~ from email ~
How would you respond to the claim that a Jewish doctor in the Old Testament would have faced a moral dilemma, to be resolved by graded absolutism, if he saw someone seriously injured on the Sabbath, and he would have needed to work to save that person?
The Bible says:
Mark 2:27-28
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”Matthew 12:11-12
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
This is absolute, one-track minded guidance. No graded anything. As usual, God’s word never contradicts itself, but men see paradoxes and dilemmas because God’s word contradicts what is in their hearts. The “dilemma” occurs because the Jews thought as if man was made for the Sabbath, but Jesus said that “the Sabbath was made for man.” For all their insistence on keeping it, they have never really kept it.
The Bible also says:
Luke 13:15-16
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”Mark 3:1-6
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
God wants mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 12:7). Christians who are very zealous for the Sabbath as a day usually still have not learned this. They use the doctrine as a weapon to attack and oppress, and on the Sabbath they criticize those who show faith and mercy, and they condemn those who pray for the sick, instead of joining them. Therefore, their doctrine of the Sabbath is anti-gospel. Their practice of the Sabbath is anti-Christ, outright satanic.
As it is, they are not worthy to mention the Sabbath, and their teaching on the subject can be completely disregarded. There is no benefit in keeping an anti-Christ Sabbath. They claim to appreciate the Sabbath the most, but in reality they appreciate it the least. They claim to be its champions, but they are really its fiercest enemies. They have missed the whole point of it. They have overturned the commandment of God by their foolish and worthless religious traditions. Otherwise, they would pray for the sick on every Sabbath, so that God would heal the people.