Sunday Laws? It's Not a Myth!
The following is a sample of some of the things happening in the world which show that the Sunday movement is working to bring in laws to establish Sunday.
In the USA SUNDAY LAWS ARE DECLARED AS CONSTITUTIONAL
FindLaw According to
for Legal Professionals"Sunday Closing Laws.--The history of Sunday Closing Laws goes back into United States colonial history and far back into English history. Commonly, the laws require the observance of the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest, although in recent years they have tended to become honeycombed with exceptions. The Supreme Court rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to Sunday Closing Laws in McGowan v. Maryland. The Court acknowledged that historically the laws had a religious motivation and were designed to effectuate concepts of Christian theology. However, ''[i]n light of the evolution of our Sunday Closing Laws through the centuries, and of their more or less recent emphasis upon secular considerations, it is not difficult to discern that as presently written and administered, most of them, at least, are of a secular rather than of a religious character, and that presently they bear no relationship to establishment of religion. . . .'' ''[T]he fact that this [prescribed day of rest] is Sunday, a day of particular significance for the dominant Christian sects, does not bar the State from achieving its secular goals. To say that the States cannot prescribe Sunday as a day of rest for these purposes solely because centuries ago such laws had their genesis in religion would give a constitutional interpretation of hostility to the public welfare rather than one of mere separation of church and State.'' The choice of Sunday as the day of rest, while originally religious, now reflected simple legislative inertia or recognition that Sunday was a traditional day for the choice. Valid secular reasons existed for not simply requiring one day of rest and leaving to each individual to choose the day, reasons of ease of enforcement and of assuring a common day in the community for rest and leisure. More recently, a state statute mandating that employers honor the Sabbath day of the employee's choice was held invalid as having the primary effect of promoting religion by weighing the employee's Sabbath choice over all other interests.
Also we read:
on another page of FindLaw
In Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961) (plurality opinion), we upheld Sunday-closing laws against the claim that they burdened the religious practices of persons whose religions compelled them to refrain from work on other days.
Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599, 608 -609 (1961) (plurality opinion) (state interest in uniform day of rest justifies denial of religious exemption from Sunday closing law);
Blue Laws: Should they be enforced again?
There are many saying, "yes".
See Keep Blue Laws in all TownsThis article argues for uniformity in closing laws. "In this age of personal freedom, the idea of putting the wider community before our personal preference might seem archaic to some, but isn't that what community is all about? Being closed on Sundays has in no way diminished the economic vitality....for the sake of the entire Bergen County family, I would hope that we would maintain or expand the current blue law system. Whether it be for religious or just personal preference, let's maintain the unique and wonderful benefits of maintaining at least a day for rest, renewal, and reflection."
Rev. Stephen GiordanoThis is especially interesting because some prefered to close on Saturday and open on Sunday.
Or see On Blue Laws,
February 1, 1977 the following statement was signed by six denominational executives in the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
The repeal of the Sunday Closing or Blue Laws portends a negative impact on the quality of life in Massachusetts. We, therefore, urge the preservation of these ancient but valuable restrictions to protect a common day of rest.
Are Blue laws really the great benefit their advocates claim them to be?
They do favor Sunday keeping Christians, and penalize people who worship God on the true Sabbath (Saturday) as well as those who are not Christians. The Sunday keepers want to "close shop" without fear of competition from anyone, while those observing the day the Lord blessed and sanctified, will shut down on the "busiest" commercial day of the week because they desire to honor their God, and then they are also forced to stay shut on Sunday as well.A law that is just, guarantees equal rights to all, and would allow people to choose which day they wish to have for their rest.
It would guarantee the person's right to take a certain amount of "time off" not enforce WHAT DAY, must be set aside for rest.
BLUE LAW SHUFFLE IN VIRGINIA
In America the earliest Sunday-closing laws date back to 1610 in the colony of Virginia. They included not simply mandatory closing of businesses on Sundays, but also mandatory church service participation, and other "moral" restrictions, with penalties of various degrees of severity for non compliance.
As the constitution granted freedom of religion, the church going part of the blue laws receded, but business continued to be closed on Sunday. By 1961, when the Supreme Court decided its first modern Sunday case, most states had already started easing restrictions and granting a variety of exemptions on the Sunday closure laws. The blue laws were retained as the court lamely held that the blue laws had become secularized over the years, even though the purpose had been religious.
Though many of these laws are still on the books, their enforcement is less and less as more and more shops and business etc. are opened on Sundays.However, enforcement became more and more slack, till in 1974 the legislature allowed each city and county the right to suspend or retain Sunday-closing laws.
This brings us to 2004 See this link when an effort by Virginia's lawmakers to "clean out" the state's embedded "outdated" blue laws, actually resulted in the reinstatement of a law granting employees the right to ask for a 24-hour rest period each week (Saturday or Sunday). If employers refused they could be fined or they could pay the forced labourer triple wages on that day.
Finally, in 1988, a group of Virginia Beach businessmen initiated the case that ended blue laws in the state. The Virginia Supreme Court struck down the closing laws because the numerous exemptions had changed them from general laws to special legislation, and special legislation is prohibited by the state constitution.This legislative "error" caused widespread consternation among Virginia employers. Employees around Virginia started telling their supervisors that they wouldn't be coming to work on Sundays. A judge issued a 90 day emergency order to block the new law. July 14, 2004 a special session convened by the governor to correct the blunder and "fix" the law. It took effect immediately.
A noteworthy result of the "blunder", was the amount of publicity it created. In the weeks following July 14, 2004, articles appeared in many of the major newspapers lamenting the power of consumerism over the "Sabbath".
- Elpasotimes.com NEWS, Aug. 1,2004
"The error gave Virginians the right to take Sundays off, but the window of opportunity closed quickly as legislators revoked the 'right' in a nod to the might of American consumerism."
The "Indiana Times", July 18, states"
"Sunday Melts into Just Part of the Week"
The "Seattle Times", July 18, asks:
"In this 24/7 world, is Sunday still special?"
The "Washington Times", July 13, writes:
"Stressed-out society could use restful Sundays"
CBS47 Jacksonville, Aug. 9, notes:
"Maybe those old "blue laws" ...the laws that used to keep stores and other businesses closed on Sundays...maybe they weren't so crazy after all."
The Daily Tribune News, Aug. 11, 2004
A letter to the editor asks about"family values" and "just how can 'traditional family values' be passed onto the next generation if today's parents literally have a month less contact with their kids during the year than their parents did 25 years ago?"
The August 2, 2004 "TIME" Magazine, had an article by Nancy Gibbs,
"If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan, Albert Schweitzer said-- which raises a question for these times: What is lost if Sunday becomes just like any other day? ...With progress, of course comes backlash from those who desperately want to preserve the old ways...."time to worship, spend time with family and friends or just plain rest from the work week...Made sense then still makes sense now". Pope John Paul II even wrote an apostolic letter in defense of Sunday;"When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of the 'weekend' he wrote, "people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see 'the heavens'".
Yet, what does government have to do with it? True, we want a government that respects our convictions. But government is NOT TO IMPOSE one type of religion. It cannot impose one religion, and still respect religious freedom.
People who are convicted concerning a sabbath day, don't need a government telling them to keep it. Let the people decide which day they will rest.
Poland Considers Ban on Sunday Shopping
December, 1999 "Solidarity Election Action (AWS), the co-ruling party in Poland, seeks to ban trade on Sundays. In practice such a ban would hit supermarkets, a form of mass retailing unknown to Poles before the collapse of communism. When polled, 60 percent of respondents said they wanted to do their shopping on Sunday. ...The AWS pressure for this unpopular legislation is a result of its ideological profile. It is dominated by Catholic leaders, many of whom originated from the trade union movement, allergic to the expansion of the Western lifestyle in the homeland of the pope. They use arguments of a religious nature (remember the Sabbath to keep it holy) as well as socioeconomic....In fact they are pressing for a fundamentalist solution to the problem stemming from a literary interpretation of the third commandment."
WARSAW (CWNews.com) -
Polish lawmakers proposed a draft bill on Thursday (Oct. 2001) that would require stores to remain closed on Sunday in order to protect people forced to work on Sunday, a day of rest for Christians.
The bill, sponsored by 21 deputies, has the support of the Polish bishop's conference, citing Pope John Paul II's recent remarks that Poles are too often converging on so-called hypermarkets on Sundays when they should instead be attending Mass and spending time in spiritual pursuits. More than 90 percent of Poles are Catholic.
Jerzy Gwizdz, one of the authors of the draft, acknowledged that respect for Sunday as a Christian holiday was one of the reasons behind the proposal. But the measure also aims at "protecting a big number of people who are forced to work on Sundays."
Trade Limitation, Remember the Sabbath Day Labor code introducing new regulations permitting only small stores-with five employees, or less-to operate on Sundays and holidays, the president has made his intentions clear in vetoing this bill. (Sept. 30, 2001)
Polish church leaders criticize veto of Sunday shopping ban
By Jonathan Luxmoore
Catholic News Service
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) --October, 2001
"Polish church leaders criticized President Aleksander Kwasniewski for vetoing legislation that would have prohibited shopping on Sundays.
"This veto contradicts the Ten Commandments and our nation's centuries-old tradition," said Jesuit Father Adam Szulc, spokesman for the Polish bishops' conference.
"It will not help Catholics, especially those employed in supermarkets, to observe Sunday's sacred character. Instead, it will force them to work."
"The Jesuit priest reacted to the president's Oct. 11 veto of a Labor Code amendment, which would have restricted Sunday shopping to small essential-service outlets only.
"Father Szulc said the veto violated norms in the European Union, and he dismissed claims that the ban would have worsened Poland's state budget deficit and driven up unemployment.
"However, Kwasniewski's office said Oct. 11 that the president had exercised his veto after being advised the measure could cause 16,000 job losses.
"With rising unemployment and falling economic growth in our country, a ban on activities by large trade establishments and service enterprises on Sundays and holidays would have caused economic hardships," the statement added.
