When Did The Concept Of Church And Sunday Sabbath Observance Began...?

Inauguration of “Church” and its rituals are shrouded in mystery. But what is certain is that, before the inauguration of “Christians” as noted in Acts 11:26, the initial followers of Jesus were Jews and that Jewish traditions laws and custom were the only practice familiar to Jesus and his followers. During Jesus’ lifetime, he attended congregational prayer ceremonies only at synagogues as mentioned in Luke 4: 15-16 which says:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day (i.e. seventh day - Saturday)”.

Thus, the congregational prayer day of Jesus is undisputable; and that he did not worship at “church” on Sunday nor worshiped with the uncircumcised.

The argument among Christians over “Sunday” congregational prayer observance began in the late 19th century; and up until then, Christians of all denominations were content with Sunday (pagan's day of worship), as their official congregational prayer day. In fact, the names for all the days in the week in Christendom come from the names of pagan gods. From Greek-Roman gods Monday comes from “Moon Day” – the day for worshipping the Moon god; Saturn was worshipped on Saturn’s Day, which became Saturday. The Sun god, Sol Invictus, (born on December 25th) was worshipped—you guessed it—on Sunday. Now, it is from the Viking pagan gods we get the names for the remaining days of the week: Tuesday comes from Middle English Tewesday, the day of “Tiw” or “Tyr,” the god of single combat, victory and heroic glory in Norse religion. Odin / Wodin was honored on Wodin’s Day – known today as Wednesday; Thor’s Day became Thursday; and Friday comes from the Norse goddess Friya or Freya.

So it used to be that, before the Romans converted to Christianity, “Sunday” was the day Romans reverenced their Sun god. Upon converting to Christianity in the forth century, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, decreed that festal-day as the official congregational prayer day for his new Christian religion. Thus Sunday decree was honoured by the Church which existed as (followers of Jesus sect) not conforming to laws and principles of Synagogue. In the first place, it is for this reason that Christians refer to their place of worship as “Church” and not Synagogue as known by Jesus (peace be upon him) who upheld the Abrahamic and Mosaic Law.

From the inception of Church its doctrine has always been: “Christ is the end of the Law” Romans 10:4. So why the hue and cry over Sunday Sabbath keeping when Church itself was never conformed to Synagogue principles such as Abrahamic and Mosaic Law?

Judaism, as known by Jesus (peace be upon him) continues to this day honouring not only the sanctity of the Sabbath given to Moses (peace be upon him), but more than that it honours the sanctity of circumcision given to the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). Reflecting on the consequence for not adhering to the Law of the Everlasting Covenant established between God and the Prophet Abraham (Gen. 17: 1-14), we have to admit that if Jesus (peace be upon him) were to return to the world with his former earthly body, he would be surprised to find himself being called Christian, worshiping in Church on Sundays among uncircumcise worshipers.

Numbers 23:19 says clearly: “God is not a man that he lies; neither is he the Son of man that He repents: hath he said, and shall he not do? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” 

Now the question is; did God change his mind and bring back uncircumcision for the people of Abrahamic faith? What then follows breaking the Everlasting Commandment of God where God says very clearly in Genesis 17:13-14:

“…and My Covenant shall be in your flesh for an Everlasting Covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My Covenant.”

In the long run, Jesus (peace be upon him) was not the founder of “Church” (uncircumcised religion), and that he upheld the laws and commandments given to the Prophet Abraham and Moses (peace be upon them).

It is well known that the Prophet Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian and that the Bible attests that circumcision originated with Abraham as an Everlasting Commandment for all mankind—whereas, the “Ten Commandment” given to the Prophet Moses was specifically for Moses and his people (i.e. Israelites).

As it were, Moses (peace be upon him) incorporated the Law of circumcision with what he had received from God. Interestingly, according to Mosaic Law, if found guilty for labouring on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), the whole congregation stoned the guilty to death as command by God in Exodus 31:14-15 and Numbers 15:32-36. However, while God forbade the Israelites to labour on their Sabbath, permission is granted to carry out circumcisions on that day so that the everlasting commandment given to the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) was not broken (John 7:23).

Now, since the commandment given to the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) is for all of mankind, and is to last till the end of this physical world (as we understand the word Everlasting to mean), it is only expected that during apostolic time, quarrels would rise over breaking the Everlasting Commandment of circumcision. So while the New Testament makes no mention of quarrels among the early followers of Jesus (peace be upon him) for changing the Day of Mosaic Sabbath; there are however a number of passages in the New Testament showing that dissension and disputation rose among the early followers of Jesus over the importance of observing the commandment of God given to the Prophet Abraham. One account supporting this argument is found in the Book of Acts which reads as follows:

“And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question...” (Acts 15:1-2).

