Is Keeping the Sabbath a Moral Issue?

Have you ever wondered, this question “How is it even possible for a day to be holy?” and the series of questions that usually follow it: Did God really make the seventh day holy, or is that not what was going on at all in the book of Genesis...would it be a wrong interpretation of the scriptures to conclude a day was made holy? Isn't it only people that can be holy? If animals and plants can't be holy, how can a day – an inanimate, insentient block of time – be holy?”
“And if the day did in fact become holy, was it because that specific day was holy by its inherent nature, or because God blessed it and made it holy? If God made it holy, could He have blessed Tuesday and made it holy instead? Would Tuesday then have become the Sabbath day?
Does the day even matter, or is what's truly important that we set aside time to spend with God and worship God?
And really all these questions come down to one central one in the end “Is it a moral issue to keep the seventh day?” Put another way “Must we keep the seventh day, or is it optional or not required?”

Let's start with what everyone agrees on...

There's a common denominator among every Christian of every denomination. Every Christian believes it would be immoral not to ever set time aside that is reserved especially for God, and to just rush ahead doing our own thing 24/7. We hold this in common. And for good reason! It is definitely a requirement in the scriptures that if you are going to be a Christian you must spend regular, personal, one-on-one time with God.

Similarly, on the health front, most people believe it's immoral to always work and never take time to rest. Christians along with the general populace believe this as well, especially since the Bible says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that it is our duty to treat them right and take care of them, out of our love for Christ who bought us back with His own blood.

So taking time to rest and worship God is seen as a moral issue (and not doing so is seen as immoral).

What many don't see though is how the day that we set aside for God being the seventh day is a moral issue. Why would it matter which day we set aside for God? The Christian world is divided between those who believe Sunday is the Lord's day because it commemorates the Resurrection, and those who believe it doesn't really matter what day you keep, as long as you set aside some time each week for God. This second position is becoming more and more popular.
Could God Have Made Tuesday Holy?

Hypothetical Situation

Let’s go back to the start of creation…Could God have created the world in six days, rested the seventh but not made it holy, and then blessed Tuesday as the Sabbath and made Tuesday holy? Or Wednesday, or Thursday, etc.?

Or how about later on. Could God have written in the Bible that the Sabbath was Saturday, up until the time of the New Testament, and, around the time the book of Acts was being written given John a vision that the Sabbath had been changed from Saturday to Tuesday? Then John would record the new Sabbath in the scriptures, and the believers would have kept Tuesday from then on. Does God have the authority to do this? Is having this kind of power what it means for God to be divine and to be God?

The scriptures tell us a little horn power seeks to change times and laws, and set itself up as God. No human power really has the authority to change God's laws, and the Bible is clear that the little horn commits blasphemies by saying it can change God's divine law and His Word. The little horn power is not God.
But does God Himself have authority to change his own times and laws?

Does God Have the Authority to Change His Own Times and Laws?

A current events issue that is causing uproar and shock among Catholics worldwide is the pope’s new official statements that same-sex unions, as long as the two people are not officially married, are sanctioned by the church. For thousands of years popes declared homosexuality to be a sin, now suddenly it’s not. As Catholics have watched LGBT become accepted in their cultures and same-sex marriage written into the civil laws in America, many of them took solace in the fact they were sure homosexuality would always be wrong in the eyes of their church. They saw this as a comfort and strength to them during a time of increasing iniquity.

But the beliefs of their church have always been that the pope has more authority than the scriptures, and can interpret it any way that seems right to him.

This is one of the biggest – if not the greatest – difference between Protestantism and Catholicism, the authority of the scriptures. The belief in sola scriptura – that the Bible alone has supreme authority – is a distinctly Protestant belief and the Catholic Church does not ascribe to it at all, placing the authority of the pope and of the traditions of the church in a higher place than the Bible. This is why it’s not out-of-alignment with Catholicism for the pope to sanction a union that has been seen as a sin for thousands of years. He is believed to have this authority to interpret the scriptures.

This is a big chance for conscientious Catholics around the world to come face-to-face with what their church really believes, and to see that it logically leads to the pope having authority to re-interpret the moral law and declare sin to be something other than popes of the past declared it to be. The definition of sin can actually fluctuate and even completely change in Catholicism.

Satan Himself who is behind all false religions lies. Jesus called him the father of lies. This means Satan can contradict himsellf, as well as oppose God. He can vacillate and change his position and his arguments. This of course makes him untrustworthy and inconsistent. It’s not a good character trait at all; it’s evil and sin. The pope and the Catholic Church is like him, and can also change their position. More than just a strategic move, changing like this indicates an immoral character.

Is God like the Pope?

But is God like the pope? Does God change too, He just has the authority to do it so it’s lawful and right when He does it?

Is something good because God says it’s good, and something is a sin because God declares it to be a sin, and if God chooses to change His mind and make – say lying no longer a sin tomorrow, would lying then be holy and ok from that point on?