"Such a ban would have inflicted additional burdens on the state budget in unemployment allowances and insurance, as well as a cut in turnover in important sectors of the economy," it said.
"In an Oct. 4 letter to Kwasniewski, the bishops' conference said Sunday shop opening violated religious freedom and caused a "serious conflict of conscience" for Catholics.
"It added that the legally guaranteed celebration of Sunday was a "lasting, universal element of Europe's spiritual heritage," and its neglect would "lead to a slackening of family bonds and (to) pathologies."
WHO WAS BEHIND THIS BILL?
We just read that it was the Polish Catholic Bishop's conference, citing Pope John Paul II's recent remarks that Poles are too often converging on so-called hypermarkets on Sundays when they should instead be attending Mass and spending time in spiritual pursuits." It's the Catholic dominated AWS that's pushing Sunday laws, for religious reasons.
The battle continues in Poland.
The above was NEWS about the Polish Catholic Bishop's Conference, and their attempts to pass Sunday legislation. (Oct. 2001)
The US also has a United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Because the Pope's Sunday Letter "Dies Domini", says:
"Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy." (#67)
They have changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church to read:
"In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven."(#2188)
Interestingly
at The Warsaw Voice
They seem to think SUNDAY is part of God's ten commandments.
"More than 90 percent of Poles declare themselves to be Catholic. But it seems they hardly respect the Ten Commandments in their everyday lives: They do not keep the Sabbath holy, for after Mass, without any qualms, they go shopping with their families. For many, this has actually become the preferred way to spend free time (see pages 12-13 for our report). The church appeals for Sundays to be respected."
10-September-2003 -- Catholic World News Brief
CROATIAN CATHOLIC LEADERS SEEK BAN ON SUNDAY SHOP OPENINGS
Zagreb, Sep. 10 (CWNews.com) - Labor laws in Croatia are being used to exploit tens of thousands of citizens, Catholic leaders have charged.
"Archbishop Ivan Prendja, president of the Croatian Catholic charity Caritas and Bozo Vuleta , director of the Institute for the Culture of Peace, made the charge in a letter delivered to Prime Minister Ivica Racan this week. The letter accompanied a petition of calling for a ban on the Sunday opening of shops.
According to Croatiaa??s labor law, Sunday is a holiday, and therefore shops should not open. However in 2001 the Ministry of the Economy issued new rules, allowing local government bodies to make their own decisions on shop opening times. This new policy, the Catholic leaders claim, has led to violations of the spirit of the legislation.
The Croatian government is not in favor of the Sunday shop openings, but would prefer a strategy of discouragement and disincentives, rather than an outright ban. However, the prime minister himself admits that more needs to be done.
Support for the idea of a total ban is considerable. The 300,000 signatures on the petition represent 1 out of every 15 inhabitants of Croatia. Moreover, according to Caritas and the Institute for the Culture of Peace, their campaign against Sunday opening has the support of-- among other powerful groups-- the trade unions, the Chamber of Crafts, the Merchant Guild, members of parliament and, the Ministry of Crafts and the Ministry of Tourism. The case for a total ban is due to be discussed by the Croatian parliament later this month.
Papal Letter, "Dies Domini" On Keeping The Lord's Day Holy
The Papal call for people to keep Sunday Holy, and push for legislature to make this "convenient".
He writes:
#13. The Sabbath precept, which in the first Covenant prepares for the Sunday of the new and eternal Covenant, is therefore rooted in the depths of God's plan. This is why, unlike many other precepts, it is set not within the context of strictly cultic stipulations but within the Decalogue, the "ten words" which represent the very pillars of the moral life inscribed on the human heart. In setting this commandment within the context of the basic structure of ethics, Israel and then the Church declare that they consider it not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and indelible expression of our relationship with God, announced and expounded by biblical revelation.
The pope's defense of Sunday is trying to place it as the "evolution" into the "fullness of expression" of the Biblical Sabbath, and applies to Sunday observance a moral imperative rooted in the Decalogue itself, thus trying to elevate it to a divine command.
He writes:
#62. It is the duty of Christians therefore to remember that, although the practices of the Jewish Sabbath are gone, surpassed as they are by the "fulfilment" which Sunday brings, the underlying reasons for keeping "the Lord's Day" holy — inscribed solemnly in the Ten Commandments — remain valid, though they need to be reinterpreted in the light of the theology and spirituality of Sunday: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
By rooting Sunday keeping in the Sabbath commandment, the Pope attempts to offer the strongest moral reasons to urge Chritians to "ensure that civil legislation repects their duty to keep Sunday holy." (#67)
Yet, Sunday is a child of the Catholic Church, IT IS NOT A COMMAND FROM GOD.
Everywhere she has the power to do so, the Catholic Church will push for Sunday legislation.
The "Infallible" words from the "papal chair" declared by a former pope:
In the Bull "Cantate Domino", Feb. 4, 1441 during the Council of Florence,"It [the Roman Church] firmly believes, professes, and teaches...after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they (laws, including the SABBATH) cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that time observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian fath and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from theses errors."
