Rejoicing In the Sabbath:

[RandyWayne]

Just out of curiosity, what if I decided to make Tuesday my sabbath? Would it matter?

And if it did, why would it matter? Do we truly know what day the sabbath should fall on considering all the leap years (and leap seconds) that have taken place since the Ten Commandments were written? Aren't the scientists which calculate such things evil and full of lies?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

Just out of curiosity, what if I decided to make Tuesday my sabbath? Would it matter?

And if it did, why would it matter? Do we truly know what day the sabbath should fall on considering all the leap years (and leap seconds) that have taken place since the Ten Commandments were written? Aren't the scientists which calculate such things evil and full of lies?

Randy,

You bring up some very good questions. Here’s what I was able to find on the subject:

In the official League of Nations "Report on the Reform of the Calendar," published at Geneva, August 17, 1926, are the following representative statements by noted astronomers:

"The week has been followed for thousands of years and therefore has been hallowed by immemorial use." (Anders Donner, "The Report," p.51. [Donner had been a professor of Astronomy at the University of Helsingfors])

'I have always hesitated to suggest breaking the continuity of the week, which without a doubt is the most ancient scientific institution bequeathed to us by antiquity." (Edouard Baillaud, "The Report, p.52 [Baillaud was Director of the Pris Observatory])

"As to Question (1)--I can only state that in connection with the proposed simplification of the calendar, we have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.
"As to Question (2) --There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected in any way the cycle of the week." (James Robertson, personal letter, dated March 12, 1932 [Dr. Robertson was Director of the American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.])

"As far as I know, in the various changes of the Calendar there has been no change in the seven day rota of the week, which has come down from very early times." (F.W. Dyson, Personal letter, dated March 4, 1932. [Dr. Dyson was Astronomer Royal, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London.])

"Some of these (the Jews and also many Christians) accept the week as of divine institution, with which it is unlawful to tamper; others, without these scruples, still feel that it is useful to maintain a time-unit that, unlike all others, has proceeded in an absolutely invariable manner since what may be called the dawn of history." ("Our Astronomical Column," Nature, London, number 127, June 6, 1931, p.869)

"The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of the Mosaic dispensation, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of weeks and their days from that time to the present." (Dr. W.W. Campbell, Statement. [Dr. Campbell was Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.])

"In spite of all of our dickerings with the calendar, it is patent that the human race never lost the septenary [seven-day] sequence of week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, through the ages, without a single lapse." (Dr. Totten, Statement. [Dr. Totten of New Haven, Connecticut, was Professor of Astronomy at Yale University when this statement was made.])

"The continuity of the week has crossed the centuries and all known calendars, still intact." (Professor D. Eginitis, Statement. [Dr. Eginitis was Director of the Observatory of Athens, Greece.])

"It is a strange fact that even today there is a great deal of confusion concerning the question of so-called 'lost time.' Alterations that have been made to the calendar in the past have left the impression that time has actually been lost. In point of fact, of course, these adjustments were made to bring the calendar into closer agreement with the natural [solar] year. Now, unfortunately, this supposed 'lost time' is still being used to throw doubt upon the unbroken cycle of the Seventh-day Sabbath that God inaugurated at the Creation. I am glad I can add the witness of my scientific training to the irrevocable nature of the weekly cycle.
"Having been time computer at Greenwich [England Observatory] for many years, I can testify that all our days are in God's absolute control--relentlessly measured by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis. This daily period of rotation does not vary one-thousandth part of a second in thousands of years. Also, the year is a very definite number of days. Consequently, it can be said that not a day has been lost since Creation, and all the calendar changes notwithstanding, there has been no break in the weekly cycle." (Frank Jeffries, Statement. [Dr. Jeffries was Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Research Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England.])

"The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions, -- a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity....it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries; and, as it forms neither an aliquot part of the year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss, as Dalambre remarks, to assign it to an origin having such semblance of possibility." (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol.4, p.988, article, "Calendar")

And here is an interesting note that I read which listed what many people groups call the seventh day in their own language. All translates… Sabbath. While I’m not absolutely certain, this could indicate an ancient original understanding of the seventh day in the weekly cycle dating back perhaps before cultures evolved into different cultures and languages. Perhaps even to the creation.

Ancient Syriac: shab-ba-tho ("Sabbath")
Chaldee Syriac (Kurdistan and Urumia, Persia): shaptu ("Sabbath")
Arabic (western Asia, northern and western Africa): as-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Arabic (ancient): shi-yar ("chief or rejoicing day")
Samaritan (Nablus, Palestine): shab-bath ("Sabbath")
Falashas (Abyssinia): yini sanbat ("the Sabbath")
Maltese (Malta): is-sibt ("the Sabbath")
Ethiopic (Abyssinia): san-bat ("Sabbath")
Coptic (Egypt): pi sabbaton ("the Sabbath")
Tamashek (Atlas mountains, Africa): a-hal es-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Kabyle (North Africa, Ancient Numidan): ghas assebt ("the Sabbath day")
Hausa (Central Africa): assebatu ("the Sabbath)
Hindustani (Muhammadan and Hindu, India): shamba ("Sabbath")
Pasto (Afghanistan): shamba ("Sabbath")
Pahlivi (ancient Persian): shambid ("pleasantest day of the week")
Persian (Persia): shambah ("Sabbath")
Armenian (Armenia): shapat ("Sabbath")
Kurdish (Kurdistan): shamba ("Sabbath")
Brdhuiky (Beluchistan): shembe ("Sabbath")
Georgian (Caucasus): shabati ("Sabbath")
Suanian (Caucasus): sammtyn ("Sabbath")
Ingoush (Caucasus): shatt ("Sabbath")
Malayan (Malaya, Sumatra): hari sabtu ("day Sabbath")
Javanese (Java): saptoe or saptu ("Sabbath")
Dayak (Borneo): sabtu ("Sabbath")
Makassar (southern Celebes and Salayer islands): sattu ("Sabbath")
Malagassy (Madagascar): alsabotsy ("the Sabbath")
Swahili (east equatorial Africa): as-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Mandingo (west Africa, south of Senegal): sibiti ("the Sabbath")
Teda (central Africa): essebdu ("the Sabbath")
Bornu (central Africa): sibda ("Sabbath")
Fulfulde (central Africa): assebdu ("the Sabbath")
Logone (central Africa): se-sibde ("the Sabbath")
Bagrimma (central Africa): sibbedi ("the Sabbath")
Maba (central Africa): sab ("Sabbath")
Permian (Russian): subota ("Sabbath")
Votiak (Russian): subbota ("Sabbath")
Kazani-Tartar (east Russia): subbota ("Sabbath")
Osmanlian (Turkey): yom-es-sabt ("day of the Sabbath")
Orma (south of Abyssiania): zam-ba-da ("Sabbath")
Congo (west equatorial Africa): sabbado or Kiansbula ("Sabbath")
Wolof (Senegambia, west Africa): alere-asser ("last day Sabbath")
D'oc. French (ancient and modern): dissata ("day Sabbath")
French (France): samedi ("Sabbath day")
Latin (Italy): sabbatum ("Sabbath")
Italian (Italy): sabato, sabbato ("Sabbath")
Spanish (Spain): sabado ("Sabbath")
Portuguese (Portugal): sabbado ("Sabbath")
Roman (Spain, Catalonia): dissapte ("day Sabbath")

I don't think those who claim we don't know on what day the Sabbath would fall have a leg to stand on. Besides... we have the Jews who have kept a record of the Sabbath since long before their Babylonian exile.