THE SABBATH DECISION OF THE SAMOAN SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH An Analysis in Light of Seventh day Adventist Theology, Hermeneutics, and Identity

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1 1 THE SABBATH DECISION OF THE SAMOAN SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH An Analysis in Light of Seventh day Adventist Theology, Hermeneutics, and Identity By Iutini Rimoni (January 24, 2013) CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 2 The Adventist Church and the Sabbath Doctrine 2 The Sabbath Day Questioned 3 The Integrity of the SDA Church Questioned 5 The Issue 6 My Approach 7 CHAPTER II: THE SABBATH IN SDA THEOLOGY 7 SDA Hermeneutics 7 Basis for SDA Sabbath Observance 8 A. CREATION 8 Meaning of Creation 9 Adventist Motivations for Observing the Creation Sabbath 11 Implications for Adventist Sabbath Observance 13 B. REDEMPTION 15 C. RESTORATION 16 CHAPTER III: THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH IN SAMOA 17 CHAPTER IV: CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE SAMOAN SABBATH POSITION 20 A. CREATION 20 The Sabbath Intent 20 The Sabbath in Context 21 The 180 Longitudinal and Sunset Line Arguments 25 The Seventh day Versus Saturday Adventist Argument 28 The God Appointed Times and Boundaries Argument 29 The Absence of a Thus saith the Lord Argument 30 Implications for Imitatio Dei 31 B. REDEMPTION 32 C. RESTORATION 33 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 34 BIBLIOGRAPHY 37

2 2 I. INTRODUCTION THE ADVENTIST CHURCH AND THE SABBATH DOCTRINE The Seventh day Adventist (SDA) Church, besides the doctrines it shares with all Christians and in particular with Protestant tradition from which its modern origins arose, 1 holds also to some doctrines which puts it at variance with the majority of Christians. 2 On a case by case basis, many of these teachings are not unique to the SDA Church. However, with the addition of their distinctive Adventist interpretations, these teachings as a combined body have come to shape the core of SDA identity. 3 Contained within these distinctive teachings is what the Adventist pioneers accepted as the pillars of their faith. 4 Although opened to new theological insights and continually developing in depth and understanding, these pillars are, at their foundational level, non negotiable. 5 One such pillar is the doctrine of the Seventh day Sabbath. 6 It is the clearest identifying feature of Adventism due to its direct impact and influence on Seventh day Adventist praxis, 7 and because it is the most prominent characteristic that distinguishes SDAs from other Christians. People in general have come to know SDAs mainly for the religious significance they attach to the seventh day of the week, and for being the largest Christian denomination to observe it as the Sabbath. 8 The explicit mention of it in the Church s organizational and institutional name, The Seventh day Adventist Church, confirms the prominent place this doctrine occupies in the Church. 9 Additionally, the Seventh day Sabbath is also the very heart of Adventism. 10 It is the capstone of Adventist theology and potentially its most valuable contribution to the larger Christian world. 11 This is due to the special way it relates to all the major Christian doctrines that includes 1 See Morris L Venden, The Pillars (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1982), pp ; For a more extensive list of doctrines SDAs share with Conservative Christians and Protestant Creeds, see Seventhday Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrines: An Explanation of Certain Major Aspects of Seventh day Adventist Belief (Washington, D. C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1957), pp See SDAs Answer Questions, 10; for a complete, but abbreviated list of all the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the SDA Church, see Seventh day Adventist Church Manual, Revised 18 th Edition (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2010), pp For more on the distinctive frame holding SDA Biblical teachings together, see The Daniel and Revelation Committee, General Conference of Seventh day Adventists, To the Reader, in William Shea, Selected Studies on Prophetic Interpretation, Daniel and Revelation Committee Series, Volume 1 (Washington, D. C: The Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), p. v; See also George Knight, A Search for Identity: The Development of Seventh day Adventist Beliefs (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000), pp Venden, The Pillars, pp. 9 10; Knight, Search for Identity, p For a brief discussion of the church s struggles in deciding what exactly was to be counted as the non negotiable pillars of faith, see Rolf J. Pöhler, Continuity and Change in Adventist Teaching: A Case Study in Doctrinal Development (Frankfurt am Main, Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften: Peter Lanh GmbH, 2000), pp See Knight, Search for Identity, p Seventh day Adventists attach a lot of religious significance to seventh day Sabbath keeping practices, with certain principles and guidelines officially recommended for the collective church to follow. See Church Manual, pp ; George W. Reid, Sabbath Observance Guidelines, Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists, (accessed 1 May 2012). 8 Richard Rice, The Reign of God: An Introduction to Christian Theology from a Seventh day Adventist Perspective (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1985), pp For the background to the choosing of this name, see Richard W. Schwarz, Light Bearers to the Remnant: Denominational History Textbook for Seventh day Adventist College Classes (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979), p Sakae Kubo, The Sabbath, Sign of a Relationship, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (June, 1983), p Rice, Reign of God, p. 356.

3 the distinctive concerns of Seventh day Adventists. 12 Hence, without this shared conviction about the Seventh day Sabbath amongst Adventists, the Seventh day Adventist Church would and, possibly, could not exist. 13 Any question over the theological credibility and practical validity of this doctrine, therefore, implies a question over the legitimacy of the Seventh day Adventist Church per se. It is because such a question has arisen recently that this essay is written. THE SABBATH DAY QUESTIONED On December 29/31, 2011, the Samoan Government relocated the International Date Line (IDL), previously on the west, to the east of that country (see Figure 1), resulting in the removal of Friday, December 30, 2011, from the Samoan calendar. Moving directly from Thursday, December 29, to Saturday, December 31, meant that the physical day previously known as Saturday in the old weekly cycle, has now become the new Sunday in Samoa. In response to this change, the local and regional leadership of the SDA Church in Samoa the Samoa Tokelau Mission and the South Pacific Division, referred to inclusively from here on as the Samoan leadership made the official decision to direct its members in Samoa to observe this new Sunday as the Seventh day Sabbath on the basis that the physical seventh day has not changed. The order and sequence of days, as they have argued, remain the same with only their names changing Figure 1. International Date Line after the December 29/31, 2011 change Rice, Reign of God, pp. xiii, Pöhler, Continuity and Change, p Barry Oliver, Government Changes Calendar: Adventists Respond, Record: Official News Magazine of the South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church (February 4, 2012), p Taken from Frank Jacobs, The Border that Stole 500 Birthdays, The New York Times: The Opinion Pages (July 31, 2012), border that stole 500 birthdays (accessed 16 August 2012).

4 4 Samoa, however, is not the first national SDA church to opt for a Sunday Sabbath. From the start of the SDA presence in Tonga in 1891, the Church in that country has been observing Sunday as the Sabbath on the belief that the real seventh day Sabbath theree has been mistakenly called Sunday. The correct seventh day Sabbath for Tonga, the argument goes, should be the same physical day observed as the Sabbath by Adventists in countries such as French Polynesia and the Cook Islands since Tonga is geographically located on the same side (the Western Hemisphere e side) of the 180 Longitudinal Line (180L) as those countries. Saturday in those countries is the physical equivalent of the Tongan Sunday because of Tonga s placement relative to the 180L and is therefore, according to the American missionaries that brought the SDA message to that country, the correct seventh day Sabbath there. 16 The Phoenix and Line Islands of Kiribati followed in 1995 after the IDL, which had previously divided that country into two separate day zones to the east) was shifted to the far east of that country bringing the whole of Kiribati into the same day zone (see Figures 1 and 2). 17 The church, in along the 180L (with the Gilbert Islands to the west, and the Phoenix and Line Islands response to that shift, opted for a Sunday Sabbath for the Phoenix and Line Islands because of their geographical position in relation to the 180L (i.e. east of the 180L), while maintaining a 18 Saturday Sabbath for the Gilbert Islands (to the west of the 180L). Figure 2. Map of Kiribati showing the 180 Longitudinal Line Ray Coombe, Sunday Worship on Wallis Island, Record: Official news magazine of the South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church (April 30, 2011), p. 9. See also See George Burnside, Why Seventh day Adventists Keep Sunday in Tonga, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (January, 1966), seventh day adventists keep sunday in tonga (accessed 10 May 2012); Milton Hook, Talafekau Mo oni: Early Adventism in Tonga and Niue, Seventh day Adventist Heritage Series, Booklet 21 (Wahroonga, NSW: South Pacific Division Department of Education), p. 8, (accessed 6 November 2012); and Paul Petersen, Sabbath in the Pacific Around the Dateline: Statement of Principles and Conclusions, South Pacific Division of the Seventh day Adventist Church, /adventist.org.au/assets/ (accessed 21 May 2012). 17 See Kiribati, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed 6 November 2012). 18 Coombe and Petersen in their respected articles Sunday Worship on Wallis Island, and Sabbath Around the Dateline, (accessed 21 May 2012), only mention the Line Islands as observing the Sabbath on Sunday. David Hay, however, in his essay The Change of Day in Samoa Its Implications of the 7 th Day Sabbath Observance, Seventh day Adventist Church, South Pacific Division, p. 10 (accessed 21 May 2012), implies a Sunday Sabbath also for the mainly uninhabited Phoenix Islands. 19 Taken from WorldAtlas..Com, Kiribati, /oceania/ki.htm (accessed 6 November 2012).

5 5 Interestingly, in Fiji, another country with territories in both hemispheres, or on either side of the 180L (see Figure 3), it is the Saturday of that whole country as determined by the IDL currently lying to the far east of that country, which is the same Saturday as countries like Australia and Papua New Guinea in the Eastern Hemisphere (i.e. west of the 180L), that all SDAs there observe as the Sabbath even those in the wrong (i.e. east of the 180L) hemisphere. Figure 3. Map of Fiji showing the 180 Longitudinal Line separating the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. 20 Wallis and Futuna followed Tonga and Kiribati s lead at the commencement of the SDA work there in 2007, basing their decision on the same premises used by the Church in those two countries. 21 All of the lines of reasoning used by the church in determining the Sabbath for these countries come up in one way or another in the church s arguments for the Samoan situation that we shall outline in this paper. So my focus on this most recent case and my response to this accumulation of arguments can be seen as a critique also of these earlier decisions. THE INTEGRITY OF THE SDA CHURCH QUESTIONED The Samoan Church, in addition to the churches in these other countries, is now at odds with the worldwide church whose collective voice, as officially expressed in the Church Manual and the General Conference Working Policy, 22 explicitly identify Saturday as the Seventh day Sabbath. 23 By redefining the clearest distinctive feature of the Church at the recommendation of the Biblical Research Committee of the South Pacific Division, 24 and by implementing this change through the exercising of its regional and local administrative authority without the official 20 Taken from World Cruising Wiki, Fiji Cruising Guide, (accessed 6 November 2012). 21 Coombe, Sunday Worship on Wallis Island, p Working Policy of the General Conference of Seventh day Adventists, Edition, Version (Washington D. C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, ), pp Church Manual, p See Petersen, Sabbath Around the Dateline, (accessed 21 May 2012).

6 consent or endorsement of the world church at the General Conference in Session, 25 the Samoan leadership have breached not only the Church s constitution in regards to matters related to the official beliefs of the church, but also the church s hermeneutical approach to such matters. In other words, they have gone against not just the collective and Authoritative Administrative 26 voice of the World Church, but against the hermeneutical principles undergirding those voices as well. 27 As important as these issues are in the whole Samoan Sabbath discussion, they (i.e. the issues related to the process, doctrinal, and disciplinary authority in the Church), however, are not the focus of this essay. My main focus is to analyse and evaluate the content of the Samoan leadership s arguments. In summary, it is the credibility of the basis on which the church s ecclesiastical identity in Samoa is grounded, 28 the consistency and reliability of the World Church s Seventh day Sabbath theology, and the basis for the message and mission of the worldwide SDA Church which is linked directly to and inseparable from its unique understanding of the Sabbath 29 that are now being questioned by what has transpired in Samoa. It is in essence the integrity of the whole SDA movement that is in the balance as a result of the Samoan leadership s decision. THE ISSUE Aside from the question over what the true and correct technical seventh day of the weekly cycle is, and the mechanics of Sabbath observance associated with that day, the most pressing and more significant question for Adventist theology, Adventist hermeneutics, and Adventist identity, is whether a day other than Saturday, irrespective of geographical location, can be the Seventhday Sabbath. Could Seventh day Adventists consider and thus observe another day as the Seventh 6 25 A constituency meeting of delegates representing the SDA Church worldwide that currently meet every five years. 26 Working Policy of the General Conference, pp , 51. The Authoritative Administrative Voice of the Church are the guidelines laid out in the General Conference Working Policy, which entrusts the defining of [the Church s] denominational beliefs to the General Conference in session, and not to a selected few as was the case for the Samoan Sunday Sabbath decision. These denominational beliefs, as decided by the General Conference in session, are expressed in documents such as the Church Manual and General Conference Working Policy. For the rationale behind the interpretation and implementation process taken by the local and regional leadership of the Samoan Church, see Limoni Manu O Uiha, The IDL Shift in Samoa and the Unchangeable Nature of the Seventh day Sabbath, (accessed 21 May 2012). O Uiha, using the example of the Jerusalem Council, argues that such issues as the IDL SHOULD BE DISCUSSED AT A HIGHER LEVEL OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT AND NOT AT A LOCAL CHURCH (EMPHASIS in original), with that higher level being a handful of committees (e.g. Biblical Research Committee, ADCOM, Samoan Executive Committee); and David Tasker, Samoa and the International Dateline, South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church, : 10 (accessed 21 May, 2012). Tasker, aiming to justify the same view as O Uiha, states that God leads the church as a whole, not by isolated individuals who think they are the only ones with God s truth. The church as a whole referred to by Tasker here, is the local and regional administrative leadership of the church, not the collective voice of the World Church as decided at the General Conference in Session. 27 See William Johnsson, Nine Foundations for an Adventist Hermeneutic. Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (March 1999): 13 16, for an adventisthermeneutic (accessed 27 August, 2012). Johnsson here refers to Adventist hermeneutics as a hermeneutic for the whole church, lay people as well as scholars ; See also Richard M. Davidson, Biblical Interpretation, in Handbook of Seventh day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000): 60: The interpretation of Scripture [as found in the NT Witness], according to Davidson, is the task of the entire church, not restricted to a few specialists (see Acts 17:11; Eph. 3:18, 19; 5:10, 17). 28 Working Policy of the General Conference, pp The identity of the Church according to this document cannot be fully defined or viewed in isolation from its relationships with other local churches and other levels of denominational organization. 29 P. Gerard Damsteegt, Foundations of the Seventh Day Adventist Message and Mission (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), pp

7 7 day Sabbath and still be true to the heart of Adventism? 30 Can another day achieve the same objectives and possess the same meanings for SDAs as have traditionally been appropriated to Saturday? Can Adventist theology and hermeneutics legitimately endorse the Sunday Sabbath position of the Samoan Church? And what will become of the Church s unique SDA identity in Samoa as a result of their new practice of Sunday Sabbath observance? MY APPROACH To fully comprehend the main issues involved is to understand first the theological meaning of the Seventh day Sabbath as determined by Adventist hermeneutics, the Adventist motivations for observing the Seventh day Sabbath, and the implications of those meanings and motivations for Adventist Sabbath observance practices. These I will outline in Chapter II. 31 Next, in Chapter III, will be my summation of the key arguments of the Samoan leadership. A critical evaluation of the premises on which their arguments are based, in light of the abovementioned outlines, will then be given in Chapter IV. Included in that evaluation will be my analysis of the implications for the Samoan Sabbath decision of a Biblically based theological understanding of God in relation to time and culture, which, in turn, will reveal what I believe to be the real underlying issue of this and any discussion of the Seventh day Sabbath, namely one s actual perception and understanding of the character and meaning 32 of God, of all He creates, and of His relation to that creation. 33 Incorporated into that evaluation will be my analysis of the implications of the Samoan decision for Adventist Sabbath theology, Adventist hermeneutics, and Adventist identity. Chapter V will be my conclusion, which will include my recommendations for the Samoan Church based on the information outlined in the preceding chapters, with the principles underpinning those recommendations being relevant also, and applicable to, the World Church. II. THE SABBATH IN SDA THEOLOGY SDA HERMENEUTICS Adventists believe that a valid theology of the Sabbath must be Biblically based, thoroughly rooted in the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. 34 Their hermeneutical approach follows the grammatical historical, or historical biblical approach to Scripture, with the presuppositions of sola Scriptura (the Bible and the Bible only), tota Scriptura (the totality of Scripture), and analogia Scripturae (the analogy and harmony of Scripture), having prominence in their interpretations. 35 The result for Adventists is the prioritising of a straightforward reading of the text, 36 accepting the historicity of the key events on which their Sabbath theology finds its theological basis and legitimacy. These key Biblical events include: the literal creation act of 30 Kubo, Sign of a Relationship, pp I will prioritise what Pöhler refers to as the more mature position of the church. See Pöhler, Continuity and Change, pp Sigve Tonstad, The Lost Meaning of the Seventh day (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 2009), p See Gideon Goosen, Spacetime and Theology in Dialogue (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press, 2008), p. 36: The way one sees the time/eternity relationship is...going to influence one s view of the God world relationship ; cf. Abraham Joshua Herschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), p. 89: What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us. 34 Kenneth A. Strand, The Sabbath, in Handbook of Seventh day Adventist Theology, Hagerstown (Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association: 2000), p See Richard M. Davidson, Interpreting Scripture: An Hermeneutical Decalogue, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 4, No. 2 (1993), pp ; Davidson, Biblical Interpretation, pp See Davidson, Biblical Interpretation, p. 96.

8 Genesis; the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai; and Jesus observance of the Sabbath both in life and in His death. BASIS FOR SDA SABBATH OBSERVANCE Emerging from such hermeneutics are the three main theological themes in which, according to SDAs, the Seventh day Sabbath ultimately finds its meaning and purpose. 37 They are: 1. Creation The Sabbath as a memorial of Creation; 2. Redemption The Sabbath as a memorial and symbol of the spiritual salvation rest as found in Christ; 3. Restoration The Sabbath as a sample, a taste, as well as a sign of the restoration and eternal peace to come. 38 Of the three, it is the meaning derived from the Creation theme that provides the primary rationale for Seventh day Sabbath observance in Adventist theology. 39 It acts as the key foundation upon which the motivating factors of the latter two themes (Redemption and Restoration) are built. 40 For this reason, the Creation theme is given the greatest consideration in this essay. A. CREATION Adventist hermeneutics accept as literally true the accounts of Creation in Gen Revealed in this account of the Creation act is the fundamental relationship between God and the world. 42 This revelation of God is, according to Adventists, one of the basic affirmations of God which the Bible writers, and Christians after them, have regarded as the indispensable foundation upon which their other beliefs rest. 43 Resting on this foundational affirmation is the concept of the Sabbath day which Adventists believe is eminently a revelation of the nature of God and of His purpose. 44 It is, according to Adventist interpretation, the first signifier of the character and meaning of God Himself, and of all He creates. 45 As such, He is the primary subject of the seventh day 46 with His rest being what man is graciously commanded to share. 47 The Sabbath is therefore ultimately descriptive of what God does, and not explicitly [of] what human beings ought to 8 37 See Raoul Dederen, Reflections on a Theology of the Sabbath, The Sabbath in Scripture and History, ed. Kenneth A. Strand (Washington, D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), pp Dederen refers to these themes as the Adventist Motivations for Sabbath Observances. 38 Dederen, Reflections, p. 298; Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Advent Hope for Human Hopelessness: A Theological Study of the Meaning of the Second Advent for Today (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Biblical Perspectives, 1988), p. 374; Norman R. Gulley, Basic Issues between Science and Scripture: Theological Implications of Alternative Models and the Necessary Basis for the Sabbath in Genesis 1 2, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 14, No. 1 (Spring 2003), p. 223; and Nancy J. Vyhmeister, Who Are Seventh day Adventists?, Handbook of Seventh day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association: 2000), p See Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p See Gulley, Basic Issues, p The meaning of the Sabbath is unfolded throughout Scripture, but each addition is rooted in the creation record. 41 Gulley, Basic Issues, pp Gulley here discusses why belief in a literal week of creation is a necessary basis for Sabbath keeping. See also Brian W. Ball, ed., In the Beginning: Science and Scripture Confirm Creation (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2012). 42 Dederen, Reflections, p Dederen, Reflections, p Dederen, Reflections, p Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p. 2. See also Angel Rodriguez, The Biblical Sabbath: The Adventist Perspective, Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference of Seventh day Adventists, catholic2002.htm (accessed 1 May 2012); Desmond Ford, The Edenic Origin of the Sabbath, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (February, 1963), pp Dederen, Reflections, p. 296; Kubo, Sign of a Relationship, pp. 4 7.

9 9 do. 48 It is a divine commitment before it is a human duty, 49 making it firstly, and strictly, theological, since it moves from God to man. 50 MEANING OF CREATION Various theological meanings concerning God and His creation in the light of, and as signified by the institution of the Sabbath through God s Divine rest on the seventh day, can be discovered in other ways and from other events of Scripture. 51 But it is how they are revealed in the institution of the Seventh day Sabbath at Creation, as interpreted by Adventist hermeneutics, that I will focus on in this section. I will note ten theological themes which have emerged from reflection on the key passage from the book of Genesis, And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation (Gen 2:2 3, NRSV). The Purposeful God: The seventh day, by being itself a definite part of Creation 52 that brings the Creation activity to a completion, reveals the Creator as a purposeful God, with His Creation act being an intentional one. 53 It was not a casual activity on His part nor was there a corresponding human influence and activity; 54 rather it reveals an exclusive divine prerogative without a natural law explanation. This affirms for Adventists the absolute sovereignty of God 55 the belief that there is no beginning without God and that nothing happens apart from the divine agency. 56 God the Divine Owner: Besides signifying God as the Creator, controller, 57 and sustainer 58 of the cosmos, the Seventh day Sabbath acts also as a symbol of God s divine ownership of creation 59 ; He owns it because He created it. This is explicitly expressed in the Fourth Commandment [where]... the believer is invited to remember on the Sabbath that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them 60 (Exod 20:11; 31:17). God s Commitment to the World: Because of His concern with everything that happens in creation, as revealed in His continual sustaining work, God s rest on the seventh day of Creation for Adventists becomes an expression of his commitment to the world he made. 61 His rest on the seventh day shows that God values the world enough to celebrate its existence Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Tonstad, Lost Meaning, pp See Dederen, Reflections, p For example, see Arthur F. Holmes, Contours of a Worldview (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985), pp Interestingly, in his chapter entitled God and Creation: Theological, Holmes gives an outline of the meanings of God and Creation identical to those SDA s derive from the Creation Sabbath. 52 Dederen, Reflections, p See Tonstad, Lost Meaning, pp. 20, Rice, Reign of God, p Dederen, Reflections, p. 302; Rice, Reign of God, p See Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Samuele Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest for Human Restlessness: A Theological Study of the Good News of the Sabbath for Today (Berrien Springs, Michigan: University Printers, 1988), p See Strand, The Sabbath, p. 509; Rice, Reign of God, p Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Rice, Reign of God, p Rice, Reign of God, p. 368.

10 God s Perfect Creation: God s seventh day rest affirms both the completion and perfection of His work of Creation, 63 for not only was His creative work done by the seventh day (Gen 2:2), but He also contemplated the whole of His work and declared that it was very good (Gen 1:31). Implied in this pronouncement is the affirmation of the Creator God as Perfection as His Creation is perfect. 64 Revelation of God s Generosity: The Seventh day Sabbath, by calling attention to God s creative activity, becomes itself a revelation of His generosity. It reveals not only that God is a giver of good gifts within an already established world, but that the existence of the world itself is an absolute gift from Him. 65 The Sabbath, by bringing to mind the creation act of God, shows Him as having bestowed everything needed by His created human beings at Eden. 66 These include life itself, human and divine fellowship, complete health and happiness, a perfect environment, and all the talents and mental and physical capabilities for humanity to function well. 67 God as the Ultimate in Fairness: Because of its applicability and accessibility to all mankind, coming to all places with the same regularity, with all receiving the same amount of Sabbath time, Seventh day Adventists see the Sabbath as a revelation of God as the ultimate in fairness. 68 God s impartiality (see Acts 10:34) is further affirmed by His command to the ancient Israelites for all including the servant, the alien, as well as the landowner (Exod 23:12) to be made to rest on the Sabbath day. 69 God s desire for a personal relationship with His Creation: God s seventh day rest reveals God s desire to enter into a personal relationship with His creation. 70 Instead of simply retiring to the position of a detached spectator after creating the world and man, God is revealed as willing and wanting to co exist with man by instituting the Sabbath and then inviting man to participate in His rest and blessedness. 71 God s closeness to the world: The Creation act, by showing God entering into the time of the created order to interact with His creation on the seventh day, 72 is affirming the astonishing proximity of the creature to the Creator. 73 The seventh day thus calls attention to God s closeness to the world. 74 This proximity of God s presence for humanity, as symbolized by the Sabbath, is revealed to be by means of time rather than space, 75 thus symbolizing God s ongoing experience with human beings since time does not have the same physical limitations Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, pp. 62, Strand, The Sabbath, p. 510; Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Dederen, Reflections, pp. 296, Dederen, Reflections, p Terence E. Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abington Press, 2005), p. 63. As quoted in Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Dederen, Reflections, p Rice, Reign of God, pp. 367, Rice, Reign of God, p. 367.

11 and boundaries as conventionally inferred and applied to space. 76 God is thus viewed here as a Person who is... committed to and involved in Creation up close and personal. 77 God s Personhood: The cessation and completion of the Creation work on the seventh day (Gen 2:1 2) shows a Person at work, with that Person having had a definite and limited design in mind, 78 for an impersonal power would not be free to terminate the process. 79 The Sabbath as such expresses God s creative freedom by showing that he creates when he chooses and refrains from creating when it pleases him. 80 This personhood of God is further demonstrated through the Sabbath by showing God as One seeking personal relationships and fellowship with his creatures. 81 Revelation of God s Love: A final meaning of God and His creative acts as revealed through God s rest on the seventh day is that of His love. As Karl Barth concludes, the reason why [God] refrains from further activity on the seventh day is that He has found the object of His love and has no need for any further works. 82 The Sabbath in this sense shows the existence of the world and of humanity to have value [only] because they are not a product of chance but a personal creation of a loving God. 83 ADVENTIST MOTIVATIONS FOR OBSERVING THE CREATION SABBATH Having the above understanding of the theological meaning of Creation, and of God in His relation to that Creation, as signified by the Seventh day Sabbath, raises the question of why humans observe the Sabbath since it is ultimately God s own divine rest. Imitating God s Example: Firstly, Adventists believe that God, through His example and fiat of setting the seventh day aside to rest, showed the whole human family how the seventh day ought to be regarded. 84 Angel Rodriguez, in restating a line from the Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, agrees with Pope John Paul II in principle 85 that [i]f the first page of the book of Genesis presents God s work as an example for man, the same is true of God s rest. 86 In this sense, God is understood by Adventists to be spoken of anthropomorphically 87 in order for humans to comprehend the Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Thus Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 1, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (London: SCM Press, 1975), p As quoted in Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Tonstad, Lost Meaning, pp Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Rice, Reign of God, p Rice, Reign of God, p Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 1, The Doctrine of Creation, trans. J. W. Edwards, O. Bussey, and Harold Knight (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1958), p As quoted in Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Frank B. Holbrook, Did the Apostle Paul Abolish the Sabbath? Colossians 2:14 17 Revisited, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 13, No. 2 (Autumn 2002), p. 64. See also Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1988), p Agreement in principle since Pope John Paul II was referring to Sunday as the Sabbath in the context of his letter. See John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini of the Holy Father John Paul II to the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful of the Catholic Church on Keeping the Lord s Day Holy, (accessed 6 November 2012). 86 As quoted by Rodriguez, Adventist Perspective, (accessed 1 May 2012). 87 That is, ascribing human characteristics to the deity. See Roy Gane, Sabbath and the New Covenant, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 10, Numbers 1 2 (1999), pp. 312, 313. See also Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages: The Conflict of the Ages Illustrated in the Life of Christ, (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association,

12 Creator s rest/work program which they, as images of the Creator, were designed to follow. 88 It is imago Dei, 89 resulting in imitatio Dei, 90 that Adventists see as the original and therefore the primary reason for humans to observe the seventh day as the Sabbath (see Exod 20:11). 91 All other lines of reasoning are secondary to this heart. Obeying God s Commandments: The inclusion of the Sabbath commandment in the Decalogue sees the Seventh day Sabbath for Adventists revealed, in the most tangible of forms, as part of the revelation and transcript of God s character. 92 And since God s character does not change, then neither should the principles contained in the transcript of His moral law. 93 Therefore, as the moral principles contained in the moral law embody God s expectations of human beings in every time and place, so is the Sabbath command God s expectation for humans in every time and place. It sets the standard for [their] behaviour, and provides a guide for their lives. 94 So, although God s example and fiat were deemed enough for His original creation, the laxity of humanity made it necessary [for God] to add the [Sabbath] command explicitly. 95 Sabbath observance imitatio Dei for Adventists, therefore, was only turned into a command at Sinai, with the fourth commandment being God simply offering the privilege of Creation Sabbath observance to His people in a different form. 96 Following Jesus Example: A final motivator for Creation Sabbath observance in Adventist theology, is Jesus own example. 97 Adventists see Jesus as the true interpreter 98 of the Sabbath, with His Sabbath activities and teaching revealing its full, inward, [and] spiritual meaning. 99 This is in contrast to the burdensome and senseless restrictions of scribal traditions interwoven into the 1940), p. 34, where White, in line with this same principle writes: Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity. 88 See Hans K. LaRondelle, The Sabbath: God s Everlasting Covenant, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors, (March 2004), p. 15, where LaRondelle explains the absence of a command from God to Adam to celebrate His Sabbath as a result of the authoritative power already established through His creatorship example. 89 See Dederen, Reflections, p. 298: The reality of the imago Dei implies the imitatio Dei. 90 In this concept, humans are to represent [God] within the rest of creation by reflecting His character and imitating His actions. See Rodriguez, Adventist Perspective, (accessed 1 May 2012). 91 Gane, New Covenant, p God s intention in Exodus 31:12 17, according to Gane, is for His people to follow His example by resting on the seventh day of the week. See also Hans K LaRondelle, Perfection and Perfectionism: A Dogmatic Ethical Study of Biblical Perfection and Phenomenal Perfectionism (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1984), pp , for a more in depth treatment of Imago Dei in relation to the function of God s rest and blessing on the seventh day. 92 Transcript in this context means the written form of God s revealed character. See Jo Ann Davidson, Glimpses of God, Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, Seventh day Adventist Church, ed. Clifford Goldstein (January March, 2012), p. 65. Adventists believe God s moral law, as given in the form of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, to be a revelation and transcript of His character. See also Norman Gulley, The Battle Against the Sabbath and Its End time Importance, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 5, No. 2 (Autumn 1994), p. 79: The law is an outward manifestation of His character. The two are inseparable and unchangeable. 93 See Davidson, Glimpses of God, p. 65. See also Richard M. Davidson, A Love Song for the Sabbath: How to Experience the Joy that God Intended when He Gave us the Sabbath (Washington, D. C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988), p. 43: What is true about the permanence of the law in general also applies to the Sabbath commandment in particular. 94 Rice, Reign of God, p M. L. Andreasen, The Sabbath (Washington D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1942), p. 37. See also Gane, New Covenant, p See Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Eric D. Syme, The Sabbath New Concepts on Its Importance, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (September, 1966), p. 32: We do not take the Sabbath from the Jews. We take it from Christ. 98 LaRondelle, Everlasting Covenant, p Strand, The Sabbath, p

13 Sabbath by the Jews. 100 And since Christ is the agent of Creation as revealed in the New Testament (John 1:1 3; Col 1:15 17; Heb 1:1 2), the Sabbath for Adventists acts also as a memorial of Him as Creator. Jesus as such is the ultimate model of genuine Sabbath observance. In addition, Adventists have found in Jesus words support for the perpetuity of the Creation Sabbath for humanity (Mark 2:27), as well as an affirmation of the continual validity of the Sabbath principles of the Decalogue (Matt 5:17 18). 101 IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVENTIST SABBATH OBSERVANCE As observed in the fourth commandment, the Sabbath is first of all a day of rest. 102 But unlike the behavioural change to rest from work as we know it today, the seventh day rest as exemplified by God was one of resting for a very particular purpose, namely to focus on creation and the Author of creation. 103 The Sabbath in this way enables the believer to realize constantly and effectively that this world and his very life belong to [the Creator] God. 104 It reminds him of his creatureliness and of the fact that apart from God, he is unable to understand himself rightly in his relation to his works. 105 The Sabbath as such is a demonstration of homage to God, and a proclamation of Him as the Creator and Master of the world and of humanity. 106 In addition to rest are the aspects of blessing and holiness. God, by proclaiming the seventh day holy, showed that the holiness of the Sabbath does not depend on its observance by humans. It is a result of God s rest on that particular day of the Creation week, and of the fact that He hallowed it (Exod 20:11). 107 Being the archetype of the weekly Sabbath, God, by altering His behaviour on that day, and proclaiming it as holy, was demonstrating to humans how the blessing and holiness of that day is achieved. 108 By altering their behaviour in emulation of their Creator in order to consecrate the day as He did, and by focussing on the Creator who alone is intrinsically holy (1 Sam 2:2) through undertaking activities which acknowledge the consecration of the day, 109 they too would gain holiness. 110 It is a holiness received as a gift on account of their being in a belonging relationship to God. 111 The blessings of the Sabbath, therefore, are for created beings living in the world where the seventh day operated who consecrate the day as God did, by altering their behaviour accordingly. 112 It is not a blessing for the literal twenty four hour slice LaRondelle, Everlasting Covenant, p. 16. See also Rodriguez, Adventist Perspective, catholic2002.htm (accessed 1 May 2012). 101 See Strand, The Sabbath, p. 502: His whole attitude was one of exalting the divine law. See also Skip Maccarty, The Seventh day Sabbath, Perspectives on the Sabbath: 4 Views, ed. Christopher John Donato (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), pp Dederen, Reflections, p Holbrook, Colossians 2:14 17, p. 64. This is a point underscored by the fourth precept of the Decalogue later in the Biblical text (Exod 20:10; Deut 5:14) that linked the Sabbath directly to the creation account. See also Seventh day Adventists Believe...: A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988), p Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Dederen, Reflections, p Dederen, Reflections, p Dederen, Reflections, p Gane, New Covenant, p See also LaRondelle, Perfection, p. 69: God s rest...cannot be considered as a matter for itself, divorced from the meaning and function of God s blessing and hallowing the seventh day. 109 See Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Suggested activites include worship, service, meditation, and fellowship. 110 See Herschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning, p. 79: The quality of holiness is not in the grain of matter. It is a preciousness bestowed upon things by an act of consecration and persisting in relation to God. 111 See Gane, New Covenant, pp. 314, Gane, New Covenant, p. 314; Dederen, Reflections, p Dederen speaks here of the Sabbath being sanctified by demonstratively laying all work aside ; Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Sabbath under Crossfire: A Biblical

14 14 of time known as the seventh day in the same way that blessings are bestowed on material and tangible matter. Furthermore, the privileges of the Sabbath were intended for the whole human race and not for a particular ethnic or religious group, 113 since it was made for [mankind] (Mark 2:27). 114 And since such Sabbath privilege was perceived by Adventists to be absent from the lives of the majority of mankind, they took it upon themselves to make the sharing and spreading of this Sabbath message a part and parcel of their mission mandate. 115 This Sabbath rest was to include all creatures as well, not just humans (Exod 20:10 and Deut 5:14). It was to be a divinely given means for all creatures to be in tune with the created order of things, 116 thus reminding humans of the importance of the environment and the creatures that reside therein, and as a prompt for them to fulfil their God given responsibility to care for all of God s creation. 117 The Seventh day Sabbath is also believed to have been made as the abiding sacrament through which human beings could sustain their relationship with God as they are reminded of the sacredness of life, thus renewing in them their sense of accountability to the Creator. 118 It was God s special provision for humanity so that they might stay really human and humane. 119 But not only does it act as an equalizer and leveller for humans, 120 reminding them of the fact that they are equal and on the same created level with all other humans, it is also meant to be a safeguard for them against idolatry as they are reminded of their own createdness. 121 A related point of SDA theology notes that since the Sabbath was meant to be a permanent institution for mankind from the beginning, then it must not have been a temporary and/or cultural imperative that came into existence later. 122 It was instituted for humanity in its undefiled state before the fall, and will be essential for humanity also in its redeemed state (Isa 66:22 23). 123 This is because the Sabbath is believed to be the only sacrament instituted in Eden unaffected by sin since time per se was not affected by any curse resulting from the fall. 124 Analysis of Recent Sabbath/Sunday Developments (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Biblical Perspectives, 1998), p. 63: to keep the Sabbath holy means...to follow the divine example given at creation. 113 Rodriguez, Adventist Perspective, (accessed 1 May 2012). 114 See Holbrook, Colossians 2:14 17, p See Damsteegt, Foundations, p See also Rice, Reign of God, p. 366, where Rice suggests that since the Sabbath is God s gift to all human beings...adventists should work to make [it] available to others. 116 Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p Davidson, Glimpses of God, p LaRondelle, Everlasting Covenant, p Jiří Moskala, The Sabbath in the First Creation Account, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 13, No. 1 (Spring 2002), p Strand, The Sabbath, p Moskala, Creation Account, p. 59. Cf. Graeme Loftus, The Sabbath and the Trinity: A Christ Centered Spirit Filled Perspective on the Sabbath Revealing the Heart of the Father (Akure, Nigeria: Baal Hamon Publishers, 2008), p. 6. Loftus calls the Sabbath a protective cocoon around the understanding and experience of salvation. 122 Holbrook, Colossians 2:14 17, p Ford, Edenic Origin, p. 21. See also Ed Christian, Sabbath Is a Happy Day! What Does Isaiah 58:13 14 Mean?, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 13, No. 1 (Spring, 2002), p Gane, New Covenant, p The other two sacraments instituted before the fall, that of work and marriage, both suffered as a result of the curse of sin (cf. Gen 3:16 19).

15 B. REDEMPTION Although second in chronological order, the Sabbath as a sign of redemption for humans living in a world of sin has precedence over it as a sign or memorial of Creation. It is the work of recreation [that] must come to us first if Creation and our Creator are to have real meaning to us. 125 Such a soteriological application results from five main considerations. The first arises from the Deuteronomy account of the Decalogue. Although identical in many ways to its counterpart in Exodus, this account includes a new element and emphasis. 126 Whereas Exodus focussed on creation, Deuteronomy stressed the Israelites liberation 127 and deliverance from Egypt. 128 Therefore, [w]hereas in Exod 20:11 God rested, in Deut 5:14 humans rest. 129 This liberation motivation, as set forth at Sinai in the framework of God s redeeming love and saving activity, is the primary basis for the redemption motif in Adventist Sabbath theology. 130 A second reason is found in the Sabbath s declaration and subsequent institution by God as a sign between Him and His people, a sign that He sanctifies them (Exod 31:13). 131 The Sabbath for Adventists is therefore a continual sign to God s people that it is God who saves. A third basis is found in Isa 58:13 14, where the right observance of the Sabbath results in taking delight in God. This delight is in the context of being saved when one enters into a close relationship with [God] that others [who have not experienced being saved] cannot know. 132 The fourth basis comes from the healing miracles of Christ Himself. 133 These miracles are meant to call to mind God s [re creative] power through the freeing of the captives (Luke 4:31 37), the making of the lame walk (Luke 13:10 17, John 5:1 9), and by restoring sight to the blind (John 9). 134 Jesus Sabbath healings forcefully illustrate his power to heal spiritually as well as physically. 135 In the same way that Jesus healed the sick, so it is He who forgives sins and gives to sin shackled human beings both freedom and wholeness. 136 The Sabbath therefore acts as a sign to believers that they have put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God (Eph 4:24), after entering into a new fellowship with Him. 137 It is in the context of biblical themes such as the four just noted that Adventists find the unbreakable unity between God s work in Creation and His work in Redemption. They see in this unity the Sabbath becoming a symbol of God s dual activity as the Creator, for it proclaims His creative power in the universe, and as the re Creator, for His re creative work in man s soul Strand, The Sabbath, p Davidson, Glimpses of God, p Ekkehardt Mueller, The Sabbath Commandment in Deuteronomy 5:12 15, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Vol 14, No. 2 (Fall 2003), p Mueller, The Sabbath Commandment, p Mueller, The Sabbath Commandment, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p See also Kubo, Sign of a Relationship, p The Seventh day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, Isaiah to Malachi (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1976), p Norman Gulley, End time Importance, p. 98: He illustrated the salvation gift through the Sabbath miracles. 134 Davidson, Glimpses of God, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p Strand, The Sabbath, p. 512.

16 This unity is expressed even more forcefully in Hebrews 4, where the writer, in the context of the Creation Sabbath, exhorts his reader to enter into the believer s rest. 139 A fifth point on this redemption aspect is Jesus own rest 140 in the grave on the Sabbath day (Matt 27:57 28:1, Mark 15:42 16:1, Luke 23:52 24:1, John 19:31 20:1). Following His cry on the cross, It is finished! (John 19:30), Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, thus demonstrating for Adventist hermeneutics the continual importance of the Sabbath. Jesus cry can also symbolize for Adventists His rest in a spiritual sense at the completion of His re creative work of Redemption, 141 thus paralleling the pronouncement in Gen 2:2 of the completion of the Word s creative work on the seventh day, before His rest on that day. 142 C. RESTORATION According to SDAs, the Seventh day Sabbath not only encompasses the past (Creation), and the present (Redemption), but it is also a sample, a taste, as well as a sign of the [future] restoration and eternal peace to come. 143 In Adventist theology, the Creation act, with the Seventh day Sabbath as its memorial, is more than a mere doctrine of the origins of the world and man. It is also an act of the present instant, remaining true to itself till the hour of the eschatological restoration. It is a day that remains the sign of the continuing presence of God in the life of man till the day comes when full fellowship with God will once again be realized, when the Creator and Redeemer returns to usher in the final consummation of the history of salvation, thus completing humanity s redemption. 144 Observing the Sabbath within this frame is meant to remind humans that their present situation is not permanent. The things that occupy their time and attention during the other six days of the week do not deserve [their] ultimate concern, because [they are on their] way to something better. 145 Assurance is thus given that they will eventually become everything that [they] were originally meant to be when God restores the world to its former splendour. 146 But before such a restoration, there will be a time of crisis in the world s history, when, according to Adventist eschatological and prophetic interpretations, Seventh day Sabbath observance will play a significantly divisive role. 147 Just before Christ returns, there will be a time when religious and social conditions on earth reach an all time low, within which Sabbath observance will become a litmus test 148 of personal loyalty to God. 149 According to this aspect of Adventist Strand, The Sabbath, p. 512 (italics added). See also Roy E. Graham, A Note on Hebrews 4:4 9, The Sabbath in Scripture and History, ed. Kenneth A. Strand (Washington, D.C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), pp. 343, 344. The Seventh day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, Philippians to Revelation (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), p Rest here denotes death. 141 See SDAs Believe, p. 253; Kubo, Sign of a Relationship, p See Davidson, Glimpses of God, p. 82; Gulley, Basic Issues, p Dederen, Reflections, p See also Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Dederen, Reflections, p Rice, Reign of God, p Rice, Reign of God, p See Strand, The Sabbath, pp. 531, Johnsson, William G, The Saints End Time Victory Over the Forces of Evil, in Symposium on Revelation: Exegetical and General Studies, Book 2, ed. Frank B Holbrook (Silver Spring, Maryland: Biblical Research Institute, General Conference of Seventh day Adventists, 1992), p. 30.

17 theology, 150 since the key test at this point in history will be whether or not a person is obedient to God s law (see Re 12:17; 14:12), and since Sabbath observance is a key part of God s law, then disobedience to the Sabbath Commandment will become the same as being disobedient to God. 151 The observance of the Sabbath on Sunday, which, according to Adventist interpretation was a day instituted by man as a substitute for God s Seventh day Sabbath, made it the most likely rival to the observance of the Sabbath Commandment. 152 And because of the perceived lack of understanding in the wider world of this important aspect of the end times before the imminent second advent of Christ, the delivering of the Church s Seventh day Sabbath message, it would seem, has become all the more urgent, and its existence as the Seventh day Adventist Church, all the more relevant. 17 III. THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH IN SAMOA Understanding the Church s official position as outlined above sets the foundation for a more informed evaluation of the position of the Samoan leadership, which I offer later in this essay. For now, I will outline their key arguments and the main presuppositions on which those arguments are based, beginning with an explanation of the IDL and the 180 Longitudinal Line (180L), two lines at the heart of their arguments. 153 The IDL and the 180L: The IDL, by virtue of its presently assigned role as the world s standard marker by which each day of the week is to begin and end, has become the marker also by which the beginning of the world s seven day weekly cycle begins and ends. In any given region, the names given to the days of the week, as well as their corresponding numerical position on the seven day weekly cycle, are determined by that region s position in relation to the IDL. This arbitrary line incidentally is not a straight line, but one that bends and zigzags its way from north to south through the middle of the Pacific, in close proximity to another arbitrary line, the 180L (see Figure 1). The 180L, as compared to the IDL, is a straight line that runs directly from north to south through the Pacific. 154 The Ultimate and Absolute Sabbath: At the forefront of the Samoan leaders argument is a belief in an ultimate cosmological and astrophysical seventh day Sabbath that exists in complete isolation 149 Rice, Reign of God, p See also Jon Paulien, Revisiting the Sabbath in the Book of Revelation, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Volume 9, Numbers 1 & 2 (Spring Autumn 1998), p Rice, Reign of God, p Rice thinks that it is perhaps the darkest, least attractive aspect of Adventist theology due to its arrogant and self serving appearance. 151 See Johnsson, The Saints End Time Victory, p. 30:...one s relationship to [the Sabbath] will disclose his basic relationship to God and His law. See also SDA Bible Commentary Vol 7, pp. 812, 832, 833; SDAs Believe, pp. 262, 263. For a more recent Adventist analysis, see Ranko Stefanovic, Revelation of Jesus Christ: Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Berrien Springs: Michigan: Andrews University Press, 2002), pp See also Donald Ernest Mansell, The Shape of the Coming Crisis: A Sequence of End Time Events Based on the Writings of Ellen G. White (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1998), pp ; G. Edward Reid, Sunday s Coming! (Fulton, MD: Omega Productions, 1996). 153 I will restrict the arguments to be addressed here to the officially publicised arguments, focussing particularly on the key points of difference they hold with current SDA Sabbath theology. 154 Hay, The Change of Day in Samoa, pp. 3, 9 (accessed 21 May 2012); Uili Solofa, Calendar Shift Doesn t Alter Seventh Day, Samoan Church Says, Adventist Review: Flagship Journal of the Seventh day Adventist Church (Jan. 26, 2012), /03 cn calendar shift doesn t alterseventh day samoan church says (accessed 21 May 2012); Uili Solofa, Church Responds to Shift in Time, Record: Official News Magazine of the South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church (December 30, 2011), responds to shift in time (accessed 21 May 2012).

18 from, and is therefore totally independent of, any local context to which it is applied. The claim is that the seventh day Sabbath exists autonomously and as a result cannot be influenced by any cultural, political, or geographical factors. 155 It is an absolute, supra cultural, slice of time that never changes, and is thus given priority over any cultural context in which it operates, just as God Himself who created the Sabbath is above culture. 156 The seventh day Sabbath for Samoan Adventists therefore, according to their leaders, is still the seventh day of the old weekly cycle regardless of what new names are given it by the powers that be. They are, after all, as David Tasker declares, Seventh day Adventists [and] not Saturday Adventists. 157 For Adventists in Samoa, the Sabbath is celebrated on what is now called Sunday there; this is the seventh day for Samoan Adventists, even though the cultural, political, and geographical context views that day as the first day of the week. The names of the days of the week, as well as the IDL that determines which days are given what names, are now considered non binding because they are variables that can be changed. 158 This has led to the creation of a dichotomy between the names given for particular days and the actual numerical equivalent of the days themselves for Samoan Adventists, with the old numerical labels having precedence over the new names assigned to those same days. 159 What the secular authorities now consider day 1 is really day 7 for Adventists, while what they consider day 2 is really day 1 etc. The reference line on the globe used by the Samoan leadership to determine where this absolute seventh day for Samoa begins and ends is not the changeable IDL, as is the world standard, but the 180L, which is believed to be forever fixed and will not change. 160 And since Samoa is located on the east of the 180L (Western Hemisphere), the seventh day according to their argument, should be the same seventh day as all the countries on that side of the 180L, despite the fact that Samoa as a country is now located on the west of the IDL, and is now counting and labelling their days with all the countries on that side of the IDL (see Figure 1). This position is grounded on the presumption that the cycle of days from Creation is unbroken to this very day, with the same seventh day (now called Sunday) now observed by the Church in Samoa being the same slice of cyclical time that God blessed and sanctified at Creation. 161 The Samoan leadership, in this way, is claiming faithfulness and loyalty to God s seventh day Sabbath by adhering to the sequence as determined by the fixed and never changing 180L, not to man s seventh day Sabbath as determined by the non fixed IDL. A third line used in the Samoan arguments is the sunset line that line across the globe which divides those regions where sunset has occurred from those where it has yet to occur. For the Samoan leadership, this line was understood to be a consistent [north south oriented] line across the globe, without any random deviations. 162 The natural conclusion was that the 180L, itself a north south oriented straight line running through the Pacific, should be used as the natural See O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012). 156 O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012). 157 Concerns Expressed in Samoa About the Dateline Change, South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church, (accessed 21 May 2012). 158 See O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012). 159 Solofa, Calendar Shift : The numbering of the weekly cycle remains as before but the names of the days will change. 160 Tasker, International Date Line, p Oliver, Government Changes Calendar, p Petersen, Sabbath Around the Dateline, (accessed 21 May 2012).

19 19 dateline, 163 as opposed to the IDL that deviates and bends at various different places as it runs through the Pacific. This appeal to the sunset line was seen to be supported by two Scriptural principles. First amongst these is the sunset to sunset principle for determining when the Sabbath begins and ends. This principle is deduced initially from the Creation account of Genesis where the first six days of creation are described in the order of the evening and the morning (Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). 164 It is this same principle, as used by the Israelites (Lev 23:32; Neh 13:19) and followed by Jesus, 165 that Adventists have adopted. The underlying assumption is that the sun, as noted in these Scriptural passages, always sets evenly and without deviation along the 180L. The second Scriptural support for this view is supposedly found in Leviticus 25: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a Sabbath for the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard (Lev. 25:2 4, NRSV). The principle thus claimed is that the timing of the Sabbath is attached to and based on the land, and not of an individual s own choosing. 166 It is the passage of the sun over the land [that] determines both the time of day and the weekly cycle. 167 This means, the argument goes, that it is the passage of the sunset line, understood to parallel the north south non changeable 180L as it moves across the Globe from the eastern to western direction, that is supposed to determine which land would be at the beginning of the day, and which would be at the end. 168 The Sabbath as such is connected to the people [only] through the land, 169 with God determining each nation s time and place in history when He appointed the times and the boundaries of their habitation (Acts 17:26). 170 Such appointed boundaries, as Tasker explains, were deemed necessary to prevent [future] chaos since God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). 171 A final point worthy of mention at this juncture is the appeal to the absence of a Thus saith the Lord saying in the Bible for the establishment of the date line and the keeping of the Sabbath around the date line, 172 as well as the absence in Scripture of any of the names of the week 163 Petersen, Sabbath Around the Dateline, (accessed 21 May 2012). 164 See Tasker, International Date Line, pp. 1, Tasker, International Date Line, p See David Tasker, Samoa and the Dateline: Newsletter 1, South Pacific Division, Seventh day Adventist Church (December, 2011), p. 5, (accessed 21 May 2012); O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012): The Sabbath is not determined by choice. 167 Tasker, Samoa and the Dateline, p Ray Coombe, as quoted in Concerns Expressed, (accessed 21 May 2012): We must honour God in this special 24 hour period as it moves across the Western Hemisphere. It will be observed by all Seventh day Adventists in the same longitude (whether in American Samoa, Western Samoa, Tonga and Wallis & Futuna) no matter what people call it. 169 Tasker, Samoa and the Dateline, p Tasker, International Date Line, p. 5. According to this argument, Samoa was predetermined by God to be located in the Western Hemisphere (or East of the 180L). 171 Tasker, International Date Line, p Coombe, Wallis Island, p. 9.

20 ...that are used today to determine the Sabbath. 173 Such absences, according to the Samoan leadership, are indicators of the unreliability of the IDL as a point of reference for determining the days of the week, as well as the untrustworthiness of the names given to those days. Neither the IDL nor the names of the days should, according to their argument, be used by Adventists for determining what the true seventh day Sabbath is; it should be its numerical equivalent in the supposedly unbroken weekly cycle from the beginning of time that ought to be used IV. CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE SAMOAN SABBATH POSITION The case for Sunday seventh day Sabbath observance in Samoa, evident from the above outline, utilizes (or attempts to utilize) elements from various different disciplines including science, philosophy, and linguistics. A thoroughly comprehensive multi disciplinary response is however beyond the scope of this essay. My evaluation in the main will be limited to the implications for Adventist theology, hermeneutics, and identity, drawing on elements of these other disciplines only as required. The key question thence for the Samoan case upon which my critique of their position is built, is whether the new Samoan Sunday can accommodate as well as signify in its immediate context and to its intended recipients the three motivational themes of Creation, Redemption, and Restoration, from which Adventist Sabbath observance find its meaning and which this paper examines in Section II. And since it is the seventh day Sabbath as interpreted in the light of the Creation act that underpins the key arguments of the Samoan leadership, it is the Sabbath in that same context that will be given the lengthiest treatment in this evaluation. A. CREATION Adventist Biblical interpretation calls for biblical terms to be understood within their particular contexts in time and space, since biblical words do not stand by themselves. 175 They are provided with a context, and that context has primacy over everything else. 176 Neglecting this contextual element is, as Gerhard Hasel warns, a common cause of erroneous interpretation and irrelevant application. 177 The Creation Sabbath must therefore be understood clearly in its original context, as interpreted by SDA theology, if it is to be understood clearly in, and applied correctly to, the context of Samoa. The question then that needs to be answered at this point is: What, according to Adventist theology, was God s intent for the Sabbath at Creation, and do the foundational points underpinning the arguments for Sunday observance by the Samoan leadership satisfy that intent? THE SABBATH INTENT Because it is Jesus, the originator, true interpreter, 178 and ultimate exemplar of the Sabbath whom Adventists ultimately take their Sabbath from, 179 it is only proper that we begin with His 173 Oliver, Government Changes Calendar, p See Petersen, Sabbath Around the Dateline, (accessed 21 May 2012): The Bible contains no statements regarding the dateline and the challenge of keeping the Sabbath around the dateline ; Tasker, Samoa and the Dateline, p. 4: Unless there is a plain thus saith the Lord to direct us otherwise, we are called upon to support the decisions of the church... ; Concerns Expressed, (accessed 21 May 2012): We make our decision on a plain thus says the Lord Hasel, Living Word, p See also Davidson, Biblical Interpretation, p. 78: the final determiner of the meaning of a word is the immediate context in which the word or phrase is found. 176 Hasel, Living Word, p Hasel, Living Word, p LaRondelle, Everlasting Covenant, p Syme, The Sabbath New Concepts, p. 32.

21 own commentary on the Creation Sabbath as recorded in Mark 2: God, as revealed in that commentary, did not create man because He had a Sabbath and needed someone to keep it ; rather, it was because of man s need of an opportunity in the rhythm of the weekly cycle for character development that the seventh day Sabbath was ordained of God. 181 The Sabbath, according to Jesus, was made on account of man and not man on account of [it]. 182 It is therefore to be understood best as God s contingent creation for man and the development of his relationship to God, instead of it being an arbitrary, stand alone, independent, autonomous, and absolute construction that exists merely for its own sake. 183 Prioritizing the arbitrary and absolute seventh day slice of time over man and his immediate context, as the Samoan leadership have done, suggests that man was created on account of the physical and technical slice of time known as the seventh day. Thus, instead of the Seventh day Sabbath being a contingent creation that leaves the question of intent open, it is now perceived as an arbitrary construct for asserting God s authority to no apparent benefit other than to have [that] authority recognized. 184 This view is contrary to Adventist Sabbath theology which sees the Sabbath at Creation as a purposeful and intentional act, as we noted in Section II. THE SABBATH IN CONTEXT Environmental Context: A straight forward Adventist reading of the Biblical text reveals the institution of the seventh day Sabbath, in a technical sense, as an addition to an already existing environmental context. Matter already existed (Gen 1:6, 7). Plants, animals, and even humans had already been created (Gen 1:11 28). Cyclical time as we know it was already in operation. 185 The seventh day, by simply being the seventh rotation of the planetary cycle that followed the previous six successive rotations of Planet Earth, 186 is thus revealed as an insertion dependent completely on the pre existing conditions of creation. It is not an independent absolute created in isolation from man and his immediate context, as the Samoan Sabbath argument presupposes. 187 The Seventh Day in Relation to the Other Six Days: In Section II, we noted the Creator s work/rest program which shows that God s Creation rest took place at a particularly significant point in the order of God s creative activities on the seventh day, after six days of work. According to Adventist hermeneutics, the theological meaning of God s rest on the seventh day is derived from its relation to God s creative work in the previous six days. 188 This work rest relation, which is also the basis for the commandment in the Decalogue to work six days and to rest on the seventh, 189 reveals God s rest as a consequential flow on from His six days of creative work. His rest cannot be understood on its own, but only in relation to His work in the previous six days. As God s seventh Moskala calls this commentary the best commentary on the first Creation account. See Moskala, Creation Account, p SDA Commentary Vol. 5, p SDA Commentary Vol. 5, p See also Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p The traditional position of Adventists views the Sabbath as an arbitrary construct of God s (see Andreasen, The Sabbath, p. 29; Dederen, Reflections, p. 302). It is however a theologically problematic view. The contingent option is the more theologically sound and appropriate position. See the complete discussion of this arbitrary versus contingent aspect of the Sabbath in Tonstad, Lost Meaning, pp Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p See Gane, New Covenant, pp. 314, The Creationist Model of Origins, The Seventh day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1, Genesis to Deuteronomy (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1978), p See Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p Strand, The Sabbath, p. 493:...the underlying concept of cessation suggests a relation to that which has preceded Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p. 66.

22 day Shabbat finds its theological meaning only as it relates to the content of the previous six days of His creative activities, then so should the Seventh day Sabbath find its intended meaning for Adventists in any location only as it relates to the content of the other six days of the weekly cycle in that location. The Samoan leadership, however, by favouring an absolute interpretation of the seventh day over and above the content of the other six days of the Samoan week, has effectively made the Sabbath day an abstract stand alone day without a theologically or culturally meaningful relation to the other six days in Samoa s immediate context. Its relation to the other six days and their content in the Samoan week is but an arbitrary and imaginary one. The Sabbath as the seventh day: Furthermore, it was God s Shabbat on the seventh day that gave the Sabbath day its significance, not its supposedly autonomous position as the physical seventhday of the weekly cycle (Gen 2:1). God did not bless that day because of its seventh place in the weekly cycle, but because on it, He rested (Gen 2:3). As evident from the literary structure of the fourth command of the Decalogue, it is the Sabbath day that the Israelites were commanded to remember and observe (Exod 20:8; Deut 5:12), which, incidentally, is the seventh day. The Sabbath, as such, is the seventh day, before the seventh day is the Sabbath. 190 God is the master here, not the physical seventh day. 191 He is the Lord of the seventh day as He is the Lord of time (Mark 2:28), with the seventh day obtaining its Sabbath value exclusively from Him and His rest, not from its physical position in the weekly cycle as the Samoan leadership have argued. 192 God s Rest: It is important to note also that God does not rest, nor does He need rest, as humans understand rest (John 5:17). According to Adventist literal reading (and anthropomorphic understanding) of the Biblical text (Gen 2:2), God s rest is but a Divine concept contextualized for the immediate human situation. Only when understood in that way can God s rest achieve its intended goal, that of being an example for humans to imitate (I.e. Imitatio Dei) in their immediate context. 193 To view the Sabbath as a non contextualized absolute instituted in complete isolation from the immediate and local context of humans and the created order, as the Samoan leadership have done, is to make the above intent and rationale completely irrelevant for Samoa. The Sabbath in Time and Culture: Reflected in the arbitrary and absolute seventh day Sabbath interpretation of the Samoan leadership is an understanding of God in His relation to His creation in the context of time and culture that lacks traction not only in the theological, but also in the philosophical, scientific, and anthropological realms. Firstly, O Uiha, in arguing for the Sabbath as a supra cultural phenomenon, justifies his argument by directly linking and paralleling the Sabbath to God, Who is above culture. 194 The weakness of this comparison is its omission of an aspect of God central to this discussion, namely the fact that, while God Himself is indeed above culture, He also works in terms of or through culture to 190 Charles B. Haynes, From Sabbath to Sunday: A Discussion of the Historical Aspects of the Sabbath Question, Showing How, When, Why, and by Whom the Change Was Made from Seventh to First Day of the Week (Washington, D. C: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1928), p See Alan G. Padgett, Eternity as Relative Timelessness, God and Time: Four Views, ed. Gregory E. Ganssle (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2001), p See Gane, New Covenant, p. 321: The Sabbath and God s rest are not mutually exclusive, but rather, they are complementary. 193 See J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week (Battle Creek, Michigan: Steam Press of the Seventh day Adventist Publishing Association, 1862), p. 7: As Andrews correctly points out: The days of the week are measured off by revolution of our earth on its axis; and hence our seventh day, as such, can come only to dwellers on this globe. To Adam and Eve, therefore, as inhabitants of this earth, and not to the inhabitants of some other world, were the days of the week given to use. 194 O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 may 2012). 22