Now read what the present Pope says:
(Apostolic Letter Dies Domini on Keeping the Lord's Day Holy)
"Sunday assembly is the privileged place of unity. . .which marks the church as a people gathered in the unity of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For Christian families, Sunday assembly is one of the MOST OUTSTANDING EXPRESSIONS OF THEIR IDENTITY. . .explaining the important reasons behind the OBLIGATORY NATURE of the precept." (#36)Notice, Sunday according to him is "obligatory", inscribed in canon law, hoping to become legislative laws?
In section #29 "Sunday appears as the supreme day of faith.....Given it's many meanings and spaects, and its link to the very foundations of the faith, the celebration of the Christian Sunday remains, on the threshold of the third millennium, an indispensable element of our Christian identity."
Interesting isn't it that the RCC should call SUNDAY the indispensable element of Christian IDENTITY. Yet the Bible calls the 7th Day Sabbath a sign between God and His people throughout the generations; that we may know that God is the LORD that does sanctify us. (Ex. 31:31, Ezekiel 20:12) "Keep My Sabbaths Holy for they shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God." (Ez. 20;12,20)
The letter says "keep Sunday holy" over and over again! Just see in #4 how "legal sanction" and "keep Sunday holy" are combined!
"Until quite recently, it was easier in traditionally Christian countries to keep Sunday holy because it was an almost universal practice and because, even in the organization of civil society, Sunday rest was considered a fixed part of the work schedule. Today however, even in those countries who give legal sanction to the festive character of Sunday, changes in socioeconomic conditions have often led to profound modification...."
If we want to know where a trend is going we simply need to look back and see where it came from. Sunday laws have a history of cruelty to those who do not see it as the Sabbath, and wish to worship on another day.
Why do Protestants keep Sunday? The Genuine Offspring Of The Union Of The Holy Spirit And The Catholic Church His Spouse. The Claims Of Protestantism To Any Part Therein Proved To Be Groundless, Self-Contradictory, And Suicidal
Prophecy says "he thinks to change times and laws" (Daniel 7:25)
Strangely I've been told on several forums where the Sabbath/Sunday issue was debated, that no one believes Sunday should be kept, it's only a convenient day to go to church.
How wrong-- the drive is on to KEEP Sunday as if it were part of God's ten commandments!
However, WHICH DAY, does God say we are to keep holy? Is it Sunday? No, Genesis 2:1-3 tells us it is the seventh-day that God blessed, rested upon and set aside for holy purposes. Exodus 20 reaffirms this day, places it in the heart of the ten commandments, and asks God's people to REMEMBER the Sabbath day-- the seventh day upon which God rested, and which He set aside for holy purposes at creation.
However, let's not be too hard on the Catholics, the Protestants are right there with them, encouraging the Sunday sacredness. Yet, we read no where that God ever sanctified Sunday.
THE WALL BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
What does that mean? "It is true that the literal phrase 'separation of church and state' does not appear in the Constitution, but that does not mean the concept isn't there. Thomas Jefferson, then president, declared that the American people through the First Amendment had erected a "wall of separation between church and state. James Madison, considered to be the Father of the Constitution, said in an 1819 letter, "[T]he number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church and state."
The government was not to deal in religious matters. It was not to impose, nor impede the religious convictions of it's citizens.
But now the drive is on to demolish that wall of protection from religous tyranny.
One group keeps pushing to extremes in trying to restrict the expression of religion in any public place, (by law) which is a violation of free speech. Bated by the oppression, the other side wants to impose their brand of Christianity upon America. Either way, if that wall comes down, there will be persecution.
Many Christians are now speaking quite forcefully against that wall which keeps government from imposing religion. They say government has no right to have a "state" religions, as in "Catholism" "Luthern" of Baptist, but they are very much agreed that the STATE RELIGION must be Christianity (which of course is then interpretated according the leaders.)
History is filled with awful stories of people being deprived of comforts, and the necessities of life, and often even of life itself, simply because they did not believe the same as the majority.
Things have not changed, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly states:
"In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sunday and the Church's Holy Days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. #2188
"
Of course, the religious liberty to which the Catechism alludes is not the freedom of all religions to observe their respective holy days but, more narrowly, the freedom of Catholics to place their own holy days under the protection and indeed recommendation of civil legislation.
Religious Liberty is not making "legal" one's own religion. Religious Liberty is having a government that provides freedom for all to worship God as their conscience directs, which means that even minority peoples have the right to follow their conscience in worship as long as that worship does not endanger others. The U.S. elections of 2004 were heralded as a great victory for the conservative Christians. But many of these Conservative Christians seek to demolish the wall between church and state.
Changed Ten Commandments now considered by
Colorado legislature:From the bill SB114:
"Each school district shall post in every public school classroom and in the main entryway in every public school a durable and permanent copy of the Ten Commandments." "Specifies the language to be used."
And what is the specified language?
"The text used is a compromise version developed by interfaith scholars..."
"The copy of the 10 commandmnets shall read EXACTLY as follows...."
- and then follows a version of the Ten Commandments where the second commandment about the worshipping of images is left out and the fourth commandment about the sabbath day (now third) is heavily abbreviated - the portion of the sabbath day being the seventh day is totally left out.
Thus the change made to this sacred Law of God by the Catholic Church is honored, and support is given to the false sabbath day, the heathen day of sun worship, SUNDAY - is the posting of this CATHOLIC INSPIRED DOCUMENT now in the process of becoming LAW? backed by STATE POWER?
Despite all the opposition the march is moving forward to get the "altered commandments" posted in every school.
Catholic World News — News Brief — 07/27/2001"RALEIGH, North Carolina, Jul 27, 01 (CWNews.com)
- The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday that would allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in schools as a document of historical significance to the formation of the United States.
The Senate approved the bill last week and Democratic Gov. Mike Easley is expected to sign it. The American Civil Liberties Union has promised to challenge the law in court.
The law allows the posting of the Ten Commandments or other words "associated with a religion ... along with other documents of historical significance that have formed and influenced the United States legal or governmental system." It also mandates a curriculum to promote character education and the teaching of North Carolina history."
For more links on this subject:
North Carolina Legislature
And Education Week ReportThe Ten Commandments Controversy: A First Amendment Perspective
has some really interesting discussion on this subject.
So often when meeting with people who say the Seventh-day Sabbath is done away with, they will lump the ten commandments in with the ceremonial laws and say that is all done away with. Yet, we see this trememdous drive by Sunday keepers to make the commandments prominent, BY LAW and place them before the public. Is this not a contradiction? Obviously the Christian world doesn't really believe the ten commandments are obsolete relics of the OT! Yet it is those commandments that contain the Seventh-day Sabbath.
But as we saw earlier we see an altered commandment-- a commandment of men based on mere tradition being uplifted! The day of the Sun will receive honor, rather than the Day of our God.
Look at this news brief from
ABC NEWS U.S. which basically says:
Pass laws to post the commandments, and Bring the Nation Back to God.
"W A S H I N G T O N, June 18 — By approving a bill to curb juvenile violence Thursday, House lawmakers seem determined to go beyond creating a “more perfect union,” to creating a more “moral” one.
After hours of rhetoric about bringing religion into public life and increasing the nation’s morality, House lawmakers included in the bill a measure that would allow schools and government buildings to post the Ten Commandments.
”The focus must be returned to God,” said Rep. Tom DeLay, the House Republican whip and a driving force for cultural conservative issues. “Our nation will only be healed through a rebirth of religious conviction and moral certitude.”....The House voted 248-180 to allow states to display the Ten Commandments on public property, despite objections that the measure was unconstitutional.
All of this of course is breaking down the wall between church and state. It is this very wall that has given us the freedoms we so value. It is this that has protected those, not members of the mainline churches, from persecution.
Knights Take Action
Section 56 of the Charter Constitution and Laws of the Knights of Columbus authoizes state councils
"to take into consideration all matters whatever relating to the well-being and good order and laws" "pass votes and resolutions" and "make report thereof to the Supremem Council for action.
WHEREAS, the Ten Commandments are the fundamental moral and legal code given to us directly by god through Moses and reaffirmed by Our Lord Jesus Christ; and
WHEREAS, these great Commandments have always been the bedrock of civilization, the basis of law, the articulation of God's will, and essential for human happiness and fulfillment; and
WHEREAS, The Founding Fathers of our country (the United States) recognized the principles embodied in the Ten Commandments as the foundation of civil society, a prerequisite for self-government, and critically important to the success of the American experiment; and
WHEREAS, The Ten Commandments historically have been displayed in our schools, government and public buildings, and courthouses, including the courtroom of the U.S.Supreme Court itself, which includes a depiction of Moses holding the Ten Commandment tabliets; adn
WHEREAS, The Ten Commandments are now under attack by those who seek to censor this fundamental expression of objective law and morality and instead promote an empty and dangerous philosophy of relativism and subjectivism; and
WHEREAS, These forces of censorship and religious intolerance are now seeking to effect the forckble removal by courts and/or legislatures of any display of the Ten Commandment in public buildings of any kind; now there be it
RESOLVED, That the Knights of Columbus strongly supposts the continued public diplay of the Ten Commandments in schools and government and public buildings, including courts of law, to reinforce the critical importance of these principles to the health of our society, the legitimacy of our legal system, the welfare of our families and the security of our democracy.
(Knights of Columbus--Columbia,Oct. 2000, p.9)
But what commandments are being pushed here? It is the changed commandments where the second command not to worship images is removed, and the Sabbath commandment does not define the day God blessed and sanctified.
THE LAW OF GOD
Exodus. 20:3-17THE LAW
as changed by man1.
I am the Lord thy God, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
1.
I am the Lord thy God, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
2.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
3.
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
4.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour 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, thou nor thy dauther, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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.
4.
Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God has giveth thee.
