Repost: Dear Miss Lawrence
An updated version of an earlier post, Bringing the best out in men, was published a few days ago on the Goretti Group website:
Author: pilgrim
Friday Frivolity: Waka Waka…
Sundays in Scripture
Seventh Day Adventists (SDAs) believe that Christians shouldn’t worship on Sundays and that the Saturday Sabbath is still in effect. In recent weeks I’ve been having a discussion in a Seventh Day Adventist in response to my post Why do Christians worship on Sundays? The exchange has been good and I think it’s well worth a read and I’d invite you to check it out.
I haven’t had much interaction with SDAs before and I hope to do some posts looking at their more interesting doctrinal positions, of which there are quite a few. However, in preparation for this, today I would simply like to do a post where I catalogue all the places in the New Testament where Sunday is mentioned:
1. The Resurrection
All the Gospels record the Resurrection taking place on Sunday (Matthew 28:1-7; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).
2. Resurrection Appearances
Jesus appears to His disciples on Sundays (John 20:19, John 20:26).
3. Pentecost
The original Pentecost took place on a Sunday (Lev. 23:16) and therefore so did Pentecost in the New Testament (Acts 2:1). On this day the first sermon is preached, three thousand convert and are baptized.
4. Preaching and celebrating the Eucharist
In Paul’s travels, it is recorded that the Christian community came together to hear Paul preach and break bread (Acts 20:7).
5. Gathered collections
Paul instructed the Corinthians to gather their charitable donations on Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:2).
6. Vision of Heavenly Worship
Jesus gave the apostle John the vision of Revelation on the first day of the week (Revelation 1:10).
Worship In The Early Church
I’ve referenced this podcast quite a few times recently in online discussions, so I thought it deserved a post. In the following article from Called To Communion, there is a thirty minute lecture on what we know about Christian worship in the First Century:
Wise Words on Wednesday: Meat
“You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act—that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage.
Now suppose you come to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food?”
– CS Lewis, Mere Christianity (Book III)
Christians and MMA?
In the Early Church, Christians shunned the gladiatorial games. What about today? The Classical Theist has a thirty-minute podcast addressing the question: should Christians be involved in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to my sparing lesson 🙂
Bible Study Questions
I just wanted to share in a post a great resource I stumbled across last week. On the Ignatius Press website I found that they have Bible study questions for most of the New Testament books. You can download a zipped collection of them here. This is ideal for people out there leading Bible study.
