Well, obviously, three is a “magic number” in the Bible, so if there’s a way to count that makes it “three days”, they’re happy to do that.
You find similar references to seven and forty, also magic numbers.
I think a point that leonbrooks made deserves resurrection (sorry). I had long heard that Christians, originating as Jews, celebrated Saturday as their day of rest and worship. However, the Roman army in the field could not afford to have large segments of its force take a different day off. So it was decreed, perhaps by Constantine, that Christians would thenceforth celebrate the same day as worshippers of the Sun god (Ra?).
And the rest is history.
Earlier posts would seem to cast doubt on this account. Have i been too readily accepting of an urban legend, or is there some element of truth to this story?
Utter rubbish. Sunday was established as the Christian day of observation long before Constantine, and Saturday was pretty much given up as soon as Jewish Christians had become an inconsiderable factor.
A safe rule of thumb, I’m afraid, is to take with a grain of salt anything you hear about Constantine that you can’t find yourself in a primary source (such as Eusebius). He’s a favorite target with loonies.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Just catching up on my reading. The Big Guy didn’t answer the question, which is a good one. The Ten Commandments says observe the Sabbath and keep in holy. I am not aware that Christ vetoed the commandments. Now if Christianity disavowed the old testament, then fine they can make their own rules. However, they didn’t and still say that the OT is “gospel”. So how can their theology support the change from Saturday to Sunday?
Some things to point out to help explain the changes in Jewish practice that Early Christians made and yet still affirming the sacredness of the Jewish scriptures.
Historically, the first Christians were full practicing Jews (like Jesus) and remained so, even after the resurrection. Three events changed this:
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The failure of ‘the new Way’ to spread among the rest of the Jewish population.
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The active rejection of ‘the Way’ by the Jewish leaders. Christians were branded as heretics, and in the 70’s, were officially barred from synagogues (the Temple being destroyed in 70).
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The spread of Christianity into Paganism.
All this turned ‘the Way’ from being a primarily Jewish faith into one adapted to the Pagan world.
Part of this turn resulted in the rather explicit rejection of the Mosaic law. The letters of St. Paul sets the stage for this turn as Paul makes the case that it is faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection alone which has the ability to save. The corollary being that The Law (of the Mosaic covenant) does not have saving power.
In fact, part of the gospel has Jesus explicitly changing parts of the Mosaic law (see Matthew, chapter 5).
So, for Christians, the gospel of Jesus the Christ supplants the Mosaic Covenant. But that doesn’t mean the the Jewish Scriptures get thrown out the window. The Mosaic Covenant was still authored by God and even Paul regards it as still in force for the Jews.
Peace.
Judaism itself recognizes that some laws are for everybody and some laws are strictly for Jews, and, off the record, regard non-Jews who observe the Jewish laws (except to be polite, or for good reasons of their own) as jerks who Don’t Get It.
In particular, Jews have never regarded it as a sin in a non-Jew to labor on the Sabbath.
(Note, however, that the traditional practice of hiring a “Shabbas Goy” is not approved of. A Jew can take advantage of labor a Gentile performed for his own reasons on the Sabbath, but cannot ask a Gentile to work on the Sabbath.)
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams