Sermon Central
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Exposing A Myth
Contributed by Ovidiu Radulescu on Apr 9, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: They are many examples of myths, both scientific and otherwise. And people throughout history have believed them. While it may not seem all that critical to accept scientific myths, the acceptance of religious myths could have devastating consequences. In
Exposing a myth (can be a Power Point Presentation)
1. Exposing a myth – what are myths… Examples…
2. Myths are easily accepted as truth it they have been around a long time. Take the case of the spider. About 350 B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle classified the spider as having six legs. And for the next 20 centuries everyone believed the spider had six legs. No one even bothered to count and it was any way to challenge the great Aristotle. And of course, everybody thought this is a scientific conclusion.
Well, along came Lamarck, the outstanding naturalist. He carefully counted the legs of the spider. And guess how many legs he counted? Exactly eight. The myth that had been taught as truth for centuries was destroyed because Lamarck bothered co count.
3. Copernicus, Galileo, Einstein… three great scientific myths destroyers…
4. They are many other examples of myths, both scientific and otherwise. And people throughout history have believed them. While it may not seem all that critical to accept scientific myths, the acceptance of religious myths could have devastating consequences. In other words, in matters of personal responsibility towards God, the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, myth and truth, becomes essential.
The classic example of religious myth general accepted by Christianity as a whole is the one I challenge you today in my presentation.
5. I am amazed how the American society is so polarized: religious people in one hand and secular people, on the other hand. And we live here in so called BIBLE BELT, where people confess they are Christians, doesn’t matter which denomination. How many of you attend the church services, on Sundays? Good…. This means you will fallow me…
6. Sunday at church… Christians attend church on Sunday, is not true? During the week, with few exceptions…. nobody goes to the church… Why? Simple you will answer, because we assume Sunday is the Lord’s day of worship.
7. As Christians, we try to keep the Ten Commandments. Not only Alabama is a battlefield for conservative Christians, who want to engrave for ever the God’s 10 Commandments in our collective memory, but Arkansas too.
8. And the fourth Commandment says: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… Six days labor, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God – Exodus 20: 8-11.
9. The sacred Sabbath commandment is enshrined in the heart of God’s law as a perpetual reminder of His authority. It is the sign of Creation. In Genesis we found how God made this ecosystem in six days but in the seventh day he stopped and rested as an example for mankind.
10. Genesis 2: 3 - And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it…It is a blessed day, a holy day. It is a gift for always in a hurry twenty first century people.
11. And which day of the week is the seventh day? Let’s count them. Which one is the first, first day of the week according to the Bible? It is the day Jesus resurrected, is the Easter day! He resurrected in the first day of the week, according to Luke 24:1. And this is SUNDAY.
12. Compare the three days of the Easter: Friday (crucifixion), Saturday (the day Jesus rested in the grave) and Sunday, the resurrection day.
13. One step more. As Christians, it is our duty to follow Jesus’ example. In everything. What is the meaning of WWJD?
14. Which day Jesus observed as holy and attend the church of those days. Sunday or Saturday, the seventh one? Saturday, it is no doubt. See Luke 4,16
15. What day the apostles kept as holy? Read this verse. And we can found many other Bible’s paragraph testifying the truth: the New Testament church kept the fourth commandment and Saturday was the holy Sabbath. See Acts 17: 22
16. What happened then? Who changed the worship day from Saturday to Sunday? We must remember that Roman Empire religion was paganism, with a special significance on sun worship. In 325 AD, Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, passed a law entitling Sunday “the venerable day of sun” as a holy day. SUN-DAY
17. He tried to unify pagans and Christians under the same umbrella. And gradually, the church leaders exalted Sunday in place of the true Bible Sabbath. However, true Sabbath observance was still practiced all along the centuries until today.
18. Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh Day Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, and Seventh Day Pentecostals are still honoring Jesus example and God commandment. If you love Me, keep My commandments: John 14: 15. All Ten Commandments. If… So many good Christians still keeping only nine… worshiping in Constantine day, sun’s day and not Lord’s Day! Do you think that John 14: 15 is legalism?
