God's Purpose For Saturday
Thursday, March 20, 2008 Filed in: Ideas
Why do we have Saturday? The responsibility belongs
to God. He set it up as the last day of the week. A
day to sleep late.
I'm not sure if everything in life has a purpose, but I am certain than anything of value has a purpose. So it is with Saturday.
Monday through Thursday are the typical days of the week. That's when we do what we do. We also do what we do on Friday, but that's different than Monday through Thursday because Friday marks both the end of the typical days of the week, and the beginning of the weekend.
Even the weekend is poorly named. Saturday is the end of the week. Sunday is the beginning. As if you didn't know already, Saturday does have a definition and a history:
As an adverb, Saturday's definition is extended to include "on Saturday" or "they sleep late Saturdays." See? Now we're getting somewhere with Saturdays. The inherent purpose of a Saturday is to sleep late.
Saturday has a long history which can be traced as far back as the second century. Saturday is named for the planet Saturn, which was named for the Roman god of agriculture, Saturn.
Though modern society tends to ignore history that is less convenient, Judaism, Christendom, and Islam regarded Saturday as the seventh day of the week, the day of rest. Any day of rest should begin with sleeping late. So, Saturday has a purpose, even in the modern world.
Somehow, in our Judeo-Christian-laced society, Saturday, formerly known as the Sabbath, became Sunday, which also became a day of rