Okay, I will inquire about the Exodus 20 passage.
Exodus 20:8-10
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8 [/SUP]“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Six days you shall labor and do all your work, [SUP]
10 [/SUP]but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God;
in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who [SUP]
[e][/SUP]stays with you.
Since God says "six days you shall labor", are we to work for six days out of the seven? This is part of the Sabbath command. It cannot be divorced from the rest of the text. Therefore we must work Sunday-Friday, and rest on Saturday only. If where I work is not open on Sunday, then must I find something to do (work in the yard, etc.) so I will not rest on Sunday. This is God's command regarding the Sabbath keeping, not the Pharisees'.
In all the articles I read on "how to keep the Sabbath" (including the one linked here), there are just so many variations on how to keep the Sabbath, but none of them follow God's way of keeping it (stay where you are, no fires, etc.) according to His word. I understand the Pharisees done some twisting to the "rules", but what I am talking about is God's very words. It seems there is so much confusion on the do's and don't of the Sabbath, by Sabbath keepers. And we know who IS NOT the author of confusion.
What about the penalty of breaking the Sabbath?
Exodus 31:12-15
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12 [/SUP]The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, [SUP]
13 [/SUP]“But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for
this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. [SUP]
14 [/SUP]Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you.
Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord;
whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
Are we to execute people for violating the Sabbath? I mean, this is just as much of a command of God as keeping the Sabbath. It does not say the person shall surely die, it says he shall be PUT to death, like the man of Numbers 15.
Numbers 15:32-36
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32 [/SUP]Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. [SUP]
33 [/SUP]Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; [SUP]
34 [/SUP]and they put him in [SUP]
[p][/SUP]custody because it had not been [SUP]
[q][/SUP]declared what should be done to him. [SUP]
35 [/SUP]Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” [SUP]
36 [/SUP]So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him [SUP]
[r][/SUP]to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Are we to do this? Putting someone to death is just as much a command as keeping the Sabbath. The penalty cannot be divorced from the law. How are we to deal with this? Since Jesus did not do away with (become) the Sabbath, we have to abide by everything concerning the Sabbath, right? Or can we pick and choose the parts of the Sabbath we obey?