SABBATH EATING OUT AND SHOPPING AND GARDENING ??

UCG  TEACHING  [AN OFF-SHOOT  OF  THE  OLD  WCG  UNDER  HERBERT  ARMSTRONG]

Eating Out on the Sabbath 

The question of eating out on the Sabbath sometimes comes up. We have a paper, "Principles of Sabbath Observance, Eating Out on the Sabbath." It is on the Web site atwww.ucg.org/papers if you wish to get a copy. It goes through all of the scriptures and all of the principles that have to do with eating out on the Sabbath. The Church has never taught that it was wrong or a violation of the Sabbath to eat in a restaurant on the Sabbath. Clearly Christianity involves an individual choice as to what you do. It is a judgment that individuals have to make.

Paul took certain positions about not eating meat if it made someone stumble. But the act itself of going out to eat is not a matter of sin. It is the view of the Church that it is not a violation of the Scriptures if one chooses to eat out.

Those who object to purchasing a meal on the Sabbath usually base their argument from two principles—causing someone else to work on the Sabbath or exchanging money on the Sabbath. There are two scriptures they use, one in Nehemiah 13, and the other in Amos.

If you look at these two scriptures with this particular paper, I think you will see why the Church teaches what it teaches. The prohibition that you find in both places is against setting up a market on the Sabbath or a Holy Day. The Jews had become a people that made the Sabbath a secular day where it was acceptable to go to a market. The principle expressed in these scriptures is, don't make the Sabbath a market day or a day to do your weekly shopping.

Nehemiah 13 has nothing to do with eating out in a restaurant. After you look at the scriptures on the subject, if you as an individual feel compelled not to eat out at a restaurant on the Sabbath, so be it. No one should look down, no one should criticize, no one should judge. We simply ask that individuals keep that as a personal decision and not make efforts to persuade others, because this is a teaching of the Church. We must understand that attempts to persuade others is divisive, and that behavior simply cannot be tolerated in the Church of God. We call that sowing discord.

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MY  ANSWER  TO  THEM:

THE UCG IS AN OFF-SHOOT  OF  THE  OLD  WCG  UNDER  THE  LATE  HERBERT  ARMSTRONG.  THEY  HAVE  NOT  CHANGED  THEIR  POSITION  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  EATING  IN RESTAURANTS  ON  THE  SABBATHS.  THE  WCG  WAS  TAUGHT  THIS  BY  THE  ONE  THEY  STILL  LOOK  TO  AS  SOME  END  TIME  PROPHET  OF  GOD.  THE  LATTER  END  OF  HWA  PROVED  HE  WAS  OR  BECAME  A   CULT  LEADERS.  HE  TOOK  TRIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD - FLYING - VISITING  WORLD  LEADERS  TO  TALK  ABOUT  AN  "UNSEEN  HAND"  AND  WINE  AND  DINE  WITH  THEM,  OFTEN  PRESENTING  THEM  WITH  VERY  EXPENSIVE  GIFTS  PAID  BY  THE  WCG  TITHE  PAYERS.  HE  FEW  ON  THE  SABBATH,  ATE  IN  FANCY  RESTAURANTS ON  THE  SABBATH.  TODAY  MOST  OFF-SHOOTS  FROM  THE  WCG  THINK  LITTLE  ABOUT  EATING  IN  RESTAURANTS,  SOME  EVEN  GROCERY  SHOPPING  AND  GARDENING  ON  THE  SABBATH.
THEY  TRY  AND  SAY  WE  WHO  TEACH  IT  IS  WRONG   USE  TWO  SECTIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE  TO  TRY  AND  PROVE  OUR  POINT.  WELL  SOME  MAY,  BUT  I  DO  NOR  GIVE  EMPHASIS  TO  THOSE  SECTION.  I  USE  COMMON  SENSE.  YOU  ARE  HIRING AND  PAYING  SOMEONE  TO  WORK  FOR  YOU  IN  A  RESTAURANT  SETTING.  IT  IS  LIKE  HIRING  SOMEONE  TO  CUT  YOUR  GRASS,  OR  WORK  IN  YOUR  GARDEN  ON  THE  SABBATH  -  THEY  BECOME  YOUR  SERVANTS,  WORKING  FOR  SPECIFICALLY  YOU. WOULD  YOU  CONTINUE  TO  HIRE  YOUR  MAID  TO  MAKES  MEALS  FOR  YOU  AND  PAY  HER  ON  THE  SABBATH  FOR  SO  DO?  WOULD  YOU  HIRE  YOUR  CHAUFFEUR  TO  DRIVE  YOU  TO  CHURCH  SERVICES  AND  PAY  THEM  ON  THE  SABBATH?  WOULD  YOU  HIRE  A  LADY  TO  BABY  SIT  AND PAY  HER  ON  THE  SABBATH,  WHILE  YOU  ATTEND  SOME  CHURCH  SERVICE?
SUCH  HAS  NOTHING  TO  DO  WITH  SETTING  UP  A  MARKET  ON  THE SABBATH.  IT  IS  BESIDES  THE  POINT.  WOULD  YOU  HIRE  YOUR  MAID  OR  BUTLER  AND  PLAY  THEM  ON  THE  SABBATH  TO  DRESS  YOUR  CHILDREN,  IRON  YOUR  SHIRT,  POLISH  YOUR  SHOES?
IT  IS  THE  EXACT  SAME  PRINCIPLE  OF  RESTAURANT  EATING  ON  THE  SABBATH;  THOSE  WORKERS  BECOME  YOUR  SERVANTS,  AND  YOU  ARE  PAYING  THEM  TO  SO  BE.

