unwillingness to accept ignorance is a horrible human trait. we should all be able to accept the fact that we are not all knowing. the world contains much enlightening information that could either prove us wrong or supplement our understanding. as such, we need courage to either open up our smart phones and “google” to find an answer or search out some other reference. we must appreciate that the acting out of ignorance can be unnecessarily destructive.
“is it possible that non-jewish people also celebrate their sabbath on saturdays?” this easily google-able question could have saved the new york police department both money, embarrassment, and prevented the unnecessary harassment against an employee. the story’s details will be discussed shortly.
the answer to the above-stated question is “yes.” some christians observe a saturday sabbath; one of these denominations is the seventh-day adventists.
per the adventist website, the adventists accept the bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the holy scriptures. these beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church’s understanding and expression of the teaching of scripture. ” with respect to the law of god, “the great principles of god’s law are embodied in the ten commandments and exemplified in the life of christ. they express god’s love, will, and purposes concerning human conduct and relationships and are binding upon all people in every age. these precepts are the basis of god’s covenant with his people and the standard in god’s judgment. through the agency of the holy spirit they point out sin and awaken a sense of need for a saviour. salvation is all of grace and not of works, and its fruit is obedience to the commandments. this obedience develops christian character and results in a sense of well-being. it is evidence of our love for the lord and our concern for our fellow human beings. the obedience of faith demonstrates the power of christ to transform lives, and therefore strengthens christian witness. (exod. 20:1-17; deut. 28:1-14; ps. 19:7-14; 40:7, 8; matt. 5:17-20; 22:36-40; john 14:15; 15:7-10; rom. 8:3, 4; eph. 2:8-10; heb. 8:8-10; 1 john 2:3; 5:3; rev. 12:17; 14:12.)”
with respect to the sabbath, the website notes that “the gracious creator, after the six days of creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the sabbath for all people as a memorial of creation. the fourth commandment of god’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of jesus, the lord of the sabbath. the sabbath is a day of delightful communion with god and one another. it is a symbol of our redemption in christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in god’s kingdom. the sabbath is god’s perpetual sign of his eternal covenant between him and his people. joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of god’s creative and redemptive acts. (gen. 2:1-3; exod. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; lev. 23:32; deut. 5:12-15; isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; ezek. 20:12, 20; matt. 12:1-12; mark 1:32; luke 4:16; heb. 4:1-11.)” adventists
the adventist’s website- including its section on beliefs- makes it expressly clear to the world that their religion follows the ten commandments and has saturday observance of the sabbath.
with this in mind, we turn to a nypost.com story of ms. johanne saint jean- a seventh day adventist. she was allegedly harassed by her fellow nypd officers for wanting to take saturdays off of work. ms. st. jean’s request was not honored, “instead, she spent the next eight years being chastised by superiors who allegedly told her, “‘you’re not jewish. why are you practicing like you’re jewish?’” also, “a supervisor also said her religion was “not for black people” and she starting being assigned to work saturdays.” she allegedly was also told by supervisors that “i don’t understand your religion” and “your religion is messed up.” further, she was allegedly told that “no cop wants to work with you because you are a scammer.” nypost.com
eventually, it was reported, “she was granted religious accommodations to have her required days off.” nypost.com
this whole employment debacle has led to a lawsuit brought by officer saint jean. as we see, this lawsuit was totally avoidable had some individuals shown the courage to acknowledge their ignorance and seek confirmation as to her assertions.
in sum, we must ask “is ms. saint jean a ten commandments’ hero?” in light of her persistence in fighting for her right to practice her religion, one must assert, absent further information, that the punctuation must be changed from a question mark to an exclamation point. this post’s title is now officially “a ten commandments’ hero!”
be well!!
The Ten Commandments Project 