The Real Jesus of the Four GospelsAtwater, John Birdseye
Religion
The Real Jesus of the Four Gospels
Atwater, John Birdseye
Jesus Christ -- Biography
It is uncertain just when Sunday (the first day of the week) began to be
generally observed among Christians as a holy day. The early Gentile
converts were naturally averse to all Jewish rites and ceremonies,
including circumcision, Sabbath-day observances, etc. It would seem
that, in St. Paul's time, more or less of them held the position that
all days of the week were alike, and no one of them especially holy
(Romans XIV:5, 6; Col. II:16, 17). But at least two or three centuries
had elapsed after Jesus' death, before Sunday was established as a day
holy to the Lord, and began to have attributed to it the sanctity with
which the Jews surrounded their Mosaic Sabbath.
Jesus never sanctioned the observance of the first day of the week as a
holy day. No text can be cited from the Old Testament, or the four
Gospels, that gives even color of authority to this observance. Sunday
is a purely human institution, established by the Christians of the
first five centuries, to suit their own convenience, or satisfy their
anti-Jewish prejudices. As a Biblical festival, it is no more sacred
than Monday or Tuesday, or any other day.
This matter is not commented on because of its practical importance,
since it would now be inadvisable to change our legal day of rest to
correspond with the Biblical Sabbath. But it affords a fair illustration
of the prevalent cant and hypocrisy of the day. How frequently do the
modern Pharisees denounce the man, who, for instance, goes fishing or
hunting on Sunday, instead of going to church, as a contemner of Jesus,
a violator of God's holy laws, etc., when in fact they have not the
slightest authority from Jesus to do so. Would it not be well for them
to consider the beam in their own eye? On this point, the Seventh-day
Baptists and others like them are the consistent followers of Jesus, and
not the Roman Catholics and the great bulk of the Protestants.
(c) THE HYPOCRISY OF DIVORCE
Under the Mosaic law a husband, dissatisfied with his wife, could "write
her a bill of a divorcement" if he had found "some uncleanness in her"
(Deut. XXIV:1; Matt. XIX:7).
According to Matthew, Jesus condemned divorce except for the cause of
"fornication" (Matt. V:32; XIX:9).
According to Mark and Luke, He condemned divorce for any cause (Mark
X:11; Luke XVI:18).
All the States of our Union, except New York and South Carolina,
authorize divorce on other grounds than adultery. In New York divorces
are granted only on the ground of adultery, and in South Carolina no
divorces are granted. (World's Almanac, 1920, pp. 369-371.)
In 1916, there were 1,040,778 marriages and 112,036 divorces in the
United States, of which about 11 per cent were on the ground of
"unfaithful." (World's Almanac, 1920, pp. 151-152.)
But the marriages of the Roman Catholics, about 1-7 of our population
(World's Almanac, p. 484), should fairly be excluded, since divorce is
practically non-existent among them. This would leave 890,000 marriages
to 112,000 divorces.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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