por WDN,
A free press for a free peole
Have you ever wondered why one of the Ten Commandments seems null and void – notably the one calling on believers to observe the Sabbath? Ask your pastor or priest and you will probably hear it’s because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday – which is not even a certainty if you read the Bible carefully. And then there’s the little problem of this switch of worship days not being mentioned in the Bible – and the historical fact that most Christians continued observing the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Jesus rose from the dead. So what happened? What caused the switch? T h e W N D S u p e rstore has compiled treasure trove of literature and video documentaries that trace the history.
Some of what you will find is nothing short of shocking for Christians who take Sunday worship for granted. First there is the classic, scholarly work of the late Samuele Bacchiocchi in ”From Sabbath to Sunday. Bacchiocchi earned his doctorate in church history at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for his summa cum laude class work and dissertation, “From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity.”
His studies gave him unique access to Roman Catholic historical archives that shed much light on the transition from Sabbath to Sunday.
The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birthplace of Sunday observance,” he concluded. In one of his last interviews before his death, he told WND: “Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday.”
He says evidence of anti-Judaism is found in the writings of Christian leaders such as Ignatius, Barnabus and Justin in the second century. He notes these three “witnessed and participated in the process of separation from Judaism which led the majority of the Christians to abandon the Sabbath and adopt Sunday as the new day of worship.” Bacchiocchi also explains the infl uence of pagan sun worship provides a “plausible explanation for the Christian choice of Sunday” over the day of Saturn.
Its effect wasn’t just limited to Sunday. It apparently led to the placement of Jesus’ birth in late December. “The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of sun worship’s infl uence on the Christian liturgical calendar,” Bacchiocchi writes. “It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date.”
One of the Roman names for this “Invincible Sun” god in the days of the apostles was Mithra. There are striking similarities between the ancient worship of Mithra and today’s Christianity, leading some to think early Christians adopted Sunday worship from heathen customs. Another extraordinary resource for study of the issue is a 5-part DVD documentary narrated by the late actor Hal Holbrook called ”The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History.” The made-for-TV miniseries traces the history of the Sabbath through the ages and around the world.
The meticulously documented series features interviews with over 50 experts, classical art, animations,