I  TELL  YOU  UP  FRONT  AND  IN  PAIN  WORDS  IT  IS  NOT  A  MATTER  OF  INDIVIDUAL  CHOICE;  IT  IS  WRONG,  IT  BREAKS  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  NO  SERVANTS  FOR  YOU  MUST  WORK  ON  THE SABBATH  TO  SERVE  YOUR  NEEDS.

IT  IS  NOT  A  MATTER  OF  CHOICE  -  IT  IS  WRONG  AND  IT  IS  BREAKING  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  4TH  COMMANDMENT.

THE  UCG  HAS  MANY  THINGS  WRONG,  MANY  THINGS;  THEY  FOLLOW  A  MAN  THAT  GOT  MANY  THINGS  WRONG  AS  HIS  MINISTRY  MOVED  ON,  TO  THE  POINT  OF  TURNING  HIS  ORGANIZATION  IN  TO  CULT;  HE  CLAIMING  HE  HAD  A DIRECT  PHONE  LINE  WITH  GOD,  WHICH  WAS  AS  FAR  FROM  THE  TRUTH  AS  YOU  COULD  GET.  I  HAVE  LOTS  MORE  ON  MY  WEBSITE  ABOUT  THIS  MAN  WHO  TURN  INTO  A FALSE  PROPHET  IN  HIS  LAST  YEARS  OF  LIFE;  A  MAN  FILLED  WITH  VANITY  AND  PROUDNESS  AND  CONCEIT  THAT  BLINDED  HIS  MIND  TO  LEAD  HIMSELF  AND  HIS  ORGANIZATION  INTO  MANY  FALSE  THEOLOGICAL  ERRORS.

IT  HAS  COME  TO  MY  ATTENTION  THAT  SOME  IN  THE  UCG,  GROCERY  SHOP  AND  WORK  IN  THEIR  GARDENS,  CUTTING  GRASS  ETC.  ON  THE  SABBATH.

NOTICE EXODUS 35:2, 3. THEN GO TO NUMBERS 15:32-36.  WE  ARE NOT  TOLD  THIS  WAS  AN  EMERGENCY  OF  SOME  KIND,  SAY  TO  KEEP  SOMEONE  WARM  WHILE  UNDER  A  SEVERE  SICKNESS.  BUT  MOSES  ETC.  DID  NOT  KNOW  WHAT  TO  DO.  GOD  GAVE  THEM  THE  JUDGMENT  ANSWER.  THE   MAN  WAS  TO  BE  PUT  TO  DEATH.  IT  MAY  SEEM  QUITE  AN  INNOCENT  ACT  THE  MAN  WAS  DOING.  BUT  TO  GOD  IT  WAS  NOT.  THE  MAN  WAS  BREAKING  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  THE  SABBATH,  AS  ALREADY  GIVEN  BY  GOD.  OBVIOUSLY  IT  WAS  NOT  AN  EMERGENCY  OF  SOME  KIND.  GOD  UNDERSTANDS  THE  OX  IN  THE  DITCH  EMERGENCY.  SO  IT  MAY  SEEM  A  SMALL  THING  TO  THE  UCG  AND  OTHERS  ABOUT  EATING  AT  RESTAURANTS  ON  THE  SABBATH. THE  UCG  EVEN  SAYS  SOMEONE  TEACHING  DIFFERENT  FROM  WHAT  THEY  HAVE  DECREED  IS  DIVISIVE.  AND  OBVIOUSLY  SUCH  A  PERSON  WOULD  NOT  BE  WELCOME  IN  THEIR  FELLOWSHIP.  

I  DO  NOT  ATTEND  THE  SERVICES  OF  THE  UCG.  SO  I  MAKE  NO  APOLOGY  TO  THEM  OR  ANYONE,  IN  STATING  THEIR  TEACHING  ON  THIS  MATTER  IS  VERY  WRONG!  AND  AS  MY  CO-WORKER  TARA  CHAPMAN  HAS  FOUND  IN  ATTENDING  SOME  UCG  SERVICES  RECENTLY,  ONE  WOMAN  WAS  GROCERY  SHOPPING  ON  THE  SABBATH,  AND  ANOTHER  WOMAN  MOWING  HER  LAWN  AND  DOING  GARDENING  WORK  BECAUSE  IT  HAPPENED  TO  BE  A  NICE  WEATHER  SABBATH  DAY.  A  LITTLE  LEAVEN,  LEAVENS  THE  WHOLE  LUMP.  A  LITTLE  ERROR  LEADS  TO  MORE  ERROR.  A  LITTLE  SIN  LEADS  TO  MORE  SIN.

THE  UCG; THE LCG; AND SOME OTHERS NEED TO COME OUT OF FOLLOWING A MAN THAT WENT OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW PATHWAY, AS HE GOT OLDER AND OLDER,  NAMELY  HERBERT  W.  ARMSTRONG!

HE  THAT  HAS  AN  EAR  TO  HEAR  WITH  SHOULD  HEAR!!

Keith Hunt