Pacific Viewpoint discusses the proposal of Tonga introducing Sunday Trading.
With strong objection from church leaders warning of God's curse and wrath if it goes ahead,
Tonga on the other hand continues to slip into serious economic debt.
Open for comments...
Samoan always in the lead. Comparing the Tongan Rev on tnews and this Samoan Rev, I must say the Samoan Rev. is way waaaay ahead than our Tongan Rev. Thank you Rev. Mataia for such an insight to the issue. you have set some light on the topic and you're right in everyway. malo e faifatongia.
Thank you Rev. Tavale, your talk has been a blessing for me. I'm Tongan and I live in Tonga. I am working for the government of Tonga and I would like to know more about this issue of working on Sunday and why the church leaders opposed the bill. I am thankfull that Pacific Viewpoint have taken up this issue and provide some answers to our dilemma. I know your probably busy but if you have some spare time, could you please answer the following questions for me:
1. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath day?
2. Did Jesus bless the Sabbath day and all those who keep the Sabbath day (not working on Sabbath) would God bless them also?
3. If we decide to work on the Sabbath day, are we still go to heaven after we die?
4. Is there anything wrong with working on Sunday/Sabbath as long as we do not gossip, back biting, Zealous etc etc?
I think that's about it for now.
kind regards
ipod.
Thank you Pacific Viewpoint. For me, I think this is all old testament. Days are not important our hearts are. God doesn't care about a day! He cares about your soul and mine. He calls us for a personal relationship with him not with Sundays....I think we need to do something to improve our economy.
God made the Sabbath day as a day of rest and commanded that we should rest from our labors. However, that day of rest or Sabbath, has always been the seventh day of the week not the first.
In the early centuries of the Christian movement, worship was moved to Sunday in an attempt to attract more pagans to Christianity as they always worshiped thier sun god on Sunday. But is it up to man to change Gods written laws? And if so, then does that mean it's okay to disregard any of the other laws regarding murder, adultery, stealing?
One of the very few Christian denominations that still regard and honor Saturday as the Sabbath are the Seventh Day Adventist. As a Christian myself, I wish that all Christian denominations would see the grave error that was committed so many centuries ago and return to Saturday as a day of worship and rest.
Do I believe Christians should work on Sunday? Only if that day comes when we re-establish Saturday as the day God commanded us to rest. I surely doubt that day will come in my life time, if at all. Till then, I suppose we will have to follow along with what mainline Christian churches are practicing. Personally I would like to see Christians observing the Sabbath on Saturday as was commanded by the Lord God
When the Bible sabbath is mentioned, the bible never left us in the dark,sabbath was defined as beig blessed and sanctified by God and no other day is made holy for worship. Im glad Rev.Tavale quoted that sunday was the first day of the week, that identifys the importance of the seventh-day sabbath.I guess what Im saying is that Tonga can Trade on Sunday it's a working day to help the economy and the people of Tonga, there has to be documents in your archives that will tell you when, how,and who changed your days and why.Every time God has a day,the devil always has a counterfeit .Even Jesus rested in the tomb on the sabbath,and rose on the first day of the week,cause ressurection is an act of working.The question here is "NOT if Tonga can or cannot trade on a Sunday", the question is"Are people upholding the tradition and culture of men rather than God's law"?Sunday will always be the first day of the week and NOT the seventh day holy Sabbath.
I respectfully disagree with the notion that we should be allowed to trade on sunday for the sake of improving the economy.
On the contrary, for the sake of recieving blessings including an improved economy, we should be ever steadfast in our determination to obey God's will and keep his day holy.