Expert: Rev Steve Parish - 10/25/2011

Question
Hi, My name is Nelson and i am a member of the Anglican Church in the province of melanesia (Vanuatu.
In a crudade i heard a pastor from the SDA Church spoke out against the Sunday worship and asked all men to worship only on Sabbath ( Saturday). He said all who worship on Sunday will find it difficult to go to heaven. I did not agree with him but want if you explain more about this Sabbath this pastor was talking about.

Thank you

Nelson
Vanuatu

Answer
The Old Testament shows that God established the seventh day as the Sabbath (originally just as a day of rest, but then it became the day when people had more time to worship God). Jesus relaxed many of the man-made rules that had been imposed, and non-Jewish church members seemed to have set little store by Sabbath observance. For uncertain reasons (there are some theories) worship switched to Sunday (first day of the week) which by the first century was known as the Lord's Day. It may not have been a deliberate choice for this reason, but it was celebrated as the day of the Resurrection.

Seventh Day Adventists are a sect from the 19th century in America who expected the Lord to return (and set a couple of dates for this which passed) and maintain the idea of the Jewish Sabbath. There is no scripture which suggests this is a matter which would be crucial to salvation. (There are plenty which suggest that doing justice matters more than Sabbath observance.)

Many Christians do now refer to Sunday as the Sabbath, but the term "Christian Sabbath" may cause confusion about the day on which it falls, and the extent to which it is observed.