Argument XIII
O ne of the most common arguments advanced by those who believe in paying unbelievers to prepare their Sabbath meals is that those who oppose this sin are preaching bondage. Mr. Pack is no different when condemning A Sabbath Test. The real question is : Just who is preaching bondage? In other words, who wants God's people to go back into Egypt? Below is Mr. Pack's accusation followed by our response.
David C. Pack:
Our Response:
This is a very interesting observation. There is only one thing wrong with it. IT ISN”T TRUE! Mr. Pack may shout this accusation until the cows come home but it will not add one ounce to its voracity. Furthermore, he offers no evidence to support his claim. It is simply a tirade cloaked as a voice of authority. However, being that he brought it up, let’s see who is teaching bondage and who is teaching liberty—and when we do, let’s present REAL PROOF. It is extrapolated from A Sabbath Test.
Today, those who work on the Sabbath, whether in a restaurant or anywhere else, are truly in bondage. However, it is a very unique bondage. They are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:16)—a sin that has been sold by mankind’s greatest enemy (2 Cor. 4:4, Rev. 12:9). This being the case we believe it is reasonable to conclude that those in God’s Church who avail themselves of this sin are condoning both the slavery and the SLAVE MASTER. This is what God was conveying when He gave the fourth commandment.
This Great Lawgiver actually explained why His people were to release their servants from labor on the Sabbath. Notice the commandment:
Here, God is telling His people that labor on the Sabbath is a form of bondage. This is the very bondage He freed them from when He delivered them out of Egypt. This being the case, it is hard to understand why anyone would want to return to that bondage-even to look at it. Now think of this in terms of our own lives and what is being taught by Mr. Pack. The MIracle of Deliverance
The scriptures reveal that just as the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt until God miraculously delivered them, those whom He has called in this present age were also once enslaved in “spiritual” Egypt. God’s people today were once in bondage. We once believed the things the world believes, taught the things the world teaches, and practiced the things the world practices. We even profaned God’s Sabbath and holy days. We did so because we served the same Slave Master the world serves today.
However, our calling reveals that a Great Deliverer has again rescued His people from a world that does not know Him or His way. For this reason, God’s people today should never compel the unbeliever (a slave in Egypt) to work on their behalf on the Sabbath. We must refrain from this practice because we were miraculously delivered from this very practice ourselves. Remember God’s words, “YOU were once a SLAVE in Egypt” (Deut. 5:15).
With this in mind, God’s people must understand that their Great Deliverer would no more permit His people today to return to this world and avail themselves of its sin, than He would permit the Israelites of yesterday to return to Egypt and avail themselves of their sin. As much as Dave Pack may want to go back into Egypt, God forbids it and warns of its consequences. Notice what He says.
Consider these words in the context of dining out on the Sabbath. In order to engage in this practice, God’s people must literally return to a world that does not know Him—a world that tramples on this great day. In the Old Testament that world was called Egypt. In the New Testament it is called Babylon. But make no mistake about it; these worlds are one and the same.
When God commanded His people to cease from working on the Sabbath and to not compel others to work on their behalf, He was making a powerful statement. He was commanding His people to COME OUT OF EGYPT, to COME OUT OF BABYLON! In other words, God’s people are not to be a part of the very sin that once gripped their lives. This is because they are now FREE! For Mr. Pack to teach otherwise is to promote BONDAGE! Proclaiming a Great Hope
Although the world today is truly in bondage, God’s people stand as proof that it will not always be that way. By refusing to allow the slave of this world to labor for them on God’s Sabbath, His people are proclaiming a great hope – a hope that one day all who are enslaved will be FREE. At that time they, too, will “remember the Sabbath and keep it HOLY.”
Unfortunately, those who think that people like the authors of A Sabbath Test are leading God’s people back into bondage, are actually doing that very thing themselves. They are teaching God’s people that it is acceptable with their deliverer for them to go back to Egypt. We on the other hand want them to COME OUT OF EGYPT!
God’s plan is that all mankind will ultimately be free from the tyranny of ignorance and sin. The Sabbath pictures that freedom. It is not by accident that when giving the fourth commandment, God reminded His people that they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt. 5:15). It is for this very reason that every Sabbath God’s people are to be liberators. In other words, they are to declare everyone they come in contact with FREE. Nowhere in the commandment does it remotely hint that God condones His people going back into “Egypt” to avail themselves of the very sin they were once a part of (Dt. 5:14-15). The Sabbath is about liberty, not slavery.
Whether one is a believer or a skeptic, bond or free, rich or poor, young or old, God’s people are not to compel them to labor on their behalf on His day. Those who are ignorant of God’s law may not understand why the faithful would be so considerate of them. But God’s people do understand. By releasing the unbeliever from labor on the Sabbath, they are acting out what their King will ultimately do when He returns to earth.
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