Sunday Laws for 27 EU countries

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungbook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

29th March 2010

A Seventh Day Adventist keeps his eyes open for any sign of a Sunday Law or Sunday Observation Law that will be enforced at the End of Time.

Ellen White predicted that the day will come when a law will be issued, close to the Second Coming of Christ, that all should worship on Sunday. Seventh Day Adventist's calls these predictions the Sunday Laws or Sunday Observation Laws. There are many examples through the previous century of attempts to strengthen the position of Sunday keeping.

The Bible does not support any command for Sunday Keeping. In fact, the phenomenon of changing the Biblical day of worship is presented as one of the identifying marks of the Little Horn of Daniel 7:25 that he will attempt to change laws and times. Those familiar with the history of exegesis will know well that the Little Horn is the Antichrist of the New Testament.

It is true that some warn that Seventh Day Adventists should not now run away with the call this week of Sunday keeping in the EU parliament. But, looking in perspective on this issue, the Bible do say that command keeping (including the Seventh Day Sabbath) is very important for God's remnant, do say that the Sabbath is the mark of the identity of God as our Creator. Keeping Sabbath is thus a seal of God on His people. Does it leave others outside the ring of God's seal and in the dark or cold? If they know it but do not care to follow his law or they do not think it is important then they become part of a machine eventually that will stamp out and rule that only Sunday Keeping will be accepted as the day of rest.

The world is heading towards a global persecuting society but is not there yet. There are currently religions oppressing faithful people and they are getting more platform day by day. But the oppression of a global kind will be networks of countries and networks of dictatorial ideologies and ecumenical networks of religions that will work together to enforce their so-called "blue-print" for common humanity, common happiness, common way of worship or living. 

Many organizations agreed to appeal to the European government to sign a document, presented below and finalized on March 24, 2010 to ask them to select Sunday keeping as a legalized day of rest since it is good for everyone's health, the social fabric of the family and for society to spend together with friends. It should be Sunday and not Saturday or Friday or any other day because already European people keep Sunday.

Sunday keeping is outside the perimeters of the Bible. There is no command to keep Sunday. There are eight texts mentioning Sunday in the New Testament and none deals with Sunday keeping or Sunday worship. There are also early Church Fathers used in 140 CE like Justin the Martyr and others to substantiate Sunday worship, but again the norm for a Seventh Day Adventist lies within the Hebrew Old Testament of the consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition and the Greek New Testament. Pretty much your protestant NIV or protestant KJV.

The call for Sunday keeping by individuals in the previous century has escalated to calls by the pope in his Sunday Keeping letter discussed also by Samuel Bacchiocchi in his End Time Issues letter. And now, we have a further escalation, the call of 27 countries to join hands in calling for Sunday keeping or Sunday rest as a law and rule.  For this reason, this call is significant for us as Seventh Day Adventists and we should pay attention to these signals on the way to the End of Time.

Below is the document prepared for the 27 governments of the EU to sign, prepared on 24th of March 2010.

The Conference attendees or designers of the document are nearly all familiar to Seventh Day Adventists and also to the history of Sunday keeping, observance and worship. In fact, any historian familiar with the debate between Martin Luther and Karlstadt at the Diet of Worms will know that Luther was questioned why he rejects the Catholic church position on Righteousness by Faith but still keep Sunday, although the Bible says nothing about it and it is a Catholic institution. Dwight Nelson preached a sermon on it at Pioneer Memorial Church at Andrews University, which is online available.

The document is presented the same with headers and numbers supplied by this reader.

Document 1 (Sunday keeping document itself)

CALL FOR A WORK-FREE SUNDAY

On the occasion of the First European Conference on the Protection

of a Work-Free Sunday to take place at the European Parliament,

Brussels on 24 March 2010

1. Sunday rest should be set up as a principle for all citizens of EU

We the undersigned believe that, as a matter of principle, all citizens of

the European Union are entitled to benefit from a work-free Sunday. Of

course, this does not exclude exceptions necessary for the provision of

essential services, nor does it prejudice the important role of social

partners in the negotiation of collective agreements.

The protection of a work-free Sunday is of paramount importance for

workers health1, for the reconciliation of work and family life2 as well as

for the life of civil society as a whole. This common weekly day of rest

serves to strengthen social cohesion in our societies3, a cohesion so

severely undermined by the current economic crisis.

2. All Heads of EU governments should help set up a work-free Sunday

We therefore call upon the Heads of State and Government of the 27

EU Member States, gathering tomorrow for their Spring Summit, to firmly resist the growing economic pressure to liberalise the laws providing for a work-free Sunday and to commit themselves to safeguard and promote a work-free Sunday as a pillar of the European Social Model within the laws of their respective nations.

We call upon the European Commission to effectively strengthen the

European Social Model so keenly sought by millions of citizens across

Europe. 

3. Legislation and internal market rules guarantee work-free Sunday

We especially urge the European Commission to ensure that EU

legislation and internal market rules guarantee the central place of a

work-free Sunday in the life of workers and of society as a whole and to

guarantee that no new pressure is placed on the principle of a work-free

Sunday.

4. Legislation both respects and promotes Sunday rest

We call upon the Members of the European Parliament to ensure that

all relevant EU legislation both respects and promotes the protection of

Sunday as a weekly day of rest for all EU citizens.

Finally, we call upon all European citizens to sign a future Citizens

Initiative to be expressed in favour of the protection of a work-free

Sunday.

5. Creation of a permanent cooperation network or alliance

We trust that the First European Conference on the Protection of a Work-

Free Sunday will prove to be the starting point for a permanent

cooperation network between the organisers and supporting partners of

the conference. We anticipate that such cooperation will pave the way for the creation of the first European Free Sunday Alliance.

Footnotes

1 Scientific studies demonstrate that a work-free Sunday is more important for

workers health and well-being than any other work-free day during the week.

Sunday work places enormous pressure on workers and their families. It

encourages burnout and leads to sickness and absenteeism.

2 On Sundays, parents and children are able to spend time with each other.

Schools are closed on this day. According to the EU Directive on the Protection

of Young People at Work, Sunday is already the acknowledged weekly rest day

for children and adolescents of the EU.

3 Because it enables citizens to participate in social and associative life, to seek

cultural and spiritual recreation and to engage in volunteer activities, a workfree

Sunday strengthens the social cohesion of our societies.

Brussels, 24 March 2010

Thomas Mann, MEP (PPE) Patrizia Toia, MEP (S&D)

Signed by

UNI europa commerce

Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund

(Confederation of German Trade

Unions)

Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund

(Confederation of Austrian Trade

Unions)

Confédération Française des

Travailleurs Chrétiens (French

Confederation of Christian Workers)

Commission of the Bishops’

Conferences of the European

Community

Church and Society Commission of the

Conference of European Churches

Allianz für den Freien Sonntag

Deutschland (German Free Sunday

Alliance)

Allianz für den Freien Sonntag

Österreich (Austrian Free Sunday

Alliance)

Collectif des Amis du Dimanche

(French Free Sunday Alliance)

Keep Sunday Special (UK)

Slovak Free Sunday Alliance

European Union of Christian Democratic

Workers

Kolping Europa

Renovabis (Catholic Relief Organisation

for Eastern Europe)

Zentralkomitee der deutschen

Katholiken (Central Committee of

German Catholics)

Katholischer Laienrat Österreichs

(Catholic Lay Council Austria)

Katholische Arbeitnehmerbewegung

Deutschland (Catholic Workers’

Movement Germany)

Kirchlicher Dienst in der Arbeitswelt der

EKD (Protestant Church Service in

Working Environment)

Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani

(Italian Christian Workers’ Association)

Krestan a prace, o.s. (Christ and Work),

Czech Republic

Katholischer Verband der Werktätigen

Südtirol (Catholic Workers’ Association

Soutern Tyrol), Italy

Bundesverband der Evangelischen

Arbeitnehmerorganisationen

(Confederation of Protestant Workers’

Associations), Germany

Katholische Betriebsseelsorge (Catholic

Business Guidance), Germany

Federation of Catholic Family

Associations in Europe

Evangelische Aktionsgemeinschaft für

Familienfragen (Protestant Family

Association), Germany

Familienbund der Katholiken (Catholic

Family Association), Germany

Jubilee Centre

Care for Europe

Jesuit European Office

Source:

Sodag rus.pdf

Document 2 (Preparation to the Conference for Sunday keeping)

Source:

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=15750

EU conference on protection of Sunday  

Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2010 10:22 am

A conference to relaunch the debate on Sunday protection at European level will be held on 24 March in the European Parliament in Brussels. It is organised by the MEPs Thomas Mann (EPP, Germany) and Patrizia Toia (S&D, Italy) together with the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. Several European trade unions, civil society organisations and Churches support the conference. László Andor, the new EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs will take the floor, as well as numerous experts and MEPs.

The European Commission will soon be presenting a new draft of the 'Working Time Directive'. In its initial 1993 version the Directive stipulated that Sunday should be « in principle » the weekly day of rest for European workers. This reference had been withdrawn in 1996 by the European Court of Justice, on the grounds that the European legislator had not given sufficient reasons as to a link between a work-free Sunday and the protection of workers' health.

Meanwhile, recent studies have demonstrated the existence of a strong link between workers' health and a work-free Sunday. Furthermore, a common weekly rest day for the whole of society allows families to spend time with each other, and all citizens to engage in cultural, spiritual and social activities. Sunday moreover strengthens the social cohesion of our societies, which has been undermined by the current economic crisis. It therefore represents a precious achievement, which should be recognised as a pillar of the European Social Model.

COMECE supports the initiative of the MEPs Thomas Mann and Patrizia Toia and invites every interested person and organisation to take part in this conference.