Cheers!
Much prayer needed

This is just what I have been talking about. People in the Church who plug me into their apriori, or "principles" and who "really" know what's wrong with me, or what my "real" problem is.

Transferred into the topic at hand; I am trying to say that too many people, some very well meaning, do the same thing with "keeping" the Sabbath. The fuss is not about right or wrong Sabbath "principles" as much as it is about attitudes manifested.

If you will re-read my posts here; I am certainly not just talking about one individual.

But, since you mentioned it again; loaded questions can easily be judgments.

You're clearly demonstrating something often referred to as a "trigger."

You have no idea what principles I'm referring to. You're simply assuming that I must be doing what that other person did. That makes it obvious that you are still reacting to that other situation, not responding to my posts. It's not a matter of me "plugging you into anything." If I were, your reaction would not have surprised me. You, on the contrary assume you know what I'm talking about, "plugging me into" the pattern of the person that yelled at you.

There's no way you can read a jugdmental attitude about Sabbath observance into the following quote:


If I had the position you attribute to me, I would hardly have written:


What you attribute to me is simply incompatible with those statements.

Get a grip, man. You're ranting.

[quote=Ed Dickerson]

This is what I was referring to re being judgmental re Lazarus' congregation:



Words that you have just used like "trigger" and "rant" are the rest of what I was referring to.

Sincerely
"Ranting" David

Perhaps sometime you'll engage the substance of my posts, instead of your straw men.

When the time comes for us to make hard decisions regarding the Sabbath, what will we do if we have not been keeping it holy up to that point? We won't likely start keeping it holy when under pressure.

What does it mean to keep it holy? Isaiah 58:13. It means separating the Sabbath from what is common. If we can paint someone's house or mow their lawn on Sunday or another day, don't do it on the Sabbath. It means if a surgery is not an emergency, do it another time. It means don't do our own work but do the Lord's work on His holy day. It's our date with God, a time devoted to getting together with Him and letting Him sanctify us. And yes, it means obeying Him by not doing ordinary labor on that day. Finally, it means being holy ourselves and in an attitude of worship all through the week, because an unholy person really can't keep the Sabbath holy.

Our prophet says we should be careful about "the edges of the Sabbath." Do we as a church believe and practice this or do we now believe that is an example of "legalism"? Would it be "legalistic" to risk the death penalty rather than disobey God's commandment regarding the keeping of the Sabbath?

I keep the Sabbath to a legalistic extreme to protect it for my good. I do not believe I obtain any merit in doing so . But I will lose the merit of God and a relationship with God if I do not guard it with extreme effort.

And I say this only from my experience. I would not impose my experience or belief on anyone else. Some may be able to do fine without Sabbath. I can not.

Each person has to answer the Sabbath question for themselves. I would not judge how another keeps it.

I've mowed lawns on the Sabbath... for shut ins, for sick people, for the elderly.

I've cleaned houses and gone grocery shopping too. For the same folk, and occasionally for my husband, who can't get out and about to help me, and for whom it became an emergency because of his illness.

And don't for one minute tell me it could be done a different day without walking in my shoes. Sometimes, it can't.

Matthew 25:40 - 45 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.

I am a widow in every way that matters, with the added burden of continuing to care for my husband who cannot leave his bed. Jesus and Abba affirm their care of me when no one else will...

Jeremiah 49:11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve [them] alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Proverbs 15:25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.


Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.


Deut 27:19 Cursed [be] he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.


How much better to honor Abba through doing His work for those who cannot do for themselves than to limit His glory by missing an opportunity to help others in the ways they need it most. So very often, when I have "worked" for others on the Sabbath, they ask, "Why are you doing this for me?"

And whole realms of topics to Abba's glory are opened up as conversation. Including the Sabbath and why I will do for them, what I won't do for myself, on that Holy day.

Amen, Clio. Add my amen.

add my Amen, to that, as well.

So long as we focus on "what" rather than "why" and "for what purpose" we miss the point of the Sabbath. That's why no list can ever do the job.

Like you, Clio, I've helped pump out flooded basements on the Sabbath. Not my own, someone else's. I often do for others on the Sabbath what I would not do for myself.