Comment by freditup | Hacker News Reader

Comment by freditup | Hacker News Reader

As a Christian, I decided a few years back to start taking Sundays as a Sabbath. I don't have hard rules, but I mostly stay away from a computer/smartphone/email/etc. So no programming, browsing the internet, finances, none of the normal responsibilities/distractions. Instead I use the day to go to church, read the Bible and other books, pray, nap, spend time with friends and family, and do outdoors activities.

In retrospect, this has worked out fantastically for me. I love Sundays now - there is a sense of peace most Sundays which is great. I enter Mondays feeling refreshed and ready to work. I would recommend taking a Sabbath day once a week to anyone, I think it is beneficial regardless of your beliefs.

Two notes: First, the idea of a Sabbath is not an idea that condemns work. Christian theology holds working well as a moral virtue and something that honors God. In fact, part of taking a Sabbath, I believe, is working harder and being less lazy the other six days of the week.

Second, Whether taking a Sabbath is mandated for Christians is a debated issue, though I personally think it is not. The difference between the ceremonial, civil, and moral law of Judaism and the law's applications to Christianity is a complex topic. Christians are definitely not held to the ceremonial/civil law, but the command to keep the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, and thus some view it as a moral imperative. I feel that in the spirit of Christian liberty (a freedom of action but still subject to God's moral principles), taking a day for a Sabbath is a personal decision.

I personally believe there's a strong pro-Sabbath argument to be made from the New Testament:

In the gospels, Jesus says he is the master of shabbat; how can a person be a master of something he is abolishing?

Again in the gospels, we read Jesus ruling it is lawful to do good on the sabbath - if he was aiming at abolishing sabbath, why talk about what's lawful to do during sabbath?

Then, in the epistles, the author of Hebrews writes, "There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God."

Combined with the historical reality that the early Christians were almost all Jews who saw themselves within Judaism, it is probable the early Christians were sabbath keepers.

As others in this thread have noted, spiritual significance aside, the physical rest and ceasing of ahabbat is healthy. Its importance is amplified in our work-obssessed culture; more so in the startup culture.

I agree with you that the case can be made, although I don't know how much I agree with your case, and I still think the case is stronger against a mandatory Sabbath.

Hebrews 4 talks a lot about entering into Sabbath rest. But my interpretation of its main gist is that those who believe and obey the good news enter into God's Sabbath rest. I don't think it's speaking about a literal Sabbath day.

I agree that early Jewish Christians probably practiced the Sabbath, but did early Gentile Christians?

There are also passages in the NT, such as Romans 14 and Colossians 2:16-17, which support the idea that a Christian has freedom to practice an explicit Sabbath day or to not practice it.

So I concur with you that, in Christianity, taking an explicit Sabbath day is permissible and even beneficial. I just don't think it is mandated, and I think a Christian can legitimately believe that he/she shouldn't take an explicit Sabbath day.

>Again in the gospels, we read Jesus ruling it is lawful to do good on the sabbath - if he was aiming at abolishing sabbath, why talk about what's lawful to do during sabbath?

He was claiming to be God

>Then, in the epistles, the author of Hebrews writes, "There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God."

The point of the book is to say that all the things of the old covenant (the priests, the sabbath, the commandments) are inferior to the new things. In the new, the 'sabbath' is Christ himself. We are to labour to enter into this rest.

That being said, I honour the original (pre-Sinai) shabbat by getting out and enjoying nature, thus honouring His creative acts. It's exhausting, not restful at all. I'm thankful that I live in a culture where I can dedicate the Sunday entirely to worshipping the risen Christ and rest, but as a believer I'd have liberty to do it on any other day if Sunday was not workable.

Mark 2:27: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

I was raised Catholic in the 70s, so we didn't have many hard and fast rules about Sundays (we never called it the Sabbath), aside from church (which could be attended on Saturday evening instead). It wasn't 'til I married into a conservative Presbyterian family that I heard people call it Sabbath (instead of Sunday). My wife's family had relaxed the rules around the day over the years, but there is still a strong sense of the cycle of church and rest.

We've come to settle on no hard and fast rules for our family, but our Sunday rhythm is very similar to yours. I agree that there are no hard and fast rules that a Christian must live by, but the concept of rest is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, and we should take that seriously.

Mathew 5:48 'Ye shall be 7'

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