others refer to the two groups as 'sabbatarians' and 'non-sabbatarians'. Seventh-day Adventists and Jews fall in the group of sabbatarians. All others, including atheists, fall in the second group.

I had promised to explain which church Christ would have most probably belonged today. That church is the Seventh-day Adventist church.

I will quote from EG White's Medical Ministry "Christ was a Seventh-day Adventist, to all intents and purposes. It was He who called Moses into the mount and gave him instruction for His people.... In awful grandeur Christ made known the law of Jehovah, giving, among other charges, this charge: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'"

It is a startling statement, given that the SDA church was established in 1863. But the understanding is in the words "to all intents and purposes". It means for all practical purposes, or in every practical sense. Since Christ did not abrogate or repeal the Sabbath law, it remains valid to date. There is no place in the scriptures showing He called for Sunday worship as practised by Protestants and the children of Rome. In effect, Sunday worship is man's invention, not God's law., which is ironical given that Sunday worship is allegedly in God's honor.

For details of how Sunday became a day of worship, and why 'Protestants' would rather join Rome in condemning the SDA church than admit their error, please click here.

It is not easy being SDA. I do not think it's ever been, for Christ Himself withstood many taunts, ridicule and outright opposition, leading to his crucifixion. There are many things Christ did that attracted this kind of treatment, yet this post will focus on the Sabbath part.

"The name Seventh-day Adventist is a standing rebuke to the Protestant world," so wrote EG White in Testimonies for the Church, Vol 1, pg 223. It is ironical that among the most strident critics of the Adventist Church are protestants. Perhaps inadvertently, they have joined forces with Rome to trample underfoot the express command of God to keep the seventh day of the week holy in His honor.

If history is anything to go by, religion will play a more and more significant role in public and private life until the end of the world. Indeed, religion itself will be the cause and effect of the end of the world.