Saturday Sabbath

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Suberina on July 24, 2008 at 6:37pm

Hi Cammye, I'm not sure of other religions that practice the 7th Day Sabbath, but I'm a Seventh Day Adventist. I know for a fact that there are other religions, and cant wait to see the responses.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa on July 24, 2008 at 8:47pm

Cammye, I keep the Seventh-day Sabbath according to the 4th commandment. I am a Seventh-day Adventist.

Some others that I know of that keep the Bible Sabbath are:

Seventh-day Baptists
World Wide Church of God
Seventh-day Pentecostals

I am sure there are others.

Melissa Ringstaff

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Permalink Reply by Jayme on July 26, 2008 at 1:28am

I am a messianic believer. We keep the 7 day shabbat, form friday sundown to saturday sundown.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Conner on July 28, 2008 at 12:13pm

In Judaism the Sabbath is kept from friday - saturday sundown. Since I'm Jewish this is how we do it in my family; we light candles just before the sun goes down on friday, and have a brief (teenager in the house) family prayer and blessing, then enjoy the Sabbath by relaxing and focusing on family and home. Ultra-observant homes would also have a candle ceremony at sunset on saturday to close the Sabbath.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa on July 29, 2008 at 12:57am

Sarah, as Seventh-day Adventists we observe the Sabbath from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday as well. We like to close the Sabbath at sundown with worship and songs as a family. We refrain from work, secular activities, buying or selling, etc. The fourth commandment tells us to keep the Sabbath holy. Sabbath is a time when we just come apart from the world and focus on God and our family. It really is my favorite day of the week!

I try to incorporate traditions such as candles on Friday evening and the Sabbath Challah bread which is simply delicious! I am not always successful.

Melissa Ringstaff

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Permalink Reply by Cammye on July 30, 2008 at 12:22am

Thanks to you all! for all the information. Melissa, you mentioned the Challah bread. Would you do your baking the day before? Do you cook on the Sabbath? I was very interested in reading about the practicing Seventh-day Adventists and their longer (and healthier) life expectancy due to both their diet and their Sabbath day practices. (thanks for the link Melissa!)
I was raised a Baptist. Not only did we practice the Sabbath on Sunday but after church was over the day was no different than any other. It is hard for me to take a whole day ...OFF. I've never done it. What a wonderful thought though. A whole day of relaxation... family... worship...After much reading, and prayer I have come to realize I have been wrong. I was just raised that way. Now I realize a Saturday Sabbath is the RIGHT thing to do. I have to change my whole way of thinking though. 38 years of bad practices! I will feel guilty! Like I'm being lazy! I know it will take time but what a wonderful reward to look forward to at the end of the week.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Conner on July 31, 2008 at 10:49pm

You would definetly want to make the challah the day before (and all your other cooking). There are many definitions of what "work" is and what to refrain from. I know many homes that have hot-plates they leave on during Shabbos because although you wouldn't turn on anything electrical it is "okay" to have it on the whole time. Some families use timers for their lights to come on or off, and leave a nightlight plugged on the whole time for the bathroom (remember not to flush!), you may also want to tape something over your doorbell so that any visitors know to only knock.

Cammye, I promise that you won't feel guilty for taking time away from the normal hussle and bustle of life to make the Sabbath day a holy experience. It's my favourite day and I really look forward to it all week. It is a reward to spend time with God, my husband and daughters. But I also think that even with the "break" of Shabbos, the weeks all blend together, so the Sabbath day is not only a reward at the end, but a refresher for the week ahead.

Melissa - I know it's hard to keep traditions... especially weekly with a busy family! And I'll admit that we don't have the full rituals each week, but I'm satisfied with what effort we're able to make and feel gracious that we take at least a moment to honour our love and blessings in this life.

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Permalink Reply by Shoshana in the UK on August 1, 2008 at 5:13am

I'm also a Messianic believer, so we keep the sabbath from sunset on Friday through to sunset on Saturday. I sometimes bake challah on a Friday morning (if not I try to buy some, 2 to be precise: challah is a reminder of manna in the wilderness, so we have 2 loaves to remind that the children of Israel were instructed to collect a double portion on a Friday so they wouldn't need to go out and collect any on shabbat.)

I do use electricity on shabbat, but I don't cook or light a fire (or do any housework!). I also follow Jewish tradition of lighting candles before sundown on Friday and a havdallah candle after sunset on Saturday. It's a way of marking shabbat out to make it special. It's actually not as hard as you might imagine to not work one whole day - shabbat becomes the focus of the week, and we try to get everything that needs to be done finished on Friday.

Doorposts produce a really good little book called "Day of Delight". Of course they assume Sunday to be the sabbath, but they recommend a lot of Jewish traditions to make the sabbath special. They also have a helpful list of how to get everything done before sabbath.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa on August 2, 2008 at 6:02pm

Cammye,

To answer your question (even though some others gave their answers) the challah bread is baked before the Sabbath. I like to bake mine on Wednesday or Thursday. I do this for health reasons (eating fresh yeast bread is not healthy).

Friday is the preparation day. It was in the Bible days, it was the preparation day the day that Jesus died on the cross. So, in other words, you prepare for the Sabbath on Friday. You would prepare the home (clean), prepare the food for the Sabbath (cook the Sabbath dinner for after church, cook your friday evening meal). You would prepare the clothing for Sabbath (make sure everything is washed and ready to go). Last but not least, you would prepare your heart. Ideally these preparations are not saved for just Friday. You would prepare all week long and leave for instance the cooking to take up most of your day on Friday.

Seventh-day Adventists live an average of 8 - 10 years longer than the average American. National Geographic (Click on the Link The Seventh-day Adventist Way) did a nice piece on our longevity in the November 2005 issue of their magazine.

