Are Christians Obligated to Observe the Seventh-day Sabbath Today?
Key verse(s)/quote(s):
“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.” - Romans 14:5-6
“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” - Mark 2:27
“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. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” - Colossians 2:16-17
Historical background:
The origins of Seventh-day Adventism can be traced back to the “Great Second Advent Awakening” which took place in the middle of the 19th century. It was a time where the religious climate had reached a heightened focus and sensitivity around the matter of Jesus’ Second Advent was at its pinnacle. At this time, many Bible scholars were primarily studying Daniel and Revelation and deducing prophetical interpretations as to the timing of Jesus’ return. Jesus’ return was calculated to be at a mark of 2,300 years based on Daniel’s 2,300 evenings (Daniel 8:13) and as such many had expected Jesus to return in 1843.…
Warning: What is happening to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship?
I recently had a brother (Thanks Neil) forward an article to me that leaves be concerned about the state of Christian campus ministry. The article addresses the organization that many current and former Christian university students are aware of “InterVarsity Christian Fellowship” (IV) and highlights some deeply concerning issues. I invite you to review the article with the realization that the attack on the Gospel is subtle at times and explicit at others but ever present.
Please note this article is not specific to the Canadian branch of IV and I cannot comment on its potential implications for the Canadian organization. However, if you do interface with IV in Canada I would encourage you to contact them for comment. I have emailed them and asked for comment and hope to post their response - if one is provided and if given permission to post it.
Excerpt from article:
“But lately InterVarsity seems adrift.
A recent Christianity Today article chronicles the pressure a group of InterVarsity students felt to include practicing Roman Catholics on their leadership team. When the students discovered that IV’s new doctrinal statement allowed for Roman Catholics in good standing to sign on, they decided to separate from IV. The national president of IV wrote a response, but seemed defensive and never answered the question, “How many Catholics are on staff with IV?” Sadly, this was a double personal blow as one of the students on the leadership team was my son, who had looked forward for much of his…
Why is there so little emphasis placed upon encouraging Christians to learn about other religions?
Question:
Hi Sumair,
I attend and heard you speak a couple of times now. Firstly, I think your sermons and Rev. Tony Costa’s sermons are critical for believers to hear, because in a world (especially in the marketplace) driven by historical facts and knowledge…Christians need to not only analyze what they believe, but also hear the arguments posed against our faith by other scholars.
I have been attending church for almost 20 years now (19 of which was at a very large one) and I have heard almost next to nothing regarding apologetics. I have also rarely heard pastors contrast Christianity to other world religions.
My question to you is why do you believe so little emphasis is placed on encouraging Christians to gain knowledge on other religions? Generally I also find interest on the topic of apologetics higher among my atheist friends than Christian friends. Would this not suggest that many Christians blindly follow their faith while willingly being ignorant of other religions and views?
Thank you! I also really like the new Events Calendar you added on the main page. Very very useful as I’m always looking to attend debates and info sessions.
Answer:
Hi ,
Thank you for visiting and sharing your kind words of encouragement and insight. I am blessed to be used by God and grateful to have had the chance to speak at your church.
Now getting on to your question - I am a strong proponent of promoting critical thinking amongst…
Did Jesus Die on the Cross? Ahmadiyaa Muslims say “No! He just fainted.”
Founded in 1889, the Ahmadiyaa Movement is predominately Islamic in its beliefs with some variation. The mainstream Islamic community view the Ahmadiyaa as a breakaway sect and do not acknowledge it as a principle denomination such as sunni, shi’a, or sufism (To learn more about Islam please view my post “Islam and Christianity — Estranged siblings or polarized worldviews?”).
The Ahmadis agree with the majority of the six articles of faith in Islam however a significant variation comes in the adoption of its founder as a continuity of the prophet line. They directly contradict Islam’s traditional view of Muhammad as the final prophet by stating he was only the final law-giving prophet. The Ahmadis present their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as being a true prophet that several main religious prophecies foretold (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism). Oddly enough Mirza Ghulam Ahmad presents himself as the figurative summation of all major prophets which of course has resulted in negative responses by various Muslim governments around the world and disagreements with other worldviews as to the incorrect interpretation of their texts.
With this preliminary introduction to the Ahmadiyaa movement, I introduce the main focus of this post and that is to address a view commonly shared with main stream Islam that Jesus did not die on the cross. Mainstream Islam principally presents the Substitution Theory (claim: someone other than Jesus died on the cross) based on aya (verse) 4:157 in the Qur’an whereas the Ahmadiyya movement (and some mainstream Muslims)…
At One With Each Other: Hollywood and Pantheism
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.” - Romans 1:24-25
A brother sent me this New York Times Op-Ed (opinion editorial) article that highlights Hollywood’s “enlightenment” as it continues to present spirituality in all (Pantheism). By definition, Pantheism is a composite of two Greek words ‘Pan’ (All) and ‘Theos’ (God) which presents the view that all is God and God is in all. In essence, Pantheism promotes worship, or in the least admiration, of all that life is - inclusive of nature, the universe, the laws that govern the galaxies, etc. It is interesting to note that Pantheism serves to bring humanity into closer a relationship with the spiritual by creating a newfound importance in what we see and experience each and every day. However, at the same time Pantheism removes the personal characteristics of a Higher Being and thus humanity cannot truly experience anything relational. For example, love requires a subject and object and removing a personal God removes the subject who can love. This results because there is nothing (no personal entity) to love since everything is merely an impersonal force, energy, and/or spirit (shades of Hinduism).
This fascination with “spiritualizing” created things is nothing new (Romans 1:24-25) and is once again brought to the forefront with the latest blockbuster…
