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Christine wrote: |
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Hi, guys —
About eight years ago, my husband joined the
Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church. I still
am not sure why he did this. He started out
being sarcastic and critical of the Catholic
Church. Why, I do not know. It wasn't long
before he started going to seminars held by
the SDAs. He became completely obsessed with
it and it wasn't long after, that he had himself
baptized into this church. He said he just
couldn't believe all of the false doctrines
that the Catholic Church teaches.
He particularly puts down the Pope and makes
fun of him.
His biggest complaint is that the Catholic
Church changed the Sabbath from Saturday (the
true Sabbath according to SDA) to
Sunday. He says man has no right to change
God's commandments. It is so hard hanging
on to my Catholic faith (which I love dearly)
and living this way. I feel betrayed and very,
very, lonesome when I attend church by myself
every Sunday.
I wish I had an answer about why the Christian
community worships on Sunday and why the SDA church worships on Saturday.
- Was it changed?
- Where did this Saturday worship come from?
I would be grateful if you could shed some
light on this subject for me.
I forgot to mention that my husband was a
baptized Catholic when we married.
Thank you so much.
Christine
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| { What do I say when he asks me, why did the Church change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? } |
Eric
replied:
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Hi, Christine —
Thanks for the e-mail.
The Seventh Day Adventists are certainly
a tricky lot. They are correct in
that the day of worship was changed
by the early Church from Saturday
to Sunday. Technically, the Sabbath
is Saturday, and Sunday is referred
to as the Lord's Day. The Jews always
worshipped on Saturday, the seventh
day of the week, and abstained from
work on that day.
The Christians
changed worship to the Lord's Day
in honor of Christ's Resurrection
from the Dead, which occurred on
the eighth day of the week (the
day after the Sabbath or the seventh
day).
The early Christians saw eight
as a symbol of fulfillment. Actually,
to be technical, ever since the early
Church, Christians have worshipped
daily, not just on Sunday and Saturday,
however, this question only pertains
to when the primary day of worship
is.
Ask your husband when he thinks
this change to Sunday happened. Then
give him a surprising fact: It was
in the first century that the Christians
changed the day. Here is a quote
from St. Ignatius of Antioch, who
was thrown to the lions and thus
martyred for his Christian faith in 107 A.D.:
| "Consequently, if the people
who were given to obsolete practices
faced the hope of a new life,
and if these [people] no longer observe
the Sabbath, but regulate their
calendar by the Lord's Day, the
day, too, on which our Life rose
by His power and through the medium
of His death . . . " (Letter to the Magnesians, 9) |
Here is a quote from the Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles (or Didache),
which was written around 90 A.D.
(before the Apostle John died):
But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.
(Didache,
14) |
Here we have three Catholic
doctrines:
- the Lord's Day as the
day of worship
- the practice of
confessing sins and doing so before
coming to worship, and
- the Mass
as the sacrifice.
St. Justin Martyr, who explained
the Christian faith to hostile pagans,
was the first to describe Christian
worship. He lived and wrote in the
second century. He wrote:
"On the day called after
the sun [Sunday] there is a meeting
for which all those dwelling in
the cities or in the countryside
come together. The records of
the Apostles or the writings of
the prophets are read as long
as time allows. When the reader
has stopped, the one who is presiding
admonishes and encourages us by
a sermon to the imitation of those
good examples.
Then we all stand up together
and lift up our prayers and, as
I said previously, when we have
finished our prayer, bread is
brought forth and wine and water.
The one who is presiding offers
up prayers and thanksgiving according
to his ability and the people
acclaim their assent with "Amen".
There is the distribution of and
participation on the part of each
one in the gifts for which thanks
has been offered, and they are
sent to those who are not present
through the deacons.
We all come together on the day
of the sun since it is the first
day, on which God changed darkness
and matter and made the world.
On that day, Jesus Christ our
Savior arose from the dead. They
crucified him on the day preceding
that of Saturn [Saturday], and
on the day of the sun he appeared
to his Apostles and disciples
and taught them these things which
we have presented also to you
for inspection."
(Apology, I, Chapter 67, Weekly worship of the Christians.) |
So there is ample evidence that the
early Christians worshipped on Sunday
rather than Saturday. While there
is no direct biblical evidence that
they did, the Lord's Day is mentioned
in Revelation, where it is written,
"On
the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit,
and I heard behind me a loud voice
like a trumpet ..."
(Revelation 1:10) |
Here we can see that there
was a recognition of the special
character of that day.
- Why did the Church change the
day on which we worship, and
- By
what authority did She do so?
As mentioned previously, as the Resurrection
of Jesus from the dead was the primary
truth proclaimed by the Christian
faith, and as he rose from the dead
on Sunday, celebration of the Resurrection
of Christ on Sunday became the dominant
day of worship. (While liturgically
it is not very evident in the Latin
Rite, we are in fact celebrating,
even today, the Resurrection of Christ
in our Sunday liturgy. Every Sunday
is a little Easter, liturgically
speaking.)
- By what authority did the Church
change it?
We could argue that could have been
a tradition Jesus established, but
it would be more cogent to point
out that Jesus gave the Apostles
the authority to bind and to loose
(Matthew 16:19), which meant they
had the authority to do such things.
Finally, let's ask whether strict
observance of the Sabbath according
to the old Law of Moses is essential
for Christians, given that Jesus
is the fulfillment of the Law and
it is not binding for Christians
anymore.
"Therefore
do not let anyone judge you by
what you eat or drink, or with
regard to a religious festival,
a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath
day."
(Colossians 2:16) |
Clearly
then, we should not allow anyone
to disturb our conscience on account
of whether we celebrate the Sabbath
the right way or not. You may
be interested in reviewing some
of the tracts provided by Catholic
Answers:
Incidentally, St. Justin Martyr in
the same section I quoted above,
has something to say about the Eucharist
as well, proving that the early Christians
believed that the bread and wine
were transformed into the real Body
and Blood of Christ:
It is allowed to no one else to
participate in that food which
we call Eucharist except the one
who believes that the things taught
by us are true, who has been cleansed
in the washing unto rebirth and
the forgiveness of sins and who
is living according to the way
Christ handed on to us. For we
do not take these things as ordinary
bread or ordinary drink.
Just
as our Savior Jesus Christ was
made flesh by the word of God
and took on flesh and blood for
our salvation, so also were we
taught that the food, for which
thanksgiving has been made through the word of prayer instituted
by Him, and from which our blood
and flesh are nourished after
the change, is the flesh of that
Jesus who was made flesh. Indeed,
the Apostles, in the records left
by them which are called Gospels,
handed on that it was commanded to them in this manner: Jesus,
having taken bread and given thanks
said, "Do this in memory of me,
this is my body." Likewise, having
taken the cup and given thanks,
he said, "This is my blood",
and he gave it to them alone.
(Apology, I, Chapter 66, Of the Eucharist.) |
If you continue to look at the writings
of the Christians of the first three
centuries (and beyond), you will
see that what they believed matches,
in essentials, what the Catholic
Church believes, and is at odds with
what Seventh Day Adventists (and
other Protestants) believe.
I hope
that this has helped confirm for
you the truth of the Catholic faith
and has given you some helpful information
against the charges laid out by the
Seventh Day Adventist church. If
I may recommend a book to you for
your task in dealing with your husband,
it is the book:
Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into, or Back Into, the Catholic Church by Patrick Madrid
Write back if you have any further
questions. Meanwhile we'll pray for
you and your husband!
Yours in Christ,
Eric Ewanco
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John
replied:
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Hi, Christine —
I'd like to add to the wonderful
job Eric did by adding a couple of
Biblical points which I believe will
be important to your husband. The
question is not only the day of worship
but "man's authority" to
change it. Now your husband is quite
right, "men" cannot change
God's Law, but the Church is the
Body of Christ on Earth!! Let's look
at a few Scriptures:
| 18 "And
I also say to you that you are
Peter, and on this rock I will
build My church, and the gates
of Hades shall not prevail against
it. 19 "And
I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of Heaven, and whatever
you bind on earth will be bound
in Heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in Heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19) |
| 17 "And if he refuses to
hear them, tell it to the church.
But if he refuses even to hear
the church, let him be to you
like a heathen and a tax collector. 18 "Assuredly, I
say to you, whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in
Heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in Heaven.
