Re: A Day for Man vs. Man for the the Day [message #286 is a reply to message #284] |
Thu, 14 April 2011 10:38 |
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Dragon
Messages: 499 Registered: June 2010 Location: Earth
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Senior Member |
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Answering your question necessitates consideration of the context in which this was said. There are rules on the Sabbath day against doing any labor, except that which is necessary to prepare meals, etc. Jesus and his closest disciples passed through a field of grain and, being hungry, picked some and ate it. This was legal under Jewish law on any day but the Sabbath. The Jews had created layers upon the law to reduce the chance anyone would come close to breaking the actual law. If man was made for the Sabbath day, it would be better to die than to break or bend the rules of Sabbath observance. If you forget to fill the gas tank, either you don't get to church, or you get a ride, or even walk. If you don't have enough food, you fast until Monday. If your Ox is in the mire, you leave it there until the Sabbath is over. These would be the norm if man were made for the Sabbath.
But the fact is that the Sabbath day was created to allow us to lift our eyes from our common labors and look towards heaven one day out of seven. (The only reason a weekend is two days long is due to disagreements between religions about what day we should observe the sabbath.) The Sabbath day is there to keep us focused on Christ and God. We should not be so strict in our observance as to cause illness to increase or injury to occur. We should continue to help others on the Sabbath day, even if it means breaking some of the rules. The same applies for our observance of the fast. It should not be so strictly observed as to cause injury or death. Pregnant women are exempt from fasting because they are caring for an unborn child. Diabetics often cannot fast because doing so would cause a dangerous medical condition. Again, man is not made for the fast, but the fast is made for man.
- Dragon
- Dragon
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