Suppose a Christian or Jewish worker got called to do work on Sunday. Is he excused to NOT go there?

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Within the commandments of the Old Testament, one states that Remember the Sabbath day, and Not do Any work on said day. However, if work on Sunday can literally save lives, then should he do said work? More than that, if said work is to just save lives, does it count as work, and are you allowed to do it on Sunday?
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@David
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yes
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Yes.
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@oromagi
I am sorry I asked several questions in a row causing unnecessary confusion but do you mean the person is excused to not go to his job?
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I think this verse often comes to mind, and involves certain confusion.


Numbers 15:32-36, where a man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and thus was stoned to death. I will expound if necessary.

To answer your question though, yes, a policeman, firefighter, medic, security guard, soldier, etc., is not bound by that law. The law that resulted in that man in Numbers stoning was not done through legalism. If Christians were bound by that OT law by the way, who's to say we wouldn't be judged for not having church service on Saturday instead of Sunday.

The idea of legalism is what tends to throw folks off.




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--> @oromagi
I am sorry I asked several questions in a row causing unnecessary confusion but do you mean the person is excused to not go to his job?
That's a different question than the OP.

To be clear,

  • I think of the fourth commandment as mostly superstitious nonsense.
  • The important bit was about giving people a day off from work.  The modern interpretation is that people should get two days off from work each week, Saturday and Sunday are the most popular days off but from a cultural perspective, which days particularly is no longer emphasized.
    • I think adapting to 3 or 4 days off per week makes sense as the overall demand for labor decreases while populations continue to increase.
  • Yes, modern society wants and requires a certain degree of essential labor 24/7/365 and those workers should fear no state or religious sanction.
  • Nevertheless, abiding the Sabbath is any free citizen's right and privilege.  Employers should respect any employee's religious practice to a reasonable degree.  Jobs (essential or otherwise) that conflict with some religious practice should be fulfilled by employees with little or no religious inhibition relevant to the job. For example, a traditional adherent to Seventh Day Adventism might be a poor candidate for a butcher's shop.

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@Intelligence_06
It's nothing to do with religion per se.....It's the nature of the State in which religion is practised.

In an authoritarian theocracy you would have been stoned to death for not being "Jewish" or "Christian".

Though who would know if you didn't say so?....

It's the dumb ass nature of religion.

And if one didn't expend energy in some form on the "sabbath" then one would be dead anyway.

And I think also that the Jewish sabbath is Friday pm until Saturday pm...Though correct me if I am wrong.
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@Intelligence_06
For the Jew, Sunday is no big thing because the Jewish Sabbath is from Friday evening to Saturday night. If the job saves lives, the Jew would go, regardless of its being the Sabbath. If the job isn't about saving lives then an observant Jew would not go (and would not have signed a contract without making that clear). Jews, for many years, had to balance the potential for losing a job/income against their belief system.

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@Intelligence_06
Suppose a Christian or Jewish worker got called to do work on Sunday. Is he excused to NOT go there?

Well according to Jesus it doesn't seem to matter.  Besides , does a Jewish or Christian surgeon refuse to operate on Sunday? 

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



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@Intelligence_06



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Intelligence_06,

A TRUE Christian, which I am the only one upon this website, has to follow ALL, and I repeat, ALL of Jesus' inspired words within the scriptures. Therefore, His inspired words said not to work upon the Sabbath, but to rest instead, otherwise, fellow Jewish Christians are to murder the one that goes against Jesus and works upon the holy Sabbath Day, period. This edict has to be followed to the letter because of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where He explicitly states that the Old Testament commands are still in effect now, and into the future until the end of time and the earth vanishes. 2+2=4.

" Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death." (Exodus 35:2)


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@rosends



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Rosends,


YOUR ANTI JEWISH QUOTE: "For the Jew, Sunday is no big thing because the Jewish Sabbath is from Friday evening to Saturday night. If the job saves lives, the Jew would go."

If you are going to follow ALL of your faith, of which your version of God so dictates, then your statement above is going against your serial killer Yahweh God's words in the passage below.

" Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death." (Exodus 35:2)

When was the last time you saw one of your pseudo Jews murder a fellow Jew that worked upon the Sabbath that went directly against Yahweh's inspired words as shown in the passage above? Listen, I don't expect you to even try and answer this question like you've done before many times when I have posed them to you. Just take your normal position amongst the membership and RUNAWAY once again as usual, but at the same time, Yahweh is watching in disgust for not even trying to defend your faith (Job 42:1).


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@Intelligence_06
Great Questions:

How a Jew responds to these questions, I will leave to them. As a Christian, we are called to obey the commandments of God, this after all is how we demonstrate love to both God and to others. 

Yet, we are also called to demonstrate mercy.  Hence why Jesus related the parable of the good Samaritan. It is a parable which demonstrates quite clearly that when the law gets in the way of demonstrating mercy, then God desires mercy.  This is one reason why I would reject the JWs position on blood transfusions. They seem to forget about the parable of the good Samaritan in that Jesus noted the two religious persons obeying the law by not helping the injured man, but commended the Samaritan for showing love - and encouraged others to follow this example. 

In the case then of working on Sundays, I would apply the principle this way: That ideally the day should be set apart for the Lord. We should as a general principle utilize this  day to worshiping God together with his people - and encouraging one another. This should prevent us from doing things on that day that take us away from church. Yet, if we are in employment situations or indeed voluntary situations where we are called to work in hospitals, or as police officers, or similar such necessary services - then these things are exemptions to what we would ordinarily do on Sundays.  We live in a world now where Sundays are treated pretty much the same as other days. I would suggest that as Christians - we should separate the day to the Lord as best as we can. 

I note too that the book of Hebrews indicates that the OT Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ and his death on the cross.  The OT sabbath was all about reminding his people of the day of rest that would come in the day of the Messiah.  Hence, why they needed to take it so seriously - it was pointing to the Messiah.  So when the Messiah came - in Jesus Christ, all people who put their trust in him, were able to enter into rest with him always.  This fulfilled the 4th commandment - and now in the NT Christians do rest in Christ. This means we don't have to stress all the time about keeping the law - but take comfort that Jesus has died for our sins - and has brought us into the presence of God.  We in that sense have a peace which others don't have. We are not always looking for God in other words. We don't feel a need to have to try and please God. We understand when we do wrong and know that it has been dealt with in Christ. Christians - unlike other religions and other worldviews are not  always on a journey to find the truth in things. Yes, we continue to learn and we continue to develop in maturity - but we know the truth and the truth has set us free.  And this means that the struggle that others have - of never being able to rest properly - is something that has been done for us in Christ. That is the Christian message. 

It sets us free from the law as it were. So we as someone above mentioned helps us to rest in Christ - for he is the Lord of the Sabbath - which was made for man - not man for the Sabbath. It means we can still set aside a day of the week - Sunday is good because it reminds us of the Day Jesus rose from the dead. It also means that we can apply mercy and love above the law in this particular situation - so that we can do acts of mercy to help those who need it. 

I hope that helps. 

33 days later

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@Intelligence_06
Common English Bible

Healing on the Sabbath
9 Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. 10 A man with a withered hand was there. Wanting to bring charges against Jesus, they asked, “Does the Law allow a person to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 Jesus replied, “Who among you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath and will not take hold of it and pull it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So the Law allows a person to do what is good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did and it was made healthy, just like the other one.


To your question though, I'd imagine it depends on context.
Different people/societies/situations, arrive at different answers.