Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

SUBJECT:   Sabbath

QUESTION:  Is it biblically and/or inherently wrong to eat in a restaurant on the Sabbath?

ANSWER:

The Church has long taught that it is not wrong to eat out on the weekly Sabbath occasionally or on the annual Holy Days, depending upon one's circumstances, preferences and/or personal elements of belief.

Those waiters, waitresses, chefs, and the like, who may serve in a restaurant, are not our "servants" in the way described in the Fourth Commandment. The Commandment is not that we are to enforce God's Sabbath on the entire world -- God has never done that Himself.  They are the employees of the owner of the restaurant. They would be working regardless of whether or not we ate there.  God does not hold us responsible for their working on the Sabbath just because we use their services -- unless we were the only ones who ever ate in that restaurant on the Sabbath. Obviously, we make up a very small portion of the customers served in restaurants on the Sabbath or Holy Days.

Further, eating out occasionally on the Sabbath can enhance spiritual fellowship with brethren and allow family members more time to be with one another.

If this argument were valid then we would have similar arguments that would go on without end.  But it is a simple fact that neither God nor the church is imposing any type of beliefs on the public.  We are, in fact, telling the world that Jesus is returning and THEN things will be different.  Then, the entire world population will embrace the faith and not have any businesses open on the Sabbath.  The Laws of God will then be binding upon the masses and all nations.  There may not even be restaurants in the 1,000-year reign of Christ as society will be vastly different from what we see today.

If we take the position of not eating in restaurants on the Sabbath, based on the premise of the believer causing someone to break the Sabbath, then we would have to…

--Use no electricity
--Use no natural gas
--Use no water, no flushing of toilets
--No visits to gas stations
--No calls to police
--No calls to fire, even if house is on fire
--No calls to medics should someone have stroke or breaks a leg
--No visits or calls to any medical professional
--No use of public transportation
--No use of any kind of telephone
--No visits to state parks or national forests
--No use of toll bridges or highways
--No use of any city, state or federal agencies
--No stopping at the food store or flower shop on the way to services
--No Sabbath meetings in hotels, motels or meeting halls.
--No use of computers or the Internet despite our sites are on the Internet.

Should we demand that these all shut down?  Should we refuse emergency services and let loved ones die?  Should all armed forces take the day off, leaving the borders open to invasion?  Should we shut off all power and water and heat?  The arguments are endless.

If we were imposing our beliefs or demanding that the public adhere to the law then people working on the Sabbath would be the least of our concerns.  God has given man 6000 years to do things their way.  There is nothing in the commissions of the church that we are to interfere with that plan other than to proclaim the good news about the 1,000 years to follow.

The Bible is there, the law is there and so are all the principles of God but they mean nothing if God does not open their mind.

1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

You cannot open a mind, I cannot open a mind and neither the church nor the proclaimed gospel can open a mind.  When God calls a person, He opens their mind by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Then the Bible starts making sense to them.  The admonitions in the Word of God are for those who have the Holy Spirit in them or who have the Holy Spirit working with them.  They are also there to convict people’s minds.  That is, they hear it but it does not do anything but deposit itself on their brain cells to be brought to remembrance when:

1. They are called.
2. In the Tribulation.
3. In the 2nd Resurrection period.

Clearly, as a part of this process, God can use the church or any individual in it to proclaim some truth to an individual but without God, truth means nothing.  Notice...

John 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

This is a concept some church members misunderstand.  When you are called and your mind opened, you see clearly that the laws and principles of God are for all mankind and they are.  What they fail to see is the fact that God has given man this time now to do things their way, with THEIR laws and principles.  The laws and principles of God mean nothing to them; they are foolishness to them.  As Mr. Armstrong said, the Sabbath is not for them now.  The laws and truth of God are not for them now.  They will be soon.  Jesus Christ is returning to establish the government of those laws and principles.

Now, having said all this, a person may still not feel comfortable with eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath.  There is at least one verse for them...

Romans 14:23
...for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Here is another...

Philippians 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

It is important to realize that if a person feels uncomfortable with eating in restaurants on the Sabbath, he or she should not do that.  At the same time they should not judge others that do.  And those that do should not judge those that do not.

Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association