23 accomplish his purposes. 195 Although God can be perceived as being outside of culture, the Sabbath, having been made specifically for, contextualized to, and dependent on man s immediate cultural context, cannot. The Sabbath therefore, contrary to O Uiha s claim, was undeniably made in terms of [and] through culture to accomplish [God s Sabbath] purposes. 196 Implied also in O Uiha s supra cultural claim is the notion of Sabbath time as an absolute, supracultural, and astro physical constant fixed in the cosmos that never changes as God Himself never changes. 197 The reality however is very different. For one thing, God s own time is infinite and cannot be measured by our [metrics of] time. The notion of God s timelessness is true only if God s time is contrasted with, and compared to, temporal created time. That is God is timeless relative to the created time of our space time universe. 198 But although God s time is immeasurable, created time is not. Created time can be measured using the laws of nature..., which in turn depend on the created structures and regularities of natural objects. And since the metrics used to measure created time are relative to [their respective] inertial frames of reference, they would, as expected, also change with strong gravity or great speed. 199 Sabbath time, because it is by nature a part of created time, measured with the same changeable metrics (as affected by gravity and speed), is therefore also changeable and relative in nature, resulting in it being changeable and relative at its scientific, and consequently, philosophical and theological core. 200 It is not a timeless absolute as O Uiha asserts. Comparing God s changeless nature with the nature of Sabbath time is to compare oranges with apples, as it were. 201 It is a wrong comparison, for while the measure of God s time is dependent on God s own changeless, immeasurable, and timeless being, the measure of created time (Sabbath time included) is dependent on the temporal, changeable, and measurable nature of created space time matter. Worth noting at this point is the fact that the Sabbath in Adventist theology is meant to be a memorial of historical events in and of this created world. Its timing therefore must be of real, created, and measurable time. 202 To view Sabbath time as existing outside of this created world s time and culture, as the Samoan leadership have done, is to remove its validity as a memorial of the historical events in and of this created world. Paramount among these events are those noted in Section II: the literal creation act of Genesis; the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai; and Jesus observance of the Sabbath both in life and in His death. To lose this vital connection and relationship to such key events of salvation history is to lose its relevance to Adventist theology. O Uiha also appeals to nature, in the form of the consistent motion of the Sun, the Moon, and the earth on its axis, as an answer to why the Sabbath day is PERMANENT, CONCRETE, CONSISTENT, Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Biblical Theologizing in Cross Cultural Perspective (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005), p Kraft, Christianity in Culture, p See O Uiha, IDL Shift. 198 Padgett, Eternity, p Padgett, Eternity, p See Stephen Hawkins, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1988), pp Padgett, Eternity, p. 107: There is no reason to assume that such metrics [as used by humans to measure their intervals of time,] apply to God. 202 See Andrews, History, p. 7.

24 AND DOES NOT CHANGE. 203 This suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the Adventist theological basis for the consistency of the weekly Sabbath day. According to SDA theology, the seven day weekly cycle, on which the nature of the seventh day Sabbath is dependent, was not determined by any natural law. 204 It existed as such only because God made it that way at Creation, as is His sovereign right. 205 Hence, while the daily, monthly, and yearly rhythms of the planet are dictated by the rigid motions of the celestial bodies, the rhythm of the weekly Sabbath is not. 206 Following from the above argument is the assertion of the Samoan leadership that they are adhering to that same physical seventh day of the weekly cycle that has been celebrated as the Sabbath from the beginning of time. Although quite prevalent in Adventist thinking, 207 such a claim is firstly insufficient, and secondly irrelevant, for determining what the Seventh day Sabbath is. Identifying the Seventh day Sabbath in the weekly cycle for Adventists does not begin with such geo centric assumptions. Rather, it first identifies theo centric criteria and the associated theological meanings, and only then identifies the physical day on the basis of which those meanings can correctly be signified. To begin with this unbroken weekly cycle conjecture is to put the cart before the horse as it were, opening the door to a more rigid and legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath that would be more geo centrically, astro centrically, and anthropocentrically motivated, than theologically grounded. 208 Furthermore, [t]he Biblical concept of time is always closely tied to or even identified with its content. 209 Sabbath time in the same way is but empty time without its intended content of consecrated people observing it accordingly. The Sabbath must [therefore] be consecrated in relation to beings that are affected by it 210 taking into consideration the immediate context of those affected beings if it is to be Biblically valid. Only in this way, when the defined content fits the vessel in which it is to be held, will the form and content emphasize the distinctiveness of the seventh day. 211 Such distinctiveness, however, is no longer applicable to the Samoan Church O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012), (Capitalization in original). 204 Tonstad, Lost Meaning, p. 440: The Sabbath and its meaning is lost because people look in the wrong direction: to ethical necessity, natural law, or divine sovereignty, issues lying on the fringes of the horizon of the Sabbath, if not elements from another theological solar system (italics added). 205 See Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, pp for a summary discussion of the different theories as to the origin of the Sabbath and the seven day week. 206 Bacchiocchi refers to the basis of such a belief, where the origins of the Sabbath is adduced to such phenomena in nature, as the astrological astronomic view. See Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest, p For example, see Donald E. Wright, The Continuity of the Weekly Cycle, Ministry: International Journal for Pastors (October, 1959), pp ; Navy Department Washington D.C, U. S. Naval Observatory, and Royal Observatory Greenwich, Astronomer Royal. Correspondences in response to enquiry by F. D. Nichol concerning the weekly cycle, Dated 4 and 12 March Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference of Seventh day Adventists, (accessed 5 July 2012). 208 This same principle is implied in Kubo, Sign of a Relationship, p. 4: The Sabbath [day] is valueless in itself. In isolation it can be only a symbol of legalism. See also See Marvin Moore, The Gospel vs. Legalism: How to Deal with Legalism s insidious Influence, Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1994): Concerning the Sabbath and its observance, Moore asks the questions: Do we keep it by the rule book, with our primary attention given to what is right and wrong to do on the Sabbath? Or is the primary focus of our Sabbathkeeping a relationship with Jesus and our Christian brothers and sisters? Moore goes on to argue that Christians ought to move beyond the rigidity of the rules and regulations to the heart of what it means to keep the Sabbath. 209 Moskala, Creation Account, p Gane, New Covenant, p Gulley, Basic Issues, p. 221.

25 since the Sabbath day in the view they have adopted is a self existent idea independent of its intended content, making it more in accord with Greek idealism than [with] Hebrew realism. 212 THE 180 LONGITUDINAL AND SUNSET LINE ARGUMENTS A further technical problem with the absolute Sabbath theory, and its claims of continuity in an unbroken cycle since the beginning, is the question of where on this round world this arbitrary and absolute seventh day of the weekly cycle was meant to begin and end as determined by God at Creation. Since the arbitrary line known as the 180 Longitudinal Line (180L), by which the Samoan seventh day Sabbath is now determined, was not accepted as the world standard until the nineteenth century, 213 what line or marker would have been the reference line for the beginning and ending of days prior to its establishment? Is not the using of the 180L as their reference line implying the non existence of a clear boundary for determining the Sabbath prior to the establishment of this line? How then can a doctrine believed by Adventists to have been instituted at Creation come to be determined by such a recent creation as the 180L? And does not the creation of the 180L by political powers, itself suggesting a political influence on how the seventhday Sabbath is determined, contradict the supposedly non politically influenced nature of the Sabbath in the Samoan argument? 214 By arguing for the 180L as they have, the Samoan leadership have not only been shown to have over stretched the boundaries of responsible hermeneutics, but have also through these interpretations, thrown into doubt the credibility of the Creation basis on which their whole Sabbath theology is supposed to be founded. Further support for the usage of the non changing 180L as their reference line, as noted earlier, is found in the claim that it is parallel to the natural sunset line. Such a rationale however is erroneous and misleading. Due to the tilt in the earth s axis, the natural sunset line as it goes over the face of the planet is not a straight, constant, north south line. It only parallels the straight, north south, 180L, twice a year during the equinoxes (see Figures 4, 5, and 6). To claim the bindingness of the 180L based on its supposedly parallel orientation to the natural sunset line, therefore, is to be inconsistent with astronomical reality of how the sun relates to the rotation of the earth on its axis. As a matter of fact, the sunset to sunset measure, according to Adventist hermeneutics, is simply a Biblical marker for the beginning and ending of each individual day in any location. 215 It acts as a demarcation point between when a day should begin, and when it should end, in each local setting. 216 It had then, and still has now, no direct or immediate relevance to, and no bearing on what is and what is not, the seventh day of the weekly cycle; nor does it have any bearing on what is, and what is not, the Seventh day Sabbath. It is theology applied to the cultural, political, and LaRondelle, Perfection, p The Prime or Greenwich Meridian, which is the 0 Longitudinal Line on the opposite side of the globe to the 180 Longitudinal Line (see Figure 5), was only chosen as the Prime Meridian of the World in 1884 at an International Meridian Conference held in Washington D.C of that same year. See Royal Observatory and History of Astronomy, Royal Museums Greenwich, and time/astronomy facts/history/the primemeridian at greenwich (accessed 16 August 2012). 214 See O Uiha, IDL Shift, (accessed 21 May 2012). 215 See The Seventh day Adventist Bible Commentary: The Holy Bible with Exegetical and Expository Comment in Seven Volumes: Volume 1, Genesis to Deuteronomy (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1978), pp Bacchiocchi discusses this issue in detail in Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Time of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, with other essays (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Biblical Perspectives, 1985), pp

26 26 6 geographiccal context of each respective locaation that should determine whatt the Seventth day Sabbath is for Adventists.217 The term sunset s itselff, philosoph hically and semantically s y examined, reveals an nother conte extual problem fo or the Samo oan argumeent. The term m itself is a logically un ntruthful term. Astrono omically speaking, the t sun per se does not set. This term, logically speakingg, is truthful, real, valid d, and relevant fo or humans on o planet eaarth only fro om a ground level stan ndpoint. Atttempting, as the Samoan leadership haave, to use it i in a suppo osedly obje ective, scientific, and asstrophysical way whereby th he term is detached d fro om its inten nded place of use in orrder to valid date the 180 0L as the Sabbath reeference line reveals a clear misunderstand ding of the context c in w which the te erm and concept off sunset is meant m to be perceived and undersstood Biblicaally, linguisttically, philosophically, and scientificallyy. Even a strraightforward reading of o the Bibliccal text reve eals the Sabbath, as measured d from sunset to sunseet, to be und derstood, and thereforre relevant only, in the local environmentt of Bible tim mes as it is viewed from m a ground level, locallised, persp pective (e.g. 2). It was neever viewed from an ou ut of this w world, uncon nnected, and as a Gen 28:11;; Mark 1:32 result, irrelevant perspective, as the Samoan n leadership p are suggeesting. Figu ure 4. Sunseet line durin ng the South hern Solsticce Around d Decemberr See Ellen G. White, Tesstimonies for the t Church, Vo olume 1, p , in Testimo onies for the C Church Series (Seoul, ( South Korea: Everlaasting Gospel Publishing Asssociation, ), p. 52; W When Does thee Sabbath Beggin?, Biblical Research R Institute of th he General Co onference of Seventh day S Adventists, org/documentts/sabbathbeggin.pdf (accesssed 5 July ); SDA Biblee Commentaryy Volume 1, pp p Taken from DayightMaap, w.daylightmap.com/index.php (accessed d 16 August 2012). See also o Mystery ng Sunlight to o Solve a Mysttery, Glossaryy, in org/jnorth/tm m/mclass/glosssary.html Class: Trackin (accessed 6 November N 2012).