The Bible teaches that God’s character is the standard of goodness. Meaning there is a standard. It’s not true that no standard exists and God can do anything. God’s character – God Himself – is the standard and God always acts consistently with His own character. The Bible says God “cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). That “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2). That there is no unrighteousness in Him at all (Psalm 92:15). That He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). This means God does not vacillate or change. That He could not and would never declare something that is a sin to be holy, or something holy to be a sin. The Ten Commandment moral law is eternal, because it has existed eternally in the character of a changeless God.

God’s character is the opposite of what we’re seeing from the pope right now. And let’s pray that conscientious Catholics around the world will hunger and thirst for the true God, the one who can give them peace and truth and security, one who is righteous and never changes. One who can give them what the pope cannot and has never been able to give.

So, could God have blessed Tuesday and made it holy? Asking this question is like asking if we went all the way back to creation, could God have created Adam and another man, and given them to each other in marriage and blessed it? Could God have defined marriage as between two men – as long as He did so at the very beginning of things?

The answer is no. As explained previously God’s authority doesn’t give Him the right to do absolutely anything without restriction; He must be consistent with His own character. He is restricted from doing evil and immorality. And due to the biological attributes and make-up of what makes someone a man, God cannot put two men together and bless it.

Could God Have Created Two Men to Be Together in Marriage, if He Did So at the Start of Creation?

Men and woman together in union represent the mysterious union of the Father and Son. Just as the Father and Son are one, the man and the woman become one flesh in marriage. Just as the Father and Son are both God, but distinctly different in their roles in the Godhead, men and women are both in the image of God and both fully equal persons, operating in distinctive roles in the marriage and in the family that mirror the Father and Son’s roles in the Godhead.

What this means is a man and a woman in a marriage union together show the truth about the Godhead. They depict something holy and bring honor to God in thus doing. A man and a man together in a union would be an abomination; and show a perversion of the image of God in man. This would dishonor God rather than glorify Him. This is the biggest reason why same-sex couples are a sin; they are a perversion of a depiction of God that is holy. When you do the opposite of something holy, you get something unholy. This is the nature of right and wrong. The unholiness of the union also drags those who engage in this sin down and degrades them, giving them misery. No one can be happy living in sin, not having their sins washed by the blood of Jesus, and not turning from sin and living a life of obedience to God. Same sex sin is a particularly dark sin that has a strong negative impact on the people that engage in it, stripping them of purity and innocence in a big way. Making their hearts especially hard towards God.

Just as God cannot define marriage as anything other than a man and a woman, because of the biological nature of men and women- the fact they mirror aspects of the Godhead in their biological design (the design He created into them and declared “good” - a moral judgment) – so He also could not bless any other day other than the seventh as the Sabbath, due to the nature of that day.

God can’t do anything immoral, and it would be immoral to bless Thursday as the holy rest day, when God worked on that day. He made fish and birds on Thursday, thus it would not only not make sense to make Thursday the holy rest day, but it would also be immoral to choose that day.

The seventh day was the day that came after all God’s work was done. It was the day when God rested and enjoyed the work of His hands. It’s the only day that is morally right for God to bless and make holy.
Furthermore, as the sign that commemorates the relationship between God and His people, Tuesday could not work because mankind had not been created yet on Tuesday, thus that day fails to point to the God and humanity union.

It’s also true that God knew we needed six working days in which to do our labor. That this was the right amount. And that we needed one day every seven days to be a completely spiritual day where we devote ourselves to the official worship of God in a corporate setting, to the study of the scriptures and the fellowship of the believers in the direct Presence of God. This regular time for spiritual refreshment was needed even in a perfect world when Adam and Eve had perfect bodies and never tired. Communion with God was needed, and time for reflection and refreshment, because as a principle these things are important to the Christian, and written into the design of man as a necessity, just as labor and work are a necessity, even in a perfect world.

Just as we need Independence Day every year in order to keep the love of our country and its freedoms alive in the hearts of Americans, and if Independence Day was celebrated only every 20 years this would not have the same effect, so God knew a weekly memorial in which to remember Him as the Creator was needed in order to keep our love and reverence for Him alive in our hearts.

This is why God couldn’t have created the world in 30 days and rested on the 31st day and made the 31st day the Sabbath, or something like this. Had God done so, it would have resulted in Adam and Eve losing their spiritual experience with God. Going too many days without a Sabbath would have robbed them of the close communion with God that they needed for spiritual life.

The Day is a Moral Issue

Everything about the creation was done in the morally right way, according to God’s holy law, and the inherent nature of the things He was creating, and of God Himself and how He works and the principles found in His own nature.

The Sabbath had to be the seventh day in order for it to be the morally right thing to do for God to bless it. It would not have been morally right for God to bless the fifth day or the sixth day – or any other day besides the seventh. The Sabbath is definitely a moral issue, just as the seventh Commandment, the one about marriage – and all the others – are moral issues.

It is also true that the Sabbath was made holy by God’s direct blessing and authority. It didn’t become holy on its own. Only God can make something holy. God blessed and made the right day holy.

