My Comment:
I was very surprised to see this issue of the Seventh Day Sabbath raised by a Muslim participant in the “Islam and Christianity Debate Group.”
Here is the discussion as it has taken place so far:
The Challenge:
Uthman Muhammad Aboki shared Mafabi Twaha Nangoli’s post.
March 21 at 5:46am
THE ONLY COMMANDMENT THAT MOST CHRISTIANS FORGOT WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT BEGINS WITH “REMEMBER….”
“REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY…..” EXODUS 20:8.
Here is what Bible scholars talk about this whole issue:
“Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But from his own words, we see that he came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on suppositions.”
Amos Binney; Theological Compendium, page 180.
“There’s no scriptural evidence of the change of Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week.”
Dr. E.T Hiscox, author of Baptist Manual.
“It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.”
Dr. R.W. Dale, The Ten Commandments pages 106-107
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible doesn’t support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday…..Sunday is an institution of the Catholic church, and those who observe the day observe a commandments of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Priest Brady, in an address reported in the Elizabeth, N.J News, March 18, 1903.
It is up to you……….
Mafabi Twaha Nangoli: Student of Comparative Religion.
My response:
All this has been plainly and thoroughly answered from the Bible itself on my Real Bible Study website in many extended discussions with Seventh Day Adventists. But for a short yet conclusive answer, consider:
(1) There is no positive command given anywhere in the New Testament for Christians to observe the Jewish Sabbath.
(2) There are no cautions or warnings to Christians given anywhere in the New Testament about not keeping the Sabbath.
(3) There are no examples anywhere provided in the New Testament showing that Christians met regularly on the Sabbath day for specifically Christian worship. Early Jewish Christians did meet for Jewish worship on the Sabbath while they were still in good standing at the temple in Jerusalem or in their local synagogues, and they used this continuing contact with their fellow Jews as an opportunity to witness concerning Jesus Christ the Messiah. This was in compliance with the command of Christ given in Acts 1:8 to witness first to the Jews, then the Samaritans, then to the rest of the world.
(4) Christians met specifically for Christian worship, involving participation in the Lord’s Supper and the worship of Jesus, upon the First Day of the Week to memorialize the fact that Jesus Christ arose bodily from the dead upon the first day of the week as He had repeatedly predicted. See Acts 20:7, for example.
While Jesus walked this earth in Israel before His death and resurrection Jesus observed the Sabbath. In fact, He kept the whole law perfectly, something no one else has ever been able to do. Jesus said He had come to keep the law, not destroy it. Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly. The Law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. Now that Jesus Christ has perfectly fulfilled the Law, we are no longer under the Law, but under Grace. The Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies are no longer kept as they once were. Now that the types which pointed to Christ have been fulfilled, we are no longer under the Law of Moses, but under the Law of Christ.
The Sabbath commandment as it is given in the Old Testament is given specifically and exclusively to the Jewish people, with the further requirement that non-Jews living in Israel also keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath commandment was never directed to or given for the Gentiles or non-Jews who lived outside the nation of Israel.
Like · Reply · March 23 at 12:03pm
The Muslim response:
Uthman Muhammad Aboki Is to keep the Sabbath Day Holy no longer one of the ten commandments? Jesus observed it. If being Christ-like is what constitutes being Christian, then not observing the Sabbath as done by Christ becomes a serious omission.
Like · Reply · 1 · March 23 at 12:14pm
My answer:
Jerome Smith Uthman Muhammad Aboki, if you will read carefully once more what I posted above about the Sabbath, you will see that what I have written answers your objection or contention. It is a FACT that the New Testament repeats NINE of the ten commandments as commandments and applies them as matters Christians are to observe or obey. ONE commandment of the original ten is not repeated anywhere in the New Testament as a command that Christians are either asked or required to obey. I have already told you which commandment that is.
Like · Reply · March 23 at 6:15pm
Uthman Muhammad Aboki Jesus made no exception when he said, THINK NOT THAT I HAVE COME TO ABOLISH THE LAWS OR THE PROPHETS. Further, he said, those who shall tamper with the least of the commandments shall be call least in the Kingdom of Heaven.. One thing with the Christians over the years is that, they add or subtract from their Book of God as it pleases them!
Like · Reply · 1 · March 23 at 7:51pm
My response and challenge: Jerome Smith Uthman Muhammad Aboki, you need to learn more from the Bible itself about the present status of the Sabbath commandment as it pertains to those who believe on Jesus Christ since His death and resurrection.
For starters, learn what is meant by John 1:17,
Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Then, learn what is meant by Luke 11:41,
Luk_11:41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
Take Luke 11:41 into consideration in the light of what Jesus said as recorded in Mark 7:15,
Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has rendered the Mosaic dietary laws inapplicable to Christians today. The same is true of the Sabbath commandment. The Sabbath commandment was given to and for the nation of Israel exclusively, and those who live or lived there. It is not applicable to Christians today.
Of the Ten Commandments, nine are repeated in the New Testament as commandments applicable to Christians. The Fourth Commandment regarding the Sabbath is NEVER ONCE specifically mentioned as a commandment in the New Testament, and it is certainly never applied as applicable to those who now believe in Jesus Christ.
I have asserted a universal negative, namely, that the fourth commandment regarding Sabbath observance is never mentioned as a commandment in the New Testament, and it is never given or repeated as a commandment requiring Christian observance.
Now in debate and logic, a universal negative is easy to disprove: all you have to do is show me even one instance where the fourth commandment is mentioned as a commandment anywhere in the New Testament, and you have successfully proved me wrong, and I will have to “eat my words.”
Your job now is to give the precise New Testament Bible reference that mentions the Sabbath commandment as a command.
Let us see if you can do it.
If you cannot, any other argument you may wish to present is in vain and does not apply to the subject.
Like · Reply · Yesterday at 12:01pm The Muslim response:
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri Jerome Smith, I think you need to take a critical analysis of the verse very well. Was Jesus not a Jew, according to the Bible? We saw Jewish acts in his deeds & actions? & he did not abolish Moses’ faith. He even observed the Sabaath. No wonder he is an Isreali just like Moses & he bore witness of him.
Like · Reply · 7 hrs My response:
Jerome Smith I do not mean to be critical, but you need to go back and carefully read what I have written. I presented you a direct challenge. Now address the challenge, or you have surely lost the debate and by your own admission agree I am right.
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri Jerome, this is how you fail. Islam does not debate, it “guides” to the right path
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri My correction to your error was that you do not have any valid reason to deviate from the steps he laid down for you.
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri You are wrong, & you are trying to defend the wrong. That is stubbornness.
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
Jerome Smith If that is so, then you represent a lost cause. You cannot stand up to the light of truth. You should be guided by what the Bible says. There is NO divine revelation from God that supersedes or replaces the Bible. Jude 1:3 is very plain, when it states:
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
“The faith” represents a complete body of revelation. “Once delivered” tells us it has been finally given, never to be revised or added to. “Unto the saints” tells us that this revelation was given to ordinary believers in Jesus Christ, not a hierarchy or religious establishment of some kind or other.
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
Jerome Smith AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri You state I am wrong. That is a meaningless statement until you provide specifics, actual evidence from the Bible correctly interpreted, that proves your statement.
Like · Reply · 6 hrs
Jerome Smith AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri You state to me, “you do not have any valid reason to deviate from the steps He laid down for you.” I state to you, that you have given no basis from the Bible to prove that what you state is true.
Your error is your failure to read with understanding what I have posted above. You have also failed to address the challenge I pointedly gave to you. I spelled out exactly how you can prove me wrong on the issue of the Sabbath. Just provide one valid piece of evidence in the New Testament that answers or contradicts my negative universal claim. Now do that, and you will have proven me wrong. So far I hear birds chirping. You have not addressed the challenge.
Another error in your understanding is to make the false connection between how Jesus lived here on earth in His perfect human nature with the purpose of demonstrating perfect obedience to the Law of God as it was then represented in the Law of Moses. Jesus did not come to change or abolish that law, He came to fulfill it. By perfectly obeying that law, He fulfilled its requirements, as evidence and proof that He was qualified to be our Savior. Clearly Jesus kept the Sabbath, because that was a requirement in the Law of Moses that all Jews were to obey.
Now that Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses, and the types which it contained that pointed to Him, the requirements of the Law no longer apply to anyone who truly accepts what Jesus has done on the Cross for them, when He became our priestly-sacrificial offering for our sin, and demonstrated that God accepted that sacrifice when God raised Jesus Christ bodily from the dead on the third day, as Jesus repeatedly predicted would be the case.
Of the Ten Commandments, only nine are repeated as applicable to Christians, commandments which Christians are required to obey. One of the Commandments, the Fourth Commandment, is nowhere in the New Testament repeated as a commandment. This is a most significant omission. It is left unmentioned because it is no longer applicable, for it has been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians are allowed to worship God on any day they choose. They may worship God on the Sabbath. They may worship God on Sunday. They may worship God on all seven days of the week, or every day. The Bible strictly warns against making the day of worship a legal requirement to be imposed upon all. To do so is to make law keeping a basis for salvation, and is a contradiction in terms of what Jesus came to do for us when He has freed us from the requirements of the Law as a means of salvation.
Like · Reply · 5 hrs
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri You should get out of your hypocrisy & stop panel-beating everything he told you to do.
Like · Reply · 7 hrs
Jerome Smith AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri, you will get farther in life, and farther in your understanding of spiritual truth, if you learn to address the issues and answer arguments with evidence from the Bible to prove your assertions. Name calling, like saying of me, “You should get out of your hypocrisy” has no weight in discussion. Provide evidence that I have shown hypocrisy in anything I have said here. What “panel-beating” might be I have no idea. It is an interesting expression I have never heard or read before. Perhaps you will be kind enough to explain that expression for me.
Like · Reply · 5 hrs
AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri Are you ready to accept the truth?
Like · Reply · 4 hrs
My response:
Jerome Smith Once again, AbdulGaniyu AbdulQuadri, you have not addressed the issue.
Just the same, I will answer your new question.
Yes, I am always ready to accept the truth. If you or anyone can provide actual evidence that clearly contradicts my position, I am always ready to learn something new and change my mind to conform to what I have newly learned.
Are you able to make a statement like that?
Like · Reply · 25 mins