![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2011\/01\/Colo-085-300x168.jpg\" "\\"Colo")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt is clear enough that Tonstad is a global thinker, and one of the things he has thought a lot about is creation care in light of sabbath observance.\u00a0 The problem is that despite the ecological potency of Sabbath observance, the earth is not merely crying out \u2018give it a rest\u2019\u00a0 it is crying out,\u00a0 \u2018we need an extreme makeover, a rejuvenation, a new creation, and Sabbath is not about that.\u00a0 It is not about resurrection, it\u2019s about ceasing from creative activity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Romans 8.22is important in this discussion.\u00a0 The creation awaits the revealing of the sons of God, which is to say it awaits our resurrection and its own.\u00a0 It does not await a Sabbath rest, it awaits a resurrection, which is not the same thing. \u00a0\u00a0 Tonstad says not a word about resurrection in Rom. 8 pp. 396-98.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeglect of creation and a relentless anti-sabbatarian bias are constants in the Christian enterprise\u201d\u00a0 (p. 395). In fact Christians are often the worst offenders against creation, the worst exploiters.\u00a0 It is not a Biblical idea to say that nature serves no purpose but to serve the needs and whims of humans.<\/p>\n
On p. 406\u00a0 he takes Is. 66. 22-23 to mean that in the new creation we will be observing new moons and Sabbaths.\u00a0 But what the text means is in the new creation we will worship right around the liturgical calendar. Notice how the quote of this text in Rev. 15.3 leaves out the reference to Sabbath and new moons quite deliberately.\u00a0 That\u2019s because the author knows of another day of worship\u2014 see Rev. 1\u2014 \u2018the Lord\u2019s day\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 He argues that the whole deal is in play in Revelation because the context of Isaiah 66 is alluded to as well.\u00a0\u00a0 (Nope).<\/p>\n
To judge from pp. 412ff.\u00a0 he seems to think resurrection involves creation ex nihilo, even though Paul says it involved transformation of the living, and one would also assume raising of the dead bits of those who still have remains. He places much stress on the \u2018instanteous\u2019 nature of the change,\u00a0 at odds with the long process thinking of science about change. \u00a0It is well to mention that one can overdo the analogy between old creation and new creation in various ways.\u00a0 Tonstad appears to be a materialist as well by which I mean he seems to think death means extinction despite texts like 2 Cor. 5\u2014absent from the body and present with the Lord.<\/p>\n
The council of Laodicea legislated against Sabbath observance and other Judaizing practices in 360. Council of Trent in 1566 says that the church of God in its wisdom decided that the celebration of the Sabbath should be transferred to Sunday. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea sometime before 339 when he died, when commenting on Psalm 92 (91 in the LXX) said \u201call that was prescribed for the Sabbath we have transferred to the Lord\u2019s Day, inasmuch as it is the most important, the one which dominates, the first and the one which has more value than the Sabbath of the Jews\u201d\u00a0 (PG 23, 1172). \u00a0\u00a0Trent simply said that all the rest of the Decalogue is reinforced as it is part of natural law, but the Sabbath is not.\u00a0\u00a0 The Sabbath is seen as not fixed but rather alterable and subject to change.\u00a0 The Sabbath then should be seen as an example of ceremonial law.\u00a0\u00a0 Aquinas believed a day of rest\u00a0 does belong to what can be called natural law, but not the designation of a specific day\u00a0 (p. 426).\u00a0 Calvin calls the Sabbath \u201ca time-bound application of a timeless principle\u201d\u00a0 (p. 428). \u00a0\u00a0The major objection seems to be\u00a0 the arbitrariness of designating a particular day, and this by Calvin and Luther who revel in the notion of God\u2019s sovereignty and right to be arbitrary. \u00a0\u00a0But Tonstad counters that it is not arbitrariness but rather God\u2019s love for and faithfulness to his creation and creatures which explains the Sabbath. (pp,. 438-40.\u00a0 I happen to agree with him about this, and he is right to criticize not only Platonized Christianity with no viable theology of the goodness of creation and embodied existence, but also the anti-Semitism of the early church. But none of these valid criticisms provide a warrant for the positive theology he asks Christians to embrace in regard to the Sabbath.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is clear enough that Tonstad is a global thinker, and one of the things he has thought a lot about is creation care in light of sabbath observance.\u00a0 The problem is that despite the ecological potency of Sabbath observance, the earth is not merely crying out \u2018give it a rest\u2019\u00a0 it is crying out,\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Case for the Christian Sabbath--- Part Six<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is clear enough that Tonstad is a global thinker, and one of the things he has thought a lot about is creation care in light of sabbath observance.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case for the Christian Sabbath--- Part Six\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is clear enough that Tonstad is a global thinker, and one of the things he has thought a lot about is creation care in light of sabbath observance.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2011\/01\/31\/the-case-for-the-christian-sabbath-part-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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"\\"Colo")
<\/a><\/p>\n