Chick-fil-A And the Lord’s Day: Rare Light in the Darkness

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Exodus 20

Remembering in a Forgetful World

Chick-fil-A keeps its doors closed on Sundays so that its employees have a day of rest and are able, if they wish, to go to church. Years ago, a lonely voice in Christianity Today, noted the complaint of a friend of hers who had to work on Sunday: ‘I have to work to serve all these Christians who are busy buying after church.’

The ubiquitous Sabbath-breaking of our own day is nothing new. During the revival that swept England, John Wesley noted a rare exception: “I suppose three such towns are scarce to be found again…There is no cursing, no Sabbath-breaking…”

He exhorted Christians, “Spend this day as thou hopest to spend that day which shall never end.”

On the Ten Commandments, Martin Luther told parents, “Exhort your household to learn them word for word, that they should obey God…For if you teach and urge your families things will go forward.”

The president of a denomination began his sermon at our local church with an offer of a ten dollar bill to any child who could cite the Ten Commandments in any order or form. As he put it back in his billfold he lamented that he had never been able to give it away in any church where he had preached.

Most Christians not only cannot cite the Ten Commandments in any order or form, we seem to be left with only eight or less these days.  [Original essay on Teaching Children Ten Commandments–‘Your Child’s Endangered Heart’]

In A Word to a Sabbath-Breaker, Wesley wrote, “Never more disappoint the design of his love, either by worldly business or idle diversions….You have lived many years in folly and sin; now, live one day unto the Lord.”

[Please learn to share these posts. They do little good hidden in the corner.]

Teaching Children the Ten Commandments

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The Ten Commandments “became an integral part of our culture by appearing in verse form in one of McGuffey’s famous Readers.”

–D. Elton Trueblood

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Above all else love God alone;

Bow down to neither wood nor stone.

God’s name refuse to take in vain;

The Sabbath rest with care maintain.

Respect your parents all your days;

Hold sacred human life always.

Be loyal to your chosen mate;

Steal nothing neither small nor great.

Report, with truth, your neighbor’s deed;

And rid your mind of selfish greed.

This is an easy way for children to begin to learn them. As they grow, read them the text itself, Exodus 20

.“Exhort your household to learn them word for word, that they should obey God…For if you teach and urge your families things will go forward.”–Martin Luther

[ Barna Research Group– 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are,” said George Barna.]

[Joe Carter, at the Gospel Coalition, writes, ‘ we have forgotten the moral aspect of memorization. “A trained memory wasn’t just about gaining easy access to information,” says Joshua Foer, referring to the ancient world, “it was about strengthening one’s personal ethics and becoming a more complete person.” Foer adds that the thinking of the ancients was that only through memorization could ideas truly be incorporated into one’s psyche and their values absorbed.’]

Note: The worst attacks on the Ten Commandments are not from atheists who seek to destroy monuments, but from antinomian Christians. Be sure to read the quotes from Luther, Calvin, and Wesley in my comment below.  They all had to stand against the lawless Christians of their own day.

See: God’s Assignment: Teach Your Children His Word. Linked below at bottom of page.

See also, Your Child and Your TV  

[TV link FIXED. Could not afford website host any longer. Links from Internet Archive Wayback Machine]