Friday, December 20, 2019

"A Dialogue on the Sabbath Day"


In his Book of Mormon, Key to Conversion, Glenn L. Pearson offers the following mock dialogue between a Latter-day Saint missionary and a person who believes the Old Testament Sabbath is still binding after the time of Christ (a position held by some groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists):

Elder: Let me see if I understand you correctly. You feel that it is breaking one of the ten commandments to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, and that we do know that what we call Saturday is the seventh day. Is this your position?

Mr. Smith: Yes. And don't tell me about that Methodist Minister's book in which he claims to show that the Jewish Sabbath came on different days during the year and from year to year. We have scholars, too, you know And they have proved that he is wrong.

Elder: No. I had no intention of referring to Revelation Gamble's book.- 1 But I do wish to ask you another question or two. Am I correct in assuming that you base this belief on the Bible?

Mr. Smith: Yes. We base all of our beliefs on the Bible.

Elder: The reason you believe you should worship on Saturday is because you believe God has commanded it?

Smith: Yes.

Elder: I certainly believe that we should obey God. Sometimes God changes his commandments because of new circumstances. For instance, the Law of Moses was done away with in Christ, wasn't it?

Smith: Yes, but worshipping on the seventh day is mentioned earlier than the Law of Moses. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And the ten commandments were not done away in Christ. If God never changed the other nine why should He change the tenth?

Elder: What I was leading up to is this: if you knew that God had spoken again, and had new apostles and prophets on the earth, and had revealed that it was in harmony with His will that we should worship on Sunday, would you then be willing to change your practice to conform to His will?

Smith: I don't believe any such thing has occurred.

Elder: I realize that. And I am not going to pretend that I can or am obligated to prove to you that such a circumstance exists. But that is our message to the world. God Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith. Angels were sent. Many new revelations that pertain to our times and our problems were given. I have found out for myself that this is true. I can tell you what to do if you wish to investigate our claims.

I respect your right to worship as you please. I am sure you are sincere. I have no intention of ridiculing your faith or arguing with you about it. But I would like to tell you about the new revelations from God which we have. Would you like to hear more?

Smith: Yes, but I won't guarantee to believe it.

Elder: I wouldn't want you to make such a guarantee. Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?

[1] Samuel Walter Gamble, Sunday, The True Sabbath of God, The Methodist Book Concern (New York: 1900), Reissued by Deseret Book Co. (SLC: 1935).