How Can a Day be Holy?
But how can a day be holy at all; isn't it only people who are holy? Well, actually no.
There's actually two main definitions of the word 'holy'.
1. The first definition is something that is reserved or set aside for use in the worship of God .
2. The second definition is the state of the heart. To be righteous in character, and have motives, thoughts, desires, and actions that are put there by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and align with God's moral law.
People are the only things in God's creation who can fit definition 2. They are the only ones who can do holy and righteous actions. We are the only things in creation who can have holy characters – holy thoughts, motives, desires that God has recreated into our hearts. We are the only moral agents in God's creation (except for other intelligent beings like angels).
But the Bible does support the idea that inanimate things can be holy according to definition 1.
When the Bible speaks of an inanimate thing being holy, it does not mean the kind of holy that involves character and moral thoughts and actions. It is not speaking of the state of the heart, clearly, as inanimate objects do not have hearts. It's speaking of the rightness and goodness of the thing or idea.
For instance, marriage is holy. What is it that makes marriage holy? It's because it is a righteous and good institution given by God that reveals attributes of Himself to the world. It serves an important role in glorifying God. And thus romantic relationships done in a way that violates the design and definition of marriage is unholy and gives dishonor to God and degrades human beings. People holding up and supporting an unholy image of marriage end up becoming unholy themselves.
The place where God dwells or stands, is called holy. When Moses was in God's Presence with the burning bush God said to Him “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Exodus 3:5
Obviously the Lord didn't mean that the ground was holy in character; it has no heart or mind. He meant that the ground was holy because God was present there.
The temple rituals and ceremonies were holy. Everything associated with the ceremonies in the Israelite temple was considered holy, including the garbs they wore and the ways in which they performed each action.
For instance, the garments the priests wore were holy.
"And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty."

Exodus 28:2
The way in which they were to kill the sacrificial lamb, and the way the priest was to sprinkle the blood upon the altar in a certain way was holy.
What made these things holy? The fact that they were reserved for God, and that they glorified God by drawing the minds of God's people to the Savior who was to come.
To do the rituals in a different way where say the sinner themselves offered the blood on the altar, would profane the image of the Messiah to come, and make it look like we could make atonement for our own sins.
In Ezekiel the Bible speaks of people who did the ceremonies their own way, and profaned them.
"Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them."

Ezekiel 22:26
So the Bible tells us things reserved specifically for the purpose of serving God directly, or revealing Him to the world, are holy. It isn't just people who can be holy.
And anything holy can be profaned, and bring dishonor upon God. The Sabbath can be profaned if like marriage, we define it in our own human way, and keep it according to our own ideas.
The same way that a homosexual couple getting “married” at the altar profanes the sacred institution of marriage and brings dishonor upon God, so keeping the Sabbath on the wrong day – a day that isn't holy and doesn't match God's definition – or keeping it in the wrong way is actually unholy and a positive wrong.
It is a moral issue!
However, some people do not know the truth about the Sabbath and how it is meant to be kept. For such people, God judges fairly and He will not hold them accountable for something they didn't know.
Jesus told the pharisees that to the person who is truly blind (blind here represents being without knowledge about a moral command) that person is innocent in God's eyes. The pharisees were guilty because they could in fact “see” and knew right from wrong and rejected what was right.
“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

John 9:41
James 4:17 reiterates this same idea:
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
God doesn't hold us accountable for the things we don't know, only the things which we know to do. Thus there are many people today who do not keep the Sabbath because they do not know the truth about it, and they are innocent in God's eyes.
The Sabbath still matters though! Just as someone who unknowingly eats food that has food poisoning, is certainly not guilty of sin in the eyes of God for having harmed their health as they did not know the food had gone bad, but they will still experience the deleterious effects of the rancid food, so a person who doesn't know the truth about the Sabbath and keeps Sunday instead, has not sinned, but there are still deleterious effects from it.
Their minds aren't being drawn to the creation account and the God of Creation and re-creation every week, and remembering their dependency on Him, in the way that only keeping the Sabbath can do for someone.
Thus their understanding of God and their appreciation for Him will be stifled, and will not grow into all it can be until they learn of the Sabbath and begin keeping it.
Their temptations will be increased. The temptation to engage in the rat race of life and overwork, or to attribute one's talents and abilities to themselves and take credit for them, rather than remembering where they came from and giving credit to God to whom it is due...these types of temptations are much harder to resistfor someone who is not keeping the Sabbath every week.
Because God's law is the objective standard of right and goodness, it carries with it very real natural positive effects...and breaking it – even ignorantly – has very real negative consequences, even though the person has not sinned and is doing so ignorantly.
The same way that someone who grew up in an ancient part of the world where they had no access to the scriptures for thousands of years might be a polygamist and take several wives, and genuinely not know this is wrong, yet this practice will cause tension and disputes and fights and jealousies in the home as the natural result of two women's hearts being involved with the same man...so those who do not know about the sabbath commandment are living every week with the deleterious effects of not having the Sabbath in their lives, and Christianswith this knowledge ought to bring it to them the same way Christian missionaries brought knowledge about the marriage commandment to people groups steeped in paganism, and brought them out of these harmful ways of living and to a better quality of life and knowledge of God.