Hi auggy:
I had hoped that maybe this answered your question somewhat:
“Does this mean that I am a better Christian than you? or more mature in the faith? or closer to God? or more holy?
Good heavens NO!!”
So I’ll make another try at answering your question…
I find your particular formulation interesting, curious, and puzzling:
Aside from the curious question of “if it’s true that the Sabbath is part of the 10 supreme commands” (are we aware of a list called the “Nine Commandments”? see below… ) there are at least a couple reasons I find it so…
–First, your concern about the distinction between “major and minor” is the kind of question a legalist and/or literalist might be expected to ask; but you see yourself to be neither of those things! I see a real irony here because if we are indeed “no longer under the law” then such a distinction should be rather meaningless shouldn’t it? It’s the kind of distinction a legalist might spend a lot of time trying to figure out…
– Second, and similarly, there seems to be this self-contradiction going on whereby you ask about “major and minor” divisions/categories (which must presume some sort of preexisting hierarchy within morality but then you go on to say:
So which is it? a hierarchy (thus, major/minor distinction) or are they all just as important? I hear you saying both things… If you say there is a hierarchy, then I can understand you a little bit better in that you have prioritized the Sabbath command well down the list and essentially out of the 10. But then you say none are superior. So that sounds contradictory to me.
Are you asking me if God sees you, because you don’t keep the 7th day holy and observe the 4th commandment, in just the same way as if you went out and murdered your neighbor??
Wow – that’s asking me to be judge; I think I’ll leave that to HIm! I’ll just say I certainly wouldn’t! I’d far rather you violate #4 than #6!!!
But that simply is not the choice nor does it ask the right questions to my mind.
It becomes apparent that a huge difference between us is how we approach the fact of the 4th’s commandment presence in the 10. In fact if it wasn’t there, we’d be talking about “The Nine Commandments”.
For me the fact it’s there is intentional. So it follows (for me) that since it’s smack dab in the middle of these great moral commands, it’s highly likely that this means it is to be seen with the same moral weight and significance as all the others. So I don’t even give myself the right to decide which commandments “cut it for me” as you effortlessly do!
It’s there! That is not an inconsequential fact! Thus I see as my task to figure out why it’s considered so important; not defend why it’s unnecessary. And I don’t find equating the literalness of keeping a 7th day Holy and the literalness of not killing in any way unreasonable or unwarranted.
(I would however find it interesting, and perhaps informative, for you to speculate on why God would put this command in such a prime location if His intent was not to enshrine it forever as part of a condensed moral code like all those surrounding commands.)
I realize you are convinced that the essence of the Sabbath command has nothing to do with a specific day – despite the specific wording that’s actually there. I just wonder why you don’t give yourself equal liberty with the rest of the 9 commands?
Have I ever wondered why God put this specific command there, right in the middle of the great 10? Do I wonder why? Of course I do: all the time! But that wondering doesn’t invite not doing it! Rather, it invites an ongoing exercise to figure out how to make this particular day “holy” – and in the exercise lies, I believe, a great part of the intended blessing!
Here’s a thought I had last night…
My 17 year old daughter has a project she’s doing for school. And it involves integrating a whole array of creative thinking and writing and craft making. So she’s written a story about an ordinary civil war soldier. The story is told in the soldiers own words in his diary/journal and compilation of the letters he writes home. So she’s written hymns, and poems, and relates tragedy and struggle and conflict. And she’s created a way to make the paper LOOK like it’s literally 160 years old! She figured out how to make a metal name plate for the guys horse. And on and on. And she has never been so enthralled and engaged in anything in her whole life! The time just flies and she can hardy wait to work on the next phase. It’s open ended; skies the limit; let your mind soar kind of creativity.
And it hit me: that’s exactly the kind of creativity God intends the Sabbath to be for. Not a “rule to be kept” (or I’ll get upset and have to punish you etc) but a special time set aside where we can forever create new ways and words and praises by which we worship Him! I think God LOVES that attitude – and I think that’s a huge part of why the Sabbath’s there. Not in addition to the other 9, but as a tangible time to pull the entire moral underpinnings of creation together in ever more meaningful worship. You keep the 6th commandment just because God told you to – you keep it as a form of worship!
So, as I’ve said, I don’t even comprehend the reason why I should consider NOT keeping it this way!
Thus I need to know what it means to “no longer be under the law” when you certainly have a keen vision of the moral relevance of the law. It certainly doesn’t mean one can “pick and choose” among the 10 does it?
Why is it that no longer being under the law means you can worship on any day you want, or that the day itself is irrelevant, but you don’t give yourself such leeway on the rest of the 10? I just don’t get that.
But, you’ll be happy to know, I don’t think it’s a “stoneable” offense either!
(And by the way, I don’t find the stoning criterion helpful at all because that’s just so foreign to us moderns that it frankly seems just barbaric.)
Are we any closer then to understanding each other??
Bobx3