Notice here that the conflict was not over breaking one of the “Ten Commandments”. It was however, for desecrating the everlasting sanctity of circumcision given to the Prophet Abraham. This proves beyond a shadow of doubt that from apostolic time, Church violated God’s Everlasting Covenant. So in all fairness, if there is to be any quarrel with the Church, it should be for the doctrine of the Church; “Christ is the end of the Law” because, it is evident in Acts 15:1-2, that the disciples of Jesus did not subscribe to this school of thought which was introduced by Paul at his conversion some fifteen years or so after the disappearance of Jesus (peace be upon him).

Reflecting on God’s injunction stated in Deut. 12:32 which reads’ “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it”. It is now easy to understand as to why Jesus hastened to clarify his purpose to his adversary from the beginning of his mission stating thus:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, (not) one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17- 19).

Far-off from Church doctrine “Christ is the end of the Law”. 300 years after the advent of Jesus, when Christianity became the official state religion under the Roman Emperor Constantine, Jesus replaced the Sun god and took over his birth date (December 25th). But to its credit, Christianity brought a higher focus on the next life and the attainment of salvation for Greek-Roman pagans; however, it does so with a philosophy palatable to medieval polytheistic rationalism. It made Jesus the physical incarnation of God for the purpose of killing him by crucifixion as atonement for sins, followed by his resurrection and bodily ascension to heaven as “proofs” that he is, in fact, God Almighty. The problem with these notions is that they clearly violate the Jewish understanding of the pure Oneness and non-physicality of God and the elemental justice required of God that only the guilty and not the innocent are punished for their sins and that prophets do not pay for the sins of their people (Exodus 32:30-33). In Christianity, the death of Jesus on the cross as the atonement for sin, God does just the opposite—punishes an innocent man for the sins of the guilty.

The meaning of Numbers 23:19 is so straight-forward and obvious that Jewish Rabbis regularly quote this verse as proof that Jesus could not be God because God sent the Torah (Old Testament) to purify the Jews of this very same pagan belief—that the Egyptian gods came down as animals and human beings, which was false. How could God then change his mind and bring back pagan religious ideas and say it was now true?

The difference between Islam and Christianity is that Islam does not allow any division of God into “persons.” With the Christian Trinity, the spiritual eye is no longer focused solely on One God, as in Judaism (the religion of Jesus), but is now split up into three separate points of focus, with different levels of attention, honor and authority given to each “person” in the Trinity. Different levels of sanctity and respect are also indicated – the Holy Spirit being the only “person” of the Trinity you cannot blaspheme or you will never be forgiven. This clearly shows that the Trinity concept is three separate entities coexisting outside each other and not “three-in-one” because if they were really “one” you could blaspheme not only the Holy Spirit but the Father and son as well. Matt.12:31, Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10.

In standard Christianity, Jesus is the central focal point – he is the fulcrum upon which mankind’s salvation is leveraged by his death and resurrection. Jesus is also given all power to rule, judge and forgive sins, and he is even given credit for creating the Universe along with God the Father. Salvation is now obtained in Christianity only by believing in the death, atonement and resurrection of Jesus, whereas Judaism and Islam both affirm that God does not share sovereignty or power with anyone; that He alone is the sole Creator of everything; that He alone is the Master on the Day of Judgment; that He alone is the only means of salvation; and that He alone has all power to show mercy and forgive sins.

Islam returns man’s focus back to the pure Oneness of God as defined in Judaism, while keeping the high level of focus on prayer and spiritual purification which is required for the doing of good to others, and to attain communion with God in this life and in the next.

Islam is the last and final of Divine religions (Abrahamic faith). It brings with it fulfillment of unfulfilled prophecies mentioned in preceding scriptures. All religions expect the Messiah to come in the Latter Days, relatively close to the end of this physical world as we know it. Secondly, they all expect this person to be a "Second Coming" of some type, usually of a Prophet they have to come to give a special place to, or even idolize. Examples can be seen from all the major religions: the Hindus expect Shri Nishkalank Avtar, The Sikh's scriptures call him Mahdi Mir, The Zoroasterians hope for the appearance of Soashyant, the third spiritual son of Zoroaster. The Buddhists believe that Buddhisttua Maitreya - the future Buddha, will ultimately descend from his present abode in one of the Heavens. In Judaism, belief in and fervent expectation of the Messiah are firmly established tenets. Christians, since the early times after Paul have been expecting the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Muslims are also expecting the same Christ to descend from Heaven, but as a Muslim. Obviously, all these expectations are allegorical and are to be fulfilled in a single person and not many.

Thus, the metaphorical prophecy manifested among the Muslims in the 19th century. The founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian India who, in 1889 after receiving revelation from God claimed to be that spiritual reformer that all the religions were awaiting. He came to manifest to the world the truthfulness of all the prophets. He showed the true and blessed face of Islam. He explained how Jesus (peace be upon him) was an exalted prophet of God, who fulfilled his mission, survived death on the cross and died a natural death in India. He explained how Prophet Muhammad is the Seal of Prophets and is the last law bearing prophet. He elucidated the real meanings of Jihad and admonished Muslims to keep away from the self-made bloody interpretation of Jihad. Above all he spread the message of peace and that the world needs today.