5.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
5.
Thou shalt not kill.
6.
Thou shalt not kill.
6.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7.
Thou shalt not steal.
8.
Thou shalt not steal.
8.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
9.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
9.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.
10.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.
10.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.
BUT PROTESTANTS ARE CRYING
"SAVE OUR SUNDAYS"
D. James Kennedy
Kennedy has a regular Sunday morning program, "The Coral Ridge Hour," which is carried by more than 500 TV stations. In addition, Kennedy has a radio program, "Truths That Transform," heard daily on more than 500 stations. According to the America United for Separation of Church and State
A 1996 Kennedy tome, The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: The Attack On Christianity And What You Need To Know To Combat It, coauthored with Jerry Newcombe, calls the wall of separation a "great deception [that] has been used to destroy much of the religious freedom and liberty this country has enjoyed since its inception."
So Kennedy is demanding the destruction of the wall of separation between church and state.
Notice as well his mandate for Sunday in a very revealing sermon preached on November 4th, 2001, in the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida, called "The Gift of Rest".
God so loved the human race that He gave us the Sabbath. In fact, before the state, before the church, before even the family, the first institution that God gave to mankind was the Sabbath. Having created the heavens and the earth and all things therein, he rested on the seventh day and blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. And He commands us to keep it as such, because He loves us. And if we love Him we will love His Sabbath. ... The Sabbath, the first institution given to man, is one that is vitally important. It is the longest commandment of the ten, more words dedicated to that throughout the rest of the scripture, mentioned more than virtually any other, and it was a very serious matter. God intended us to keep it. There is an old saying that goes, 'As goes the Sabbath, so goes the nation', because when the Sabbath becomes profaned and desecrated, church attendance is ignored, the teaching of God's holy word and His morality and spiritual life is forgotten, and the nation sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of sin. And that has a profound negative impact upon any country.
It sounds very Biblical, for indeed the Sabbath is God's gift of rest to us. BUT notice two things, one that has already emerged here:
- The national consequences--
Remember that Kennedy stated in his work, Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul "How much more forcefully can I say it? The time has come, and it is long overdue, when Christians and conservatives and all men and women who believe in the birthright of freedom must rise up and reclaim America for Jesus Christ." (p. 80)This "reclaiming" is to be done by breaking down the wall between church and state-- which can only mean LEGAL ENFORCEMENT OF RELIGION!
The wrong day is proclaimed the Sabbath But let's continue to see what he says about the Sabbath in his sermon.
There are those today that, that don't think anything about the Sabbath. You know your great grandfather called it the holy Sabbath. Did you know that? Your grandfather called it the Sabbath. Your father probably called it Sunday. We call it the weekend. Would you think that the Sabbath is being demeaned in the eyes of the American public. I'm afraid that it is, even though it is very important.
It [the Sunday Sabbath] is attacked by those who would say that we are not even supposed to be worshipping on the first day of the week. There are those that say we are supposed to be worshipping on the seventh day of the week. And the commandment is "Six days shalt thou labor and the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord our God". How did we go, they will ask, from being, Saturday being the Sabbath, to Sunday being the Sabbath.
What is this popular radio preacher saying here?
He is blaming those who uphold the true Sabbath of God's commandments, as defiling his sunday, which has NO SCRIPTURAL COMMAND WHATSOEVER!
Is this not a clear revelation of prophecy being fulfilled?
He continues:Who changed the Law? Well, seventh day celebrators, Seventh-day Adventists who celebrate Sabbath on the seventh day, will usually tell you that is was Constantine, in the early 300's, 325 A.D. that had the temerity to take upon himself, the authority, simply because he was the Caesar of Rome, to change the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. Do you buy that? Think about it. Like for example, the Romans had no Sabbath at all. Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, none! They had no Sabbath to change. What Constantine simply did, was, make Sunday a legal holiday so that they wouldn't have to worship in the catacombs before light on early Sunday morning and then go to work. He would not certainly have wanted to jeopardize the support of all of the millions of Christians that had grown up in those three centuries, that had allowed him to take over the Roman empire, by changing their day.
Seventh-day Adventists do NOT say Constantine change the Sabbath. The Christian church, especially the Roman church, changed it. This is what we teach
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment.
"Great Controversy", by Ellen White, 1911 edition, page 53.Dr. Kennedy's sermon moves from misrepresenting our historical position as to the change of the Sabbath, and then uplifts circumstantial verses in the scripture where something happened on the 1st day as proof that Sunday is now the Sabbath. However, there is NO COMMAND anywhere in scripture that Sunday is to be kept holy in place of God's blessed and sanctified 7th day!
Colossians 2:16 becomes more and more meaningful as we read it in it's context. Manmade commandments will perish, let no man judge you concerning the sabbath.
THE LORD'S DAY ALLIANCE
The Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States exists to encourage Christians to reclaim the Sabbath–the Lord's Day–as a day of spiritual and personal renewal, enabling them to impact their communities with the Gospel.
In an article entitled "What Happened to the Sabbath? by By Marvin R. JonasenWe see the same assumption about Sunday being the day God was talking about in his ten commandments, which we see in the Pope's letter. Yet SUNDAY is the pagan festival of the venerable day of the Sun god. The SEVENTH-DAY is the Sabbath which God asked His people to remember, not Sunday.
The article states:
What happened to that day of rest at the end of the week, that day in which we are called, by God, to, "Remember and keep Holy?" Sometimes, one has to wonder what happened to it. Indeed, it seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the line.
Notice the referral to the commandment-- but is he speaking of the true Sabbath that command asked us to remember?
Indeed, a few years ago, my son's soccer coach suggested to my wife--who was concerned about a game being scheduled for Sunday morning--that it wouldn't hurt him to miss one day of church.
No, he is not speaking of the Sabbath that the commandments actually ask us to remember. He is speaking of Sunday. Yet he gives to Sunday the full moral and spiritual meaning which the Bible says belongs to the SEVENTH-DAY.
The Reverend McQuilkin, Pastor at Orange, New Jersey, furnishes a pamphlet for The Lord's Day Alliance. Read what the Doctor says:
God claims the Sabbath for himself in a very unique, distinctive way as a day of rest and worship. He again and again commands you to spend its hours in the conservation of our spiritual power in the exercise of public and private worship. To spend this holy day in pleasure or unnecessary secular labor is to rob God. We have got to be careful how we take the hours of the Sabbath for secular study or work, for God will surely bring us to judgment concerning the matter. Church attendance is a definite obligation, a debt which we owe to God.
Again-- he is NOT SPEAKING of the day actually mentioned in the ten commandments, but of another day which God never sanctified and NEVER asked anyone to keep holy.
The push is on to stop secular activities like sports, on sunday by legislation.
CHRISTIANITY TODAY
Now please realize that we do not believe in any ENFORCED day for worship. If people want to worship on Sunday that should be left up to their own conscience and decision, as well as those who wish to worship on Sabbath of God's commendments. It's a personal matter between the individual and God. It is when worship is legislated that it becomes a different thing altogether!
Dorothy Bass writes: "The Sabbath is the most challenging and necessary, spiritual disciple for contemporary Christians."
And what, in her oppinion is a major roadblock that must be cleared away in order to make Sunday special once more?
"We are aware that taking on a Sabbath rhythm would not be easy—and pressures to work and spend are only part of the problem. Some other obstacles also make it difficult to retrieve this practice.
One is figuring out how to make Sunday special when it is no longer protected by legislation and custom. The arrangement of time by society as a whole is political, of course: how time is structured makes someone's life easier and someone's harder. Sunday first received special governmental recognition in 321, when the emperor Constantine decreed it a day of rest throughout the Roman Empire. This spawned centuries of government-sponsored Sabbath keeping. In recent decades, however, the setting aside of Sunday as a special day has been losing force within American culture's politics of time. One reason is increasing sensitivity to religious diversity—a sensitivity pioneered by the Supreme Court in decisions that forced employers to respect the Sabbath practices of Jews and Adventists. Today, not only the laws but also the customs that once shielded Sunday from most commerce are disappearing, and Christians' day of worship and rest is not automatically "free" for church and family. Claiming its freedom will take effort and perhaps even sacrifice."Is she saying that a major roadblock for her to keep her sabbath is the fact that respect has been given for the Sabbath practices of those who observe the 7th day of God's commandment?
Here's a site dedicated to promoting Sunday legislature for "family reasons".
Nova Scotia Rejects Sunday Shopping
Plebiscite in Nova Scotia, Canada, votes to legally keep shops closed on Sunday.
The Halifax Alive News, reports:In a binding, provincewide plebiscite held on Saturday, Oct. 16, with 49 of 55 municipalities reporting, the unofficial total provincial vote opposed to Sunday shopping was 55 per cent.
The Province of Nova Scotia will enforce this vote according to the Retail Business Uniform
Closing Day ActAccording to the 2-November-2004 --
EWTNews Brief
NOVA SCOTIANS VOTE AGAINST SUNDAY SHOPPING
HALIFAX, Canada, November 2 (CNA) - The majority of Nova Scotians voted "No" to Sunday shopping in a referendum in mid-October, making the Atlantic province the only Canadian jurisdiction without it. The Archdiocese of Halifax was in the lead in the campaign against Sunday shopping. It organized a coalition that included several Christian churches, retail workers and small business owners. The coalition campaigned on a $1,000 budget, while pro-Sunday shopping advocates spent more than $100,000. The province's Conservative government has pledged to stand by the election results.
A town in Newfoundland wants Sunday legislation.
There's a new move to put an end to Sunday shopping, at least in one Central Newfoundland community.
The Ministerial Association has asked the town of Springdale to introduce a bylaw prohibiting stores from opening on Sundays.
Most businesses in the town stay closed on that day. But this year, Christmas Eve fell on Sunday and many stores opened. The clergy in the area felt that wasn't right. So, to prevent something similar from happening again, they want the town to make Sunday openings illegal.
