Travelling through the Middle East some of the things that I learned where that if you were a Christian in Egypt or Jordan odds are you were working Sundays and were part of a church that met on Fridays. In Israel most Christians seem to be working Sundays and meeting for worship on Saturday.
Back on North American soil, I was somewhat surprised when talking to people who argue Sunday requires rest (many of whom would go so far as to argue for excommunication for members working Sundays). Yet most of them seemed perfectly happy with those in the Egypt, Jordan, and Israel who would be working Sundays and meeting some other day of the week. I think that there's something wrong with that logic.
Either of the following would seem to be logically consistent positions:
- Christian ARE required to avoid [non-essential] work on Sunday (or Saturday if you don't believe in a transition of days) and Jordanians, Egyptians, and Israelis are sinning by not doing so.
- Christians ARE NOT required to avoid work on Sunday, and thus Jordanians, Egyptians, and Israelis are not sinning by working this day of the week. (Whether it is wise to discourage such behaviour is another question... I'm planning a further post on this)
What say you? Is there a third logically consistent option?
