The 9 Commandments?

A few posts back, someone commented on one of my blogs. Among other things, they said the Bible does not say we can't work on Sunday. As someone who believes the opposite to be true, I'd like to explore this a bit, even if I only read over it. :-)

Commandment #4: 8 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

If you tell most Christians it is wrong to work on Sunday, you will get a few different replies:
1) Well, Saturday really is the Sabbath, so if you are going to do things by the Bible, you should not work on Saturday.........

2) Jesus said in the New Testament that the Sabbath was made for man, and He excused His disciples for picking corn on the Sabbath..........

3) That was Old Testament, we don't have to obey that anymore

OK, #1: Christians started meeting on Sundays for worship after the resurrection of Jesus, so ever since then, we have done it on Sunday, but still, if someone is daring enough to challenge not working on Sunday by using this excuse, then why on earth don't they keep Saturday as the Sabbath - not work, etc on that day?

#2: Jesus excused breaking the Sabbath for emergencies - the ox falling in the ditch.

#3. My favorite - if we don't have to obey this commandment, then why obey the rest? Why bother printing it on marbleized statues, bookmarks, etc, if that one doesn't matter anymore. Why don't we just refer to them as the "9 commandments"? Really. Why not? If it doesn't matter?

It has always interested me that God spent so much time on this commandment. If you read over it, you will notice He commands for no one to do work - not you, your wife, your servants........He even mentions the animals. The rest of the commandments don't do that. You don't read: Thou shalt not covet. Not you, nor your wife, nor your donkey.............

Would God really spend so much time on the 4th commandment so we could throw it out a few thousand years later? I don't think so. It does appear He lightened up on some of the more strict things, like walking so far, and things like that, but I cannot see where He throws the commandment out the window, and tells us we can just obey the other 9, and not to bother with that one anymore.

There are jobs that need done on Sundays: medical, police, fire department. We definitely need them on Sundays in the imperfect & sinful world that we live in. But we do not need restaurants and Walmarts open. Or amusement parks, ball games. How anyone calling themself a Christian can go to some of those places, is beyond me. How is that keeping the Sabbath day holy?

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: if everyone who called themselves Christians - the ones who go to church and all that - refrained from eating out on Sundays, buying groceries, etc, on Sunday, we probably wouldn't have so many businesses open on Sunday. Sadly, most of the people in your average restaurant on Sunday, have stopped there on their way home from church.

I've had people say, "well they are open anyway, so it isn't like I am making them work by going there". Hmm. If you follow that logic, then I may as well look at pornography, because they are going to do it anyway. I am not making them do it, and if I don't do it, they are still going to pose...........

I used to, unfortunately, hang out on a site intended for holiness people. It got overtaken by the bitter and angry people who used to believe like me, so I now satirically refer to the site as "theirholiness.com". This topic of keeping the Sabbath came up on there, and it was amazing how they would attack we who believe in keeping it. And some if it was plain idiocy.

One guy said if we aren't to do anything enjoyable on Sunday, then a lot of people who enjoy church are breaking the Sabbath. (How stupid!) Another said getting ready for church is breaking the Sabbath. And on and on they went. Faced with the idea that they were breaking the Sabbath, they had to somehow pull everyone down to their level, no matter how ridiculous the idea.

Life would be easier if I threw out the 4th commandment. But just because the majority of Christians are doing it, does that make it alright? Jesus asked if anyone would be found faithful when He returns. This may seem like a small issue to most Christians, but there isn't any black and white anymore. Nothing is wrong. You can go almost naked, and be a Christian. You can have immoral sexual relations with the opposite or the same sex, and be a Christian.

Where did it start? I think it started by throwing out what seemed like small things. The Sabbath. How we dress. What we watch and listen to.

We as Christians are supposed to be different. But if we look like the world, act like the world, hang out with the world, how are we different?

These days, I find myself wondering if I will ever find a full time job. The right job for me. I moved back here to be close to my family again, and don't want to have to move away again to find work, but it is discouraging. Sunday work is an issue. I am afraid my age is an issue. I look around and see people with terrific jobs, and wonder what I did wrong. Why does God not honor those who try to honor Him?

I really don't know the answers. I do know that the Bible says not to work on Sunday, and unless I go into the medical field, I am going to keep that commandment, as I do my best to keep the other nine. It is truly in our best interests to do as little unnecessary work and activities on Sunday. It is all about pleasing God, and I believe that would please Him. After all, He wrote it with His own hand.