The town says it isn't ready to make a decision about the request just yet.
It first wants to check with the provincial government, to see if municipalities have the power to make such a law.
In Britain we hear of the "THE LORD'S DAY OBSERVANCE SOCIETY"
Their basis is to promote: "The Divine Authority and perpetual Obligation of the Christian Sabbath or Lord's Day, and that in asserting the obligation of the Lord's Day, the gospel of the Grace of God through Christ Jesus should be proclaimed."Britian is in crises, the paper reads:
The moral and spiritual disintegration of Great Britain is seen today in parliament, the media, our universities, the home and family as well as the church. This spiralling decline has left a retrograde mark upon our land.And what do they see as the cause and the solution to this spiralling decline?
As a people we have swept aside, with reckless disregard for its consequences, the holy law of God, and the reverence due to His name and His Word.
The article goes on outlining problems, then comments that "the descration of the Lord's Day", is one of the causes.
But what they fail to realize is that SUNDAY IS NOT THE SABBATH of the Lord our God.---
SUNDAY IS NOT part of the commandments of God.Yet they would unit church and state to enforce their man-made commandments
Religion has lost its voice in the counsels of the nation because our principal denominations have surrendered their heritage to the forces of superstition, atheism and compromise.
Here we see an obvious appeal to combine church and state--
It's the same appeal as the Papacy makes, to legislate religion.But they will legislate the commandments of MEN-- the SABBATH sanctioned by MEN, not the commandments of God and the Sabbath sanctified by God, and all their efforts of "taking the nation back to God" are vanity.
Oppressive laws will be passed-- uplifting human commandments and persecuting those who would be faithful to God's commandments.
CHRISTIAN MINISTER CALLS
DISASTER 'DIVINE VISITATION' ON LORD'S DAYPosted: February 13, 2005 on WorldNetDaily
So here we have a Christian minister saying the tsunami which killed some 250,000 people, was a direct result of "pleasure seekers" breaking God's Sabbath. In the February issue of his church magazine, Rev. John MacLeod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland writes: "Possibly ... no event since Noah's flood has caused such loss of life by drowning as the recent Asian tsunami. That so many of our fellow creatures should have perished in so short a time, and in so awful a fashion, was a divine visitation that ought to make men tremble the world over."
He continued: "Some of the places most affected by the tsunami attracted pleasure-seekers from all over the world. It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord's day, the day God set apart to be observed the world over as a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days."
Though reporters also recorded comments opposing this idea, the very fact that it was reported in numerous newspapers
Worldnet daily
The Herald"
The Scotman
Timesonline
as well as other news sources, show that this is indeed a SEED thought being sown. Though the protestations were also written, the concept that chastisement will fall upon those who disregard the Sunday Sabbath is not at all a foreign idea to Christian thought! For example:
Ronald Williams, affiliated with the Believers Baptist Church, writes concerning Sunday as if it were the day commanded in scripture as the Sabbath. He states:Desecrating, abusing or neglecting the Lord's Day brings God's sure chastisement on nations and individuals as surely as violating any other part of His Moral Law. Our God does not look with amusement on those who play fast and loose with His Law,
And yet he says:
However, as if it underline the importance of the New Covenant and the resurrection of Christ, this day was changed from Saturday to Sunday, which will continue to the end of the world. Changing one day in seven from Saturday to Sunday is equivalent to saying God changed it from the seventh day to the "eighth" day (in reality, the first day).
Where does he get the authority that this day was changed? Not from scripture, there is no such command anywhere in scripture. Nowhere do we read "Remember now to keep Sunday holy for in it Christ rose from the dead". You won't find that change anywhere in scripture. That change can ONLY be found in the council's and writings of men. The implication is set forth that the church has power over and above the law of God!
The Catholic Book, "The Thunder of Justice", speaks a great deal about a coming chastisement of great devastation upon the inhabitants of the earth who fail to respond to their "marian based" message. Concerning the Sunday Sabbath, they write:
"This is a place where we see many of the root causes of our problems. It is the commandment of "Keeping the Sabbath Holy". p. 389
For now the angels of Rev. 7 are still, to a large measure, holding back the winds of strife, in the hopes that more will fully commit themselves to God as loyal citizens of His kingdom.
Once those winds of strife are released the fuse will be lit and we'll be thrust straight back into the dark ages -- when the armies will enforce worship, all in the name of "returning the nation back to God" and staying the judgments of God, by what? enforcing the keeping of the unscriptural man-made Sabbath, that has no scriptural command what-so-ever, and forcing people back into church on that day, while yet trampling on the Sabbath of our Creator, Maker, Sanctifier and Redeemer, which He asked us to remember?WHEN TROUBLE COMES AND PEOPLE AGAIN BRING OUT THE BLUE LAWS--Sunday laws, IN AN ATTEMPT TO BRING THE NATION BACK TO GOD, even though they KNOW it's not even the real Sabbath of scripture, nor of the commandments, they will have chosen "man" as their lawmaker and "lord", not God, the Creator.
http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/sundaylaw.html
