Excuse XXI
The Flagman
Question:
Isn’t it simply impossible to avoid causing someone, somewhere to work on the Sabbath?
~~~
At one point in an essay defending dining out on the Sabbath, a team of writers for a prominent COG association offers an interesting hypothetical situation in an attempt to prove that God doesn’t hold His people responsible for the labor of restaurant personnel who prepare and serve their meals—even though they are the ones directing that labor. When doing so this group portrays those who reject dining out on the Sabbath as hypocrites. Here is how they express their point.
“The Flagman”
Consider the following analogy: Suppose that, while driving your car on the Sabbath, you approach a highway construction site en route to services. As you draw near, a flagman waves for you to stop. Then, a few minutes later, he waves you on through the construction zone and back into free-flowing traffic. By driving through the work zone, you caused extra labor for the flagman.
Though it might not be proportionate to the work that restaurant employees do in accommodating an additional customer, the fact remains that (in this analogy) you caused the flagman an extra measure of work—thus making you cause him to break the Sabbath. Work is work. This analogy cannot be dismissed.
Those who oppose dining out on the Sabbath yet would drive through a highway work zone on that same day would be guilty of utter hypocrisy! If one truly opposed eating out on the Sabbath on the grounds that extra labor might be produced, then he would be obliged to bypass all construction zones during Sabbath time.
The Perfect Loophole
Here, this COG group claims that because a flagman labors to direct you as a motorist, God now permits His people to consciously seek out unbelievers who work in restaurants, and hire them to prepare their Sabbath meals. Through this blast of “intellectual wisdom,” these men have discovered the perfect loophole. Because it would be impossible to not cause someone, someplace to labor in some form on the Sabbath, these men believe God now permits what He once prohibited. What a deal!
"Moses and Arm Waving"
Well here is a hypothetical for these Biblical thinkers. “You are an Israelite wandering in the Sinai desert. While there, God Almighty informs you that you are not to go out and find food on His Sabbath. He then informs you that you are to prepare all your Sabbath meals the day before—not on the Sabbath. Finally, He informs you that on the Sabbath you are to stay within the camp of His people. He then explains that this command will stand as a test to prove whether you will “walk in His law or not” (Ex. 16:4). On the following Sabbath you ask Moses if he has seen your son. Moses points you in your son’s direction. Here is our question. Because you caused God's faithful servant to work by lifting his arm, may you now go outside the camp and hire an unbeliever to gather and prepare your Sabbath manna?”
These COG writers know full well that their hypothetical is totally contrived. They offer it in an attempt to blur the lines between something that is totally beyond your control (the flagman) and something that is totally within your control (the restaurant worker). Sadly, their logic holds about as much moral weight as suggesting that because a person's vital organs (lungs, heart, kidneys etc.) work on the Sabbath, it must be okay for God's people to labor as well.
Finally, here is what these writers omit in their piece of Biblical trickery. When one is driving a car on the Sabbath, he is not seeking out construction workers who are profaning holy time. However, when it comes to going to restaurants on this day, the opposite is true. These men and their dining companions are CONSCIOUSLY seeking out Sabbath-breakers to do their bidding.
