Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Example: Paying a
caterer in the middle of the week to serve your entire COG group a large
meal on a high holy day (Ex: 8th day of the FOT). Would this caterer
and their staff, no doubt be working around the clock to provide a meal
for such a large number of people? Work that would no doubt be completed
on the holy day, or at least partially so? Would that work no doubt be
condemned by God? Yes
“But, as long as we don’t exchange payment on the Sabbath for their labor, it is ok right?”
How many times has
this occurred and the church has asked the members not to tip the
catering staff? How many of us would feel comfortable tipping the
catering staff, and then getting up to go find our seats for the
afternoon service? How is that any different than tipping a server in a
restaurant?
“How about your hotel
at the Feast? You pay the owner and their staff to take care of your
room during your entire stay? This would have to include labor on the
Sabbath and High days!”
Again, what is in your
DIRECT influence of control? Are you able to put a “Do not Disturb”
placard on your doorknob, so at the very least the maid does not need to
labor on your room that day? Do you have to order room service on a
high day? Does the teenager at Starbucks have to make you a latte on a
High day? Can you not plan ahead for meals by buying a sandwich and
sides the day before, so that you have a prepared meal ready for between
services? Is it absolutely necessary (as in, no possible alternative)
to pay your final bill on the High day or Sabbath?
Can you not try to
exchange payment sometime before the holy day begins? These things are
in your DIRECT influence of control.
“What about renting a
car during the feast? You are using it on the Sabbath and High days, and
you are paying for it’s entire use over the 8 days, thus aren’t you
paying for goods on the Sabbath?” No, because I will not make payment
for that car on the Sabbath or the High day. This is within my DIRECT
influence of control. Does my driving the rental car cause any DIRECT
labor to be done on my behalf? Someone may be able to split hairs fine
enough to find a way to say that I am, and I would only reply “it is
outside of my DIRECT sphere of influence.”
If we were to follow
this flawed logic to the extreme, then no one could ever purchase
anything, at any time, because of the possibility labor could have
occurred on the Sabbath during its making. This would be Pharisaical,
and completely unreasonable. Remember, this argument is against eating
in a restaurant on the Sabbath.
We understand that
this is not God’s world. It is Satan’s. There is no way we can ever be
completely untouched by someone who broke the Sabbath to labor upon it.
Sin is everywhere, and we cannot escape its sphere of influence
completely. But, there are many, many things that are DIRECTLY under our
control. And that which we can control, we should! God WILL hold us
accountable for the things we can DIRECTLY control. He will not hold us
accountable for the things out of our direct control.
Now the conversation has moved on to electricity. This is the favorite pick and choose topic for those advocating strict Saturday activities.
One of the major
arguments against the points listed above is, “if you declare eating on a
restaurant a sin because you exchanged payment for another person’s
labor, then wouldn’t it be a sin to use electricity on the Sabbath?”
“Someone had to work
at the plant on the Sabbath to provide your electricity. Then you also
shouldn’t run any water on the Sabbath either for the same reason. See
what happens if you declare eating in restaurants a sin, some people
will inevitably split hairs until we become Pharisaical in observing the
Sabbath……..turning it into a burden.”
Malm chimes in:
This idea that men
generate electricity is not true; the generation of electricity is
mechanical and does not involve human intervention [or could be
entirely automatic if unions would allow it] except a standby for
emergencies. The company has direct control over the building of new
plants, maintenance scheduling, paperwork, setting up new accounts,
billing etc and could very easily choose not to do these things on
Sabbath. This is like saying, because some farmer planted potatoes on
the Sabbath, we are responsible for his actions when we buy in market
during the week. It is nonsense!
Questions to ask:
Do you pay your
electric or water bill on the Sabbath? Are you DIRECTLY involved in the
labor of these plant workers, including handing over payment to them for
the DIRECT labor they provided you? No. This is out of your direct
control. Even though you can choose not to turn on your light switch
(Pharisees), this will not stop the employees at the power plant. That
is because you have no DIRECT influence over them and their day.
But, when you eat in a
restaurant, are you not DIRECTLY influencing the restaurant employee’s
day? What if the place is slow, and you were not come in, they will have
no customers for that hour. But if you enter, you DIRECTLY change and
influence the situation through your presence. The hostess must find you
a table, the server must take your order and make sure drinks are
filled, and the cooks now must labor in the kitchen to personally make
YOUR food. Then you directly compensate these employees for their
service and goods. One situation
involves our DIRECT influence, the other does not. The electric company
argument is truly splitting hairs, and therefore invalid.