27 27 7 Figure 5. Sunsett line during the North hern Solstice e Around June noxes Marrch 20 and September S Figure 6. Sunsett line during the equin Ibid. Ibid.

28 THE SEVENTH DAY VERSUS SATURDAY ADVENTIST ARGUMENT A related linguistically driven argument by the Samoan leadership of significance for Adventist identity is their declaration that they are Seventh day Adventists, and not Saturday Adventists, 221 because of their apparent faithfulness to that same physical seventh day as continuous from Creation. Closer scrutiny however reveals a clear misunderstanding on their part of the historical origin and meaning of the name Seventh day Adventist, as well as its intent and purpose. Before the name Seventh day Adventist was conceived and adopted by the church, the members of what was then an unincorporated body were already observing the Sabbath on Saturday. They were already Sabbath keepers referred to commonly as Sabbatarian Adventists. Having an official and legal name was a necessary part of their becoming a legal association that could hold property and make business transactions. 222 Of the several names discussed, 223 the name Seventhday Adventist was favoured because it had the virtue of clearly identifying the chief biblical truths they [as a people] proclaim. 224 It was a name that was intended to carry the true features of [their] faith in front, and [to] convict the inquiring mind. 225 One such feature of their faith was their observance of the Seventh day Sabbath on Saturday. 226 The church practice of Sabbath keeping therefore was not determined by the seventh day aspect of its name, as claimed by the Samoan leadership. Rather, it was their belief and practice that defined who they were, with the Seventh day name being a later and necessary addition. Seventh day Adventist was simply a description of who they were, not a prescription of what day they ought to observe. They did not become, nor were they obliged to become, physical seventhday Sabbath keepers because they were called Seventh day Adventists, as Ray Coombe argues, 227 but were on the contrary called Seventh day Adventists because of the beliefs they held at that time, one of which was the observance of the Seventh day Sabbath on Saturday. Furthermore, the Seventh day part of the Church s name, as suggested by the Samoan argument, is based on the understanding that the Seventh day referred to there is simply, and only, the literal and physical seventh day of the weekly cycle as at Creation. 228 This simplistic interpretation misses the mark altogether. As noted above, the name Seventh day Adventist is meant to be expressive of the Church s faith and position. The Sabbath part of that faith, contrary to the Samoan interpretation, is not founded simply on the physical seventh day of God s creative activities. It is the Seventh day of Creation and all the meanings associated with that day that is expressive of the church s Sabbath position. A stand alone and absolute seventh day divorced of that Creation Sabbath content does not, and cannot, on its own, be representatively expressive of the church s faith and position See Concerns Expressed, (accessed 21 May 2012). 222 See Schwarz, Light Bearers, p. 93: The issue of a proper name became intricately bound up with the idea of legal organization. 223 Schwarz, Light Bearers, pp Some of the names applied to this group at the time were: Seventh day people, Seventh day Doorshutters, Sabbathkeeping Adventists, Shut door Seventh day Sabbath and Annihilationists, to name but a few. They even referred to themselves as the remnant, the scattered flock, or the Church of God. 224 Schwarz, Light Bearers, p White, Testimonies Volume 1, p See also Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, Volume 1, (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1985), p See Coombe, as quoted in Concerns Expressed, (accessed 21 May 2012). 228 See Oliver, Government Changes Calendar, 10: We do not worship on the Sabbath because it is called Saturday. We worship on the Sabbath because it is the seventh day.

29 The Samoan leadership, and subsequently the Samoan Church, in their pronouncement are therefore, in reality, proclaiming themselves as seventh day Adventists because of the priority they have given to the physical, albeit arbitrary, seventh day of the week; not Seventh day Adventists in the true sense and meaning of the term. A significant implication for SDA praxis of such an interpretation is the precedent now having established for any day of the weekly cycle in any location, regardless of name, to be considered and consequently observed as the seventh day Sabbath as long as it can be claimed, whether scientifically and/or logically substantiated to be factually true, to be the physical seventh day of the weekly cycle from Creation. The connected argument by the Samoan leadership that it is simply the names of the days that have changed has no theological basis, no anthropological legitimacy, and no practical relevance. In the same way that the term Sabbath points to a reality beyond its immediate face value sense, that reality being God, so the name Seventh day Adventist points also to a reality beyond itself, that of the beliefs of the people referred to by that name. The term Saturday, in like manner, also points to a reality beyond itself, that reality being the content of the day to which that name is assigned; the two (i.e. name and content) are inseparable, contrary to the Samoan claim. 229 The predicament thus faced by Samoan Adventists at this time because of the imaginary dichotomy created by their leaders between the numerical labels of each weekday and their assigned names, is that the Samoan Church is now left with a Seventh day Sabbath practice that finds no justification in Adventist hermeneutics, and a unique Sabbath theology that is meaningless and irrelevant in the immediate context of Samoa. While Samoa as a country has moved on, embracing and accepting the necessary adjustments that come with their move from one side of the IDL to the other, the Adventists are left following an invalid calendar with an abstract and arbitrary seven day week that makes no theological, nor logical sense, to the rest of society; the same society that their Seventh day Sabbath message is, paradoxically, meant to be urgently shared with as part of their mission mandate. 230 THE GOD APPOINTED TIMES AND BOUNDARIES ARGUMENT Another clearly misrepresented Biblical teaching used in the Samoan Sabbath argument is that of the times and boundaries of the inhabitants of the earth rationale as found in Acts 17:26. According to Tasker, the boundaries of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres were set by God using the Prime Meridian 0 Longitudinal Line through Greenwich (see Figure 7) and the 180 Longitudinal Line through the Pacific. 231 God therefore has determined each nation s time and place, with Samoa appointed to the Western Hemisphere (or East of the 180L). 232 And since Samoa is geographically located on the eastern side of the 180L, then it should, according to the above argument, count its days with the countries on that side Of interest to this discussion is J. N. Andrew s evaluation of the names of the weekdays, as well as the priority given to God s act over the day in which His act occurred. See Andrews, History, 7: Seven different days receive as many different names. In memory of that which he did on the last of these days, he sets that apart by name to a holy use. This act gave existence to weeks, or periods of seven days. For with the seventh day, he ceased to count, and, by the divine appointment of that day to a holy use in memory of his rest thereon, he causes man to begin the count of a new week so soon as the first seventh day had ceased. And as God has been pleased to give man, in all, but seven different days, and has given to each one of these days a name which indicates its exact place in the week, his act of setting apart one of these by name, which act created weeks and gave man the Sabbath, can never except by sophistry be made to relate to an indefinite or uncertain day (emphasis added). 230 See Damsteegt, Foundations, p See Tasker, International Date Line, p Tasker, International Date Line, p Tasker, International Date Line, p

30 30 Figure 7. 0 Longitudinal Prime Meridian Line through Greenwich, UK. 234 Such an interpretation however is hermeneutically erroneous and contradicts Adventist understanding of that particular passage. 235 As the SDA Bible Commentary clearly explains, the word times (kairoi) [in Acts 17: 26] refers to historical epochs rather than yearly seasons 236 (see also Dan 4: 17; Deut 32: 8). As such, God, through His providence, has fixed the natural boundaries, or limits, for the nations in those epochs, so that all who wished might seek and find Him. 237 This passage, contrary to Tasker s interpretation, has no relevance to the Samoan Sabbath discussion. The question it does raise for the Samoan argument however, as previously asked, is: What day was the Sabbath, and how was that day determined prior to the nineteenth century A.D. separation of the eastern from the western hemispheres along the 180L? THE ABSENCE OF A THUS SAITH THE LORD ARGUMENT But probably the most theologically and hermeneutically incorrect argument made thus far in support of the decision by the Samoan leadership with regards to the correct timing of the Sabbath, is the appeal to the absence of a thus saith the Lord notion as noted earlier. 238 Discrediting the legitimacy of the IDL and the names given to the days of the week, as the Samoan leadership tried to do, would have negated their validity for deciding the Seventh day Sabbath in Samoa. The SDA Church, however, does not base the formulation of its theological position and doctrinal understanding alone on such a simplistic application of the thus saith the Lord concept. The grammatical historical approach to Scripture, in combination with such hermeneutic presuppositions as Sola Scriptura, tota Scriptura, and analogia Scripturae, discussed in an earlier section, point to an approach to Biblical interpretation much deeper and more mature than the naive and careless application as given above. The thus saith the Lord concept in Adventist understanding is inclusive of the whole Bible, and not limited exclusively to the recorded, verbal utterings, of God. 239 For example, the tota Scriptura principle points to the Bible as equal to, not merely containing, the Word of God Taken from Jerry Malone, Prime Meridian Images, Your Dictionary: The Dictionary You Can Understand, meridian (accessed 6 November 2012). 235 See Seventh day Adventist Bible Commentary: The Holy Bible with Exegetical and Expository Comment in Seven Volumes: Volume 6, Acts to Ephesians (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), p SDA Commentary Volume 6, p SDA Commentary Volume 6, p See Coombe, Wallis Island, p. 9; Oliver, Government Changes Calendar, p See White, Desire of Ages, p. 413: "The keys of the kingdom of heaven" are the words of Christ. All the words of Holy Scripture are His, and are here included (italics added). 240 Davidson, Biblical Interpretation, p. 63.