Cammye, I was raised Southern Baptist. I joined the Adventist church in 2000, began studing the doctrines of the church in 1998 and was convinced after only a few months, but it took me longer to go from head knowledge to making a real change in my life. Learning to keep the Sabbath was hard - like you said, I was raised going to church on Sunday, but after church - the day was just like any other day. Learning not to be busy doing secular activities was a real challenge. Now, I look forward to the Sabbath - it really is my favorite day of the week!

People ask me ALL the TIME "How do you do all that you do???" I do all that I do and STILL take 24 hours off every week! All I can say is that it is God's grace - but I truly believe that when we are faithful with our time by giving God that 24 hours that He asks us to give - he stretches our time. There is nothing I need to get done so badly on Sabbath that it cannot wait until after the Sabbath - ever. God blesses that time and He blesses those who trust Him even with their time.

Melissa Ringstaff

Cammye Gray said:

Thanks to you all! for all the information. Melissa, you mentioned the Challah bread. Would you do your baking the day before? Do you cook on the Sabbath? I was very interested in reading about the practicing Seventh-day Adventists and their longer (and healthier) life expectancy due to both their diet and their Sabbath day practices. (thanks for the link Melissa!)
I was raised a Baptist. Not only did we practice the Sabbath on Sunday but after church was over the day was no different than any other. It is hard for me to take a whole day ...OFF. I've never done it. What a wonderful thought though. A whole day of relaxation... family... worship...After much reading, and prayer I have come to realize I have been wrong. I was just raised that way. Now I realize a Saturday Sabbath is the RIGHT thing to do. I have to change my whole way of thinking though. 38 years of bad practices! I will feel guilty! Like I'm being lazy! I know it will take time but what a wonderful reward to look forward to at the end of the week.

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Permalink Reply by Yahaloma on August 10, 2008 at 1:29am

Melissa said: "Friday is the preparation day. It was in the Bible days, it was the preparation day the day that Jesus died on the cross."

I have to disagree with you on this. Shabbat has been in existance since the Beginning. Preparation was noted even in Torah ("Old Testiment"), such as collecting extra manna on Friday for Shabbat, baking all of our needs on Friday, etc. Preparation day does not have anything to do with Yahushua (Jesus) dying on the cross, directly.

A study of scriptures, in their original context, and knowing the Hebraic life, will show you that he died late Wednesday, and was buried before sundown (the beginning of the next day in Hebraic time tables), and was risen immediately after Shabbat, just after sundown on Sat. which would have been the beginning of 'Sunday', three days later.

The reason people feel that he died on Friday was because of the description of him being prepared on a day preparing for Shabbat. In Judaism, there is a holy day that has a second shabbat observed within the same week as the usual, end week shabbat. This 'extra' shabbat was the day they were preparing for. This shabbat was for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is celebrated the first day after Passover. The women who went to his tomb after the usual shabbat, the 'morrow after Shabbat", which was the Feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:10-11; 1 Cor 15:20-23) would have gone down to the tomb straight away, late Saturday evening after Shabbat, to take care of His body, as they could not have done it in their usual manner, on the third day, which would have been Shabbat.

There is a wonderful study that is available if you'd like to read it. The site is still down for Shabbat right now, so I can't get the link, but when it's back up again, most likely tomorrow, I can post it here, if you like.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa on August 10, 2008 at 10:22am

Yahaloma, I agree! The Sabbath began on the Seventh-day of Creation - which is why I observe the seventh-day Sabbath today. Jesus dying on the cross was not the first preparation day - I was only commenting that He died on the Preparation day. However, I do believe that Jesus died on the cross on Friday, not Wednesday.

I have written a number of articles on the Sabbath:

- A Day to Prepare for the Sabbath
- Binding in Eden
- Why I Keep the Sabbath
- A Day to Prepare
- What the Sabbath Means to Me
- Making the Sabbath a Delight - by Pastor Glenn Holland
- Blessed Are They
- A Forgotten Promise

Melissa Ringstaff

Yahaloma said:

Melissa said: "Friday is the preparation day. It was in the Bible days, it was the preparation day the day that Jesus died on the cross."

I have to disagree with you on this. Shabbat has been in existance since the Beginning. Preparation was noted even in Torah ("Old Testiment"), such as collecting extra manna on Friday for Shabbat, baking all of our needs on Friday, etc. Preparation day does not have anything to do with Yahushua (Jesus) dying on the cross, directly.

A study of scriptures, in their original context, and knowing the Hebraic life, will show you that he died late Wednesday, and was buried before sundown (the beginning of the next day in Hebraic time tables), and was risen immediately after Shabbat, just after sundown on Sat. which would have been the beginning of 'Sunday', three days later.

The reason people feel that he died on Friday was because of the description of him being prepared on a day preparing for Shabbat. In Judaism, there is a holy day that has a second shabbat observed within the same week as the usual, end week shabbat. This 'extra' shabbat was the day they were preparing for. This shabbat was for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is celebrated the first day after Passover. The women who went to his tomb after the usual shabbat, the 'morrow after Shabbat", which was the Feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:10-11; 1 Cor 15:20-23) would have gone down to the tomb straight away, late Saturday evening after Shabbat, to take care of His body, as they could not have done it in their usual manner, on the third day, which would have been Shabbat.

There is a wonderful study that is available if you'd like to read it. The site is still down for Shabbat right now, so I can't get the link, but when it's back up again, most likely tomorrow, I can post it here, if you like.

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Permalink Reply by Jayme on August 10, 2008 at 1:15pm

I agree with regina and yahaloma.

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