Playing Sabbath tricks with God

Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint Lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

27 May 2011

The Bible wants us to keep Sabbath from sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening. Why, because the Creator of the Universe rested on that day to set us an example and in doing so we proclaim Him to be our Creator and since the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, and the law is written for regenerated people on their hearts, as Jeremiah says, therefore the Sabbath is a sign of salvation, or a recreation. God seal the whole operation with the Holy Spirit who is the vicarius filii dei, appointed by Christ and accepted to be so, for us the guide through this life. Sabbath is part of the ten commandments and reshuffling or adjusting it is foreign to the whole Bible. And yet, people are trying to tamper with God's institution.

Secularism in the world leads to a seven day work week or a five day work week or in some countries a six day work week. Some works require a continuous operation. Some convenient stores are called 24 hour stores and what if they have to be open on Sabbath? What if the owner is a Seventh-day Adventist? Other cases are where someone has a public garden that is open for the public on Sabbaths since it is a national treasure or considered to be so or advertized to be so. What is the biblical position on this? In one case a certain Adventist owner had a construction firm that had to supply the mine with a bulldozer that could push the uranium rocks into a pit when they fall off the conveyerbelt. It was a continuous operation and Sabbaths included. So what about Sabbath keeping? If a person is an owner of a supermarket and the best days for selling is when the locals have a market day in front of that store, and that only once a month, should it be open? Will God close His eyes for one day? What about hospitals and their work on a Sabbath? What if it is a Seventh-day Adventist hospital? What about church-board meetings on Sabbath?

a. church board meetings on sabbath

Some countries do not have any church board meeting on sabbath and prefer and insist to have it after Sabbath or any other time during the week. South Africa as I know it, had it that way. The reason is that finance and building projects have to be discussed that involves personal gain or business that has nothing to do with God's business but how much it will cost to do God's business. The issues are sidelines of salvation but not involved with salvation itself. It is thus not advised to have these meetings on Sabbath afternoons.

b. Hospitals operated by Seventh-day Adventists

Nothing is for free and should a hospital be open on Sabbaths, there will be charges made for whatever. It is probably better to scrutinize and limit business issues to the minimum on Sabbaths. Hospitals are encouraged to designed a system so that no business transactions take place on Sabbaths. It is advised that they take the risk of treating patients of which payments will only be sorted out after Sabbath. The risk is that at a later time it may be discovered that they have no money. God will fill the gaps. Try it. Believe it. Hope for it. After all, it is only on Sabbath that this policy will be operative and attempting to work closely with God on this issue will have God working closely with the hospital in general as well. Doctors on duty on Sabbath will do well to donate their salary for that day as a Christian service, meaning that they do not get paid for that day. The general rule of the hospital is to keep the doctor as far as possible from working on Sabbath but in emergency if he does, the services are unpaid for. This will prevent the doctor from sitting in his office and calculating his profits for that day. As far as possible the number of non-SDA or non-Sabbath keeping doctors should be minimized to almost 0%. Just for a hospital to be ambitious to attain high standards of community services and to take on non-SDA's as a shortcut solution to these ambitions, are not really a solution. It leads to a secularization of the whole staff and whole hospital. It is better to be without them or search global for manpower internationally from an SDA pool. The Bible does not know of commercializing of kindness.

c. public garden open on sabbaths

There is a case of a man and his wife who has a public garden that makes them as owners feel it should be open even on sabbaths. They feel that it is internationally known and many tourists come to see it and therefore it should be open on sabbaths. The Bible does not support such operations. It would be better for the owner and his wife to sell the property or better still, close it on sabbaths. There is no compromise with God. One cannot say, I will take all my income to me that day and give it to the church. What about the income of all the workers, restaurants and their workers on that day? There were Adventists in South Africa with exactly the same Sabbath tests, and they did not fail. They passed it. They close or they sell. It is that simple. Faith cannot be compromised. It causes friction in the local church and also breeds a laxity spirit among those who they are in contact with. One cannot participate in spiritual blackmail by trying to buy off one's guilt of Sabbath breaking. There is no biblical text to support that.

d. supermarket owner who opens on Sabbaths

Then there is the question whether a supermarket can be open on Sabbaths since the locals have a market one day a month and that is the day when the locals support this supermarket the most. The owner is placed under the Sabbath test and fails. As a result of this Sabbath breaking and money grabbing exercise, the member feels guilty and calls the members and promises that some of the clients are interested to come to church. The problem with such an approach is this: it is not an Adventist Sabbatarian but now a Presbyterian Sabbatarian. Adventists do not work the whole day. Presbyterians work only the time they sit in church. That is the difference. There is only one solution. Close it on Friday at sunset and open at Saturday sunset.

e. supermarket that has to be opened for 24 hours since it belongs to such a chain

In South Africa a certain man was the owner of such a 24 hour supermarket when he was baptized. He closed on Sabbaths. He removed all alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and pork out of his supermarket. Shortly afterwards he sold it. He became a literature evangelist and today, retired, at a very advanced age, he lives on a huge farm of thousands of hectare land. There is not such a thing that you become poor for the Lord. It may initially look as if you are poor but far from it.

f. construction firm asked to supply bulldozer 24 hours to uranium mine

There is the case of a Seventh-day Adventist who had to supply a bulldozer to a Uranium mine in Namibia on Sabbaths. The bulldozer had to push the rocks into a pit continuously as it dropped from a conveyor belt. As a result of a feeling of guilt, he asked the mine administration not to pay him for that service. He will do it for free. But, he still had to pay the operator of the bulldozer who was his worker a salary. The Bible says that not even you worker should work on Sabbath. It is not just a case that you go to church while other run the convenient store or supermarket or bulldozer. The Bible says all operations are coming to a halt. Everyone is off and that is the whole period.

My father is 81 years old and is currently a contractor building an apartment or granny flat, garage and another one bedroom apartment for a neighbor. His staff is off on Sabbaths and Sundays. Friday at 16h00 they are paid and travel all home only to appear on Monday morning. Sabbath keeping is not much asked from the Lord.