Keeping the Sabbath: Faith or Superstition

Dr. Daniel Botkin

One definition of superstition is “a belief or practice resulting from a false concept of causation” (Webster’s). Superstitious people believe that practicing certain habits or possessing certain objects can cause good luck or bad luck. The superstitious pagans of Bible times believed that certain days of the week were lucky or unlucky for certain activities. The Hebrews also had some beliefs about the days of the week. They believed that Sunday through Friday were good days to work, and Saturday, the 7th day of the week, was a day to cease working and assemble for worship. This belief, unlike the pagan beliefs, was not a superstition, though. Keeping the Sabbath was and is an act of faith, because it was and is based on a trust in the one true God who gave the Sabbath to be a sign between Himself and His people throughout their generations forever. (Ex. 31:1 2ff) Keeping the Sabbath can cause good things to happen and prevent bad things from happening. Breaking the Sabbath can cause bad things to happen and prevent good things from happening. This is not superstition. This is what the Bible teaches when it promises good things (“blessings”) for keeping the Sabbath and bad things (“curses”) for breaking it.

We may not always see how the blessings or curses are the result of our having kept or broken the Sabbath, but that does not matter to the spiritual man…”

(this article is an excerpt from the May-June 2001 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 7, click this link:

http://biblesabbath.org/tss/489/tss_489.pdf