(Matthew 18:17-18) |
In Matthew 16, Jesus has just warned
the Apostles about the yeast of the
Pharisees, yet elsewhere, Jesus asserts
that the Pharisee's sat in the Chair
of Moses. To the Jew, the Chair
of Moses meant the authority of the
Law Giver, or the authority to interpret
and apply the Law. There was popular
rabbinic expression for this exercise
of the Law. The phrase was to
bind and to loose. So in Matthew 16, and again in Matthew 18, Christ
is giving this authority to Peter,
the Apostles and by extension, the
Church. To fully understand how the
Apostles and Jews understood this
phrase, we look to the Old Testament:
20 And
it shall come to pass in that
day, that I will call my servant
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 And
I will clothe him with thy robe,
and strengthen him with thy girdle,
and I will commit thy government
into his hand: and he shall be
a father to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and to the house of
Judah. 22 And
the key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder;
so he shall open, and none shall
shut; and he shall shut, and none
shall open.
(Isaiah 22:20-22) |
Again, let's put this text in context.
Israel's leader had become corrupt
so God takes away his authority and
gives the key to Eliakim, giving
him the authority to administer God's
Law. Note the similarity in language.
The Jewish reader and the Apostles
(also Jewish) would have been familiar
with this text and understood that
Peter (and the Church by extension)
was being given the authority which
had previously been in the hands
of the Pharisees. But Jesus goes
even further. He promises that the gates
of Hell would not prevail against
the teaching authority of the Church.
Again it's important to understand
how the reader and the Apostles understood
the phrase gates of Hell.
In Biblical days, the elders of the
city would meet at the gates of a
city or town, and hold council. That
is where the decisions were made.
Therefore, Jesus was saying that
the councils of Hell would not influence
the teaching of the Church.
So now that we have established that
the Church has authority to teach
and establish discipline, let us
look at a New Testament use of this
authority:
1 And
certain men came down from Judea
and taught the brethren, "Unless
you are circumcised according
to the custom of Moses, you cannot
be saved." 2 Therefore,
when Paul and Barnabas had no
small dissension and dispute with
them, they determined that Paul
and Barnabas and certain others
of them should go up to Jerusalem,
to the apostles and elders, about
this question.
(Acts 15:1-2) |
7 And
when there had been much dispute,
Peter rose up and said to them: "Men
and brethren, you know that a
good while ago God chose among
us, that by my mouth the Gentiles
should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. 8 "So
God, who knows the heart, acknowledged
them by giving them the Holy Spirit,
just as He did to us, 9 "and
made no distinction between us
and them, purifying their hearts
by faith. 10 "Now
therefore, why do you test God
by putting a yoke on the neck
of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to
bear? 11 "But
we believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved in the same manner as
they." 12 Then
all the multitude kept silent
and listened to Barnabas and Paul
declaring how many miracles and
wonders God had worked through
them among the Gentiles.
(Acts 15:7-12) |
19 "Therefore
I judge that we should not trouble
those from among the Gentiles
who are turning to God, 20 "but
that we write to them to abstain
from things polluted by idols,
from sexual immorality, from things
strangled, and from blood.
(Acts 15:19-20) |
In this scene, the Church has to
deal with whether or not non-Jews
need to observe all the Mosaic laws,
including circumcision, in order
to become Christians. The Church,
led by the Holy Spirit, declares
that they do not. Then they add a
provision about eating certain meats.
This provision was later done away
with by the same Church. So you see
the Bible supports the Church's authority
to declare doctrine and impose disciplines
and practices. The doctrines are
not open to change, but can be developed
and clarified. The disciplines and
practices may be changed in order
to meet the Pastoral needs of the
Sheep.
Now these texts don't deal directly
with the issue of Sunday worship
but they do establish the Church's
authority to change the day of worship!!
As a matter of fact, it is this same
authority which enabled the Catholic
Church to decide which books belong
in the Bible. In other words, when
sects such as the SDAs, or any Protestant
group, use the Bible to attack the
Catholic Church, they need to think
about how exactly they even have
the Bible!! It was the Catholic Church
which accepted the 27 books of the
New Testament, and excluded:
- the Gospel of Thomas
- the Shepherd of Hermas
- the Epistle of Barnabas . . .
- along
with many other books which were
being passed off as inspired.
So if the Church does not have this
authority, then the SDAs can't even
trust the Bible.
Well, I hope this helps.
John DiMascio
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