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.…
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)…
