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Taylor

Puritan Board Post-Graduate
My good brother Ron DiGiacomo wrote an excellent piece regarding the Sabbath that I think would be helpful to many here. It has become increasingly difficult to get people to understand the import of the Lord’s Day when it comes to eating out at restaurants, especially here in the South where such is practically a pastime. Ron does a great job giving a biblical, theological, and logical defense of Westminsterian Sabbatarianism. He ends with a plea to Presbyterian elders to stop taking stated and/or practiced exception to the Standards on this issue.

You can find the article, published by the Aquila Report, here.
 
I think one should also not simply assume you have to patronize the hotel restaurants on travels; try to plan to get with locals or some alternative. Don't just give in to a plea of necessity when alternatives haven't even been explored or taken seriously; folks just assume, 'I'm traveling, I eat out.'
 
I've found an AM service, with a potluck in between, followed immediately by a PM service to be a tremendous blessing, and I really do believe more congregations ought to do it. Not only does it kill the Denny's after service culture in America, but it is a work of mercy towards those who drive from afar to attend a particular congregation.
 
Exo 20 "8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

The bolded part certainly includes the cook/chef, waiter, and restaurant manager within your neigbourhood. Maybe people just don't want to think about it too closely, so they can plead ignorance.
 
We had a very lovely time recently at Heritage OPC (Wilmington, NC) , which, on account of their vacation-area location, has a standing lunch available for travelers such as ourselves, who drove not a short distance to join them. We could have packed a lunch and found a park, but their service to us was highly appreciated.
 
It is a work of mercy towards those who drive from afar to attend a particular congregation.
That sounds useful. Our trek isn't massive (25 min) but with young kids (including an infant) and chatting after service, it can seem rushed getting lunch/supper in between the services.
 
Thanks for sharing. It seems very obvious teaching to me just reading the 4th commandment as given at Mt Sinai that eating out would be excluded. It amazes me how often this teaching is ignored in the church today. Unless the exception taken would be such that the Sabbath is no longer in effect for us, I don't see how any exceptions could withstand this obvious conclusion.
 
I think one should also not simply assume you have to patronize the hotel restaurants on travels; try to plan to get with locals or some alternative. Don't just give in to a plea of necessity when alternatives haven't even been explored or taken seriously; folks just assume, 'I'm traveling, I eat out.'
My family will sometimes leave home after services on Sunday to avoid absenting ourselves on the following Lord's Day. It's not hard at all to make sure we have food ready and available with us for the day. On the very rare occasion we're already on the road, we'll get what we need on Saturday. It's different, maybe, if you're called out on an emergency. Otherwise it's a matter of living your life with a recognition that the sabbath is a huge blessing for everyone and should constitute the core of your plans.
 
Honestly I do think it is beneficial for the soul to concern itself as little as possible about these things by preparing the week and day in advance, taking the equity of the Day of Preparation. I personally set out my clothes the night before, and even recommend using paper plates and bowls for larger gatherings so that we need not concern ourselves with dishes, etc. To be more practical, if I plan to bake something, I do it the day before (Ex. 16:23) – but my conscience is not vexed to briefly use a microwave.

And these things are privileges, that I may cease inasmuch as I reasonably can from distractions. What a blessing for the Sabbath to be a taste of heaven, wherein we may concern ourselves as little as need be with other matters.
 
I think one should also not simply assume you have to patronize the hotel restaurants on travels; try to plan to get with locals or some alternative. Don't just give in to a plea of necessity when alternatives haven't even been explored or taken seriously; folks just assume, 'I'm traveling, I eat out

Your post put a big smile on my face when I remembered my honeymoon nearly 50 years ago.

Mary and I had stopped at a pretty mediocre Motel. We were pretty broke as newlyweds and just barely 21 years old. But on our trip to Virginia and the South for our honeymoon, we came upon the very first Sabbath Day of our marriage on the previous day, which of course, was Saturday. We would not travel and stayed instead in that pretty awful motel. But we planned ahead for are provisions for the Day. We had bought some crackers and a jar of peanut butter to spread on them. I think that's all we had to eat that day. Oh, I almost forgot we had plenty of water too.

But as I rethink those early days, for we had only been Christians 6 months before we got married, my eyes are filled with tears, and at the same time, my heart filled with the joy of the thought that we must have had the pleasure of God for doing the best we could on his Day. I have not always been that faithful, but we do try to keep a decent Sabbath, making it a delight and in no way a burden. I believe in those early years of my salvation. Probably the first ten years, I had to work six days a week for long hours in the construction industry. But the Sabbath was the Sabbath, and that was that. Over the years, I have thought and am quite convinced that I learned more about the God that loves me on that one day each week than on all the other six days combined. Some think of God as asking everything of us. And that is true in many respects. But for those who have recognized the wonders of His grace, love, goodness, power, forgiveness, and justice, it seems that He asks very little at all. John Owen said, "the Lord says 'my son, give me thine heart,' and beyond that, He asks very little else."

EDIT: At that point in our walk Mary and I had never even heard of the Reformed Faith, Calvinism, or Sabaterianism.
But we had a Book, we knew Who wrote it, and we read in that Book that there were TEN Commandments.
 
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To be more practical, if I plan to bake something, I do it the day before
Sears used to sell a kosher Kenmore oven. Looks like GE and Whirlpool still offer the "Sabbath Mode" ovens.

The way we handle things at our house is that I cook Sunday dinner instead of my wife having the kitchen duties. (I also cook supper once during the week and catch the holiday meals.
 
In addition to being conformed to God's word, sabbath-keeping has benefitted my kids in another way: they practically never run around at the last minute. Having prepared for Sundays all their lives they're used to thinking ahead and organizing themselves.
 
I find myself hopeful that my children will have memories such as @Ed Walsh but, for myself, understanding what it means to keep the Sabbath is quite fresh.

I struggle some with feeling left out from fellowship as other families head to restaurants together. But when combined with biking it is hard to counter with inviting others to share a preprepared* meal in my house.

* We do monthly meal prep so every meal is preprepared.
 
Someone mentioned this article to me at church today after the morning service. It is good to see that it is having a wide influence.
My good brother Ron DiGiacomo wrote an excellent piece regarding the Sabbath that I think would be helpful to many here. It has become increasingly difficult to get people to understand the import of the Lord’s Day when it comes to eating out at restaurants, especially here in the South where such is practically a pastime. Ron does a great job giving a biblical, theological, and logical defense of Westminsterian Sabbatarianism. He ends with a plea to Presbyterian elders to stop taking stated and/or practiced exception to the Standards on this issue.

You can find the article, published by the Aquila Report, here.
The author takes on Sproul's exception to the WCF's Sabbath doctrine here: https://philosophical-theology.com/...westminster-divines-on-the-christian-sabbath/
 
Someone mentioned this article to me at church today after the morning service. It is good to see that it is having a wide influence.
Same here, FCC member mentioned the article as well, and it lead to a discussion on practical Sabbath observance about loaning tools over the weekend, etc.
 
Does anyone know what denomination the author of this post is a ruling elder in?
 
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