Have Christians Forgotten Christ?
A commentary by
Jerold W. Aust
Good News magazine Senior Writer, Mobile, Alabama
Secular news magazines such as Time and Newsweek sometimes
feature articles on Bible prophecy and Christian beliefs. But it seems
odd that a secular magazine would attempt to interpret Bible topics for
Christians.
After 9/11, and more recently the movie The Passion, secular
news magazines have filled their pages with articles on Bible prophecies
and Christ's sacrifice. These articles probably are good eye-candy for
selling magazines.
Yet, these same secular magazines carefully avoid the stark differences
between what Christ really taught His disciples and what modern Christians
believe and teach.
Members of the early New Testament Church were called Christians because they
followed Jesus Christ. The criteria supporting that designation
remain the same, but the name Christian today has taken on
a new meaning.
When one actually compares the New Testament scriptures to modern religious
writings about what Christ believed and taught, the differences are mind-boggling.
Who is right, Christ or religious interpreters? Let's look at
one such difference: the modern Christian "Sabbath" day.
Most Christians, and there are over one billion of them in the world,
keep Sunday as their sacred day. What biblical support do they have for
observing the first day of the week instead of the seventh-day Sabbath?
It can't be the Bible. The Bible supports only the seventh-day
Sabbath.
But why not allow Christ to speak on Christ? He said the Sabbath (the
seventh-day) was made for man (Mark 2:28). He customarily went
to Jewish synagogue service on the Sabbath day (Luke 4:16). And He taught
on that day (Mark 1:21 ; Luke 6:6).
Without apology, even The Catholic Encyclopedia plainly states
that Jesus and the apostles kept only the seventh-day Sabbath.
It confirms that it was the Roman Emperor Constantine who was responsible
for shifting the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday.
Nowhere in the New Testament is there even one hint that Jesus kept
any day other than Saturday as the Sabbath. Also, the apostle Paul kept
the seventh-day Sabbath and taught the gentiles on that day (Acts 13:42,
44).
Some might argue "that was then and this is now," that
the gentile Christians have a right to observe a day different from that
of the Jews. But where is the logic in this reasoning? Somehow it seems
to have escaped them that Jesus our Savior also was a Jew. And
He observed the same Sabbath the Jews observe.
The real logical question should be: Is the Sabbath that Jesus and
the apostles kept from the Jews or from God?
It was God who sanctified the Sabbath in the beginning (Genesis 2:2-3).
And Jesus said that He didn't come to earth to cancel even a letter
or part of a letter of God's law but to fill it to the full (Matthew
5:17).
The Fourth Commandment, of the Ten Commandments, addresses and sanctions
the seventh-day Sabbath explicitly. It is the only day of the week that
God ever consecrated for a commanded assembly (Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus
23:1-3).
Neither God the Father nor Christ ever changed any of those Ten Commandments.
This includes the Fourth Commandment.
We've now come full circle. Jesus Christ taught the observance
of and kept the seventh-day Sabbath. The original 12 apostles kept the
Sabbath (from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday). Later, the apostle Paul
taught the gentile converts on the seventh-day Sabbath, not on Sunday
(Acts 13:42-44).
Even the Catholic Church, that began abandoning the keeping of the
Sabbath during the reign Constantine, plainly confirms that Jesus Christ
and His apostles always kept the seventh-day Sabbath.
If the term Christian identifies one who follows Christ's
teachings and example and Christ kept the seventh-day Sabbath, how can
a modern professing Christian keep another day and also claim to be a
genuine follower of Jesus Christ?
Jesus spoke plainly about those who follow religious traditions contrary
to what the Bible teaches: "These people draw near to Me with their
mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments
of men" (Matthew 15:8-9).
Are modern Christians following Christ or traditions that are merely
the commandments of men? If Jesus were walking the dusty roads of Galilee
today and teaching from the same Scriptures He used 2,000 years ago,
would modern Christians follow Him or would He have to walk alone? The
question remains: Have modern Christians forgotten Christ?
 Request
our free booklet: Sunset to Sunset: God's
Sabbath Rest. Discover
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