Intelligent quote of the day

I think that it’s important for each person to be convinced in his own mind, and to act on that conviction. I would hope that he or she would be surrounded by others who would respect that decision, and that he or she would respect the decisions that other people make. There is a lot of judging of others among Christians. For some Sunday observers, Sabbath observance alone is evidence that one is not really a Christian, or doesn’t stand on grace. At the same time, the feeling is widespread among seventh-day Sabbatarians that they have the “right” day, and that those who don’t worship on that day aren’t true Christians. I have come to see that this is a theological and historical error that needs to be rejected, not Sabbath observance per se. The important thing is not when we worship, but that we worship.

—WCG (as well as Swiss Reformed Church) minister Henry Strucke on the issue of “The Sabbath Question” while promoting his book Encountering The Rest of God on Gavin Rumney’s website a few years ago and again on Gavin’s current blog Otagosh in March of this year.

“The Sabbath”

No word provokes emotion for a former or current XCG member. It is a word that pinches the nerves of everybody. It is so explosive, one has to handle that word with care. There are very strong opinions for it and equally strong opinions against it.  I have yet so between former and current XCG members on message boards is to come up with some kind of mediating position. I believe cool and calm heads must prevail on a subject like this. With the hustle and bustle of the 21st century, isn’t it a wise idea for a pause for peace in the midst of it? I have had arrows pointed at me from seventh day sabbatarians and some new covenant theology proponents—so let me make this purely and crystal clear.  I am not advocating (or better put re-hashing)  a strict sabbatarian manifesto, neither I am proposing an agenda that any kind of sabbath keeping is bad and needs to be aggressively crusaded against. With this 24/7 society in the 21st century, we need to admit our health has suffered, we have been more consumerist and materialistic in our approach to living and that has unmistakably seeped in our view of spirituality. I think it is “right” for anyone to have a “faith-leave day” to refresh themselves in a holistic fashion—I mean physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being.  I am not talking about only going to church one day and simply being idle. I think a “faith-leave day”  can be used as a good spiritual discipline, just as one voluntarily who gives money to support their congregation or prayer—all in moderation. Again, my real reason for this post is direct you to an episode from TVOntario’s current affairs program The Agenda which discusses such a subject. Go to this page of The Agenda at

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779087&ts=2007-12-18%2020:00:15.0 , click on Watch Video and enjoy the program!