Josh wrote:One struggle with following the law is a passage like this:
In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on it will be put to death. You must not kindle a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.
I think Jesus' words are very important, and I don't think I can follow Jesus whilst putting someone to death for working at 4:58 PM on a Friday.
And would we really close the hospitals every Friday evening, send the Police home, and shut down the power companies one day a week? For a doctor has to work on Sabbath to heal the sick, just as Christ did on the Sabbath.
Your quote from Exodus 35:2-3 is followed by a description of the Tabernacle in that same chapter. This earthly tabernacle is no longer here, but was a principle of the true tabernacle (Hebrews 9:11), just as the penalty for breaking the Sabbath was a principle that shows us the importance of the Sabbath in Exodus 35:2-3.
You are looking for an single exception to extinguish the general principle. If you had lived at the time that Moses instituted this penalty for not keeping the sabbath, it may have made perfect sense to you. But whether you understand it or not, it is still there.
The 7th Day Sabbath was first instituted by God in Genesis 2:2. We next see the Sabbath in Exodus 16:23, which is prior to the Covenant made on Mt. Sinai. So the Sabbath predates the Old Covenant, and is incorporated in the Sinai covenant as the 4th of the 10 Commandments. (Exodus 20:8-11)
Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28) and performed His greatest miracles on the Sabbath day, which is why it is called "the Lord's Day". (Revelation 1:10).
After the death of Christ, which established the New Covenant, Christ's followers continued to keep the Sabbath day, (Luke 23:56), for Christ had predicted that the Sabbath would be in effect long after His death, even after the destruction of Jerusalem. (Matthew 24:20). For God's Law has been established as the primary institution of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:10). Therefore, the Sabbath Day is still valid, as it has always been central to God's Law.
Here is my question for you:
Our Lord had compassion on widows (Luke 7:13), as God's Law said that they should be treated with kindness (Ex 22:22, Deut 14:29, 16:11, 24:17, 26:12, 26:19. There is no indication that we should ask about their age, or circumstances, just that we should take care of them. This was a function of the early church, no questions asked (Acts 6:1).
Does this sound reasonable to you?
Or do you agree with Paul, that we should not help widows that are less than 60 years old, or if they were married more than once, or if she does not have children, or if she does not believe in foot-washing, and many other conditions that Paul said would reject a widow from being helped by the church? (1 Timothy 5:9-10)
Also, do you think that younger widow, like less than 60 years old, say someone in their late fifties, with no home, no income, absolutely nothing, that we should refuse to help her? The reason being, "for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry. Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith". (1 Timothy 5:11-12)
Now that is something I really struggle with.
I think James, the brother of our Lord, condemned Paul's doctrines about widows when he wrote:
James 1:(27) Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
I would side with James against Paul, because James actually knew Christ, and so followed God's Law, which is what Christ taught.
And James taught that all of the 10 Commandments are still valid today. (James 2:8-12), just as James taught against Paul's doctrine of Salvation by faith. (James 2:14-26)
But what are your thoughts? Do you think we should follow Paul's instructions - to the letter - to not support a widow that is under 60 years old?
For if you break the commandments of Paul in this instance, then the other commandments Paul made could be broken as well.