Someone recently brought it to my attention that in Adventist services on the Sabbath today, offerings are taken up – money is collected.
While I do not see anything wrong with that, I find it odd, as a frequently used argument by Adventists is that the offerings on the first day of the week mentioned in 1 Cor 16:2 were put aside on the first day because collecting them on the Sabbath would have been breaking the Sabbath.
Surely that cannot be the case? In my essay on my website on 1 Cor 16:2, I point out the following:
Can you seriously imagine, after reading the theology of mercy preached by Jesus, where one can happily pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath, never mind help someone in need, and after reading Paul’s examination of the law, that Christians actually were as legalistic as the Pharisees in this regard? … What was more important – the Sabbath or the Gospel? Can you seriously imagine that the same Jesus would forbid the funding of the Gospel on a day that he said was made for man, not man for that day? What is more important to God – the Sabbath or the Gospel teaching about the salvation of the world?
Are Adventists today breaking the Sabbath by taking up such collections? Or is it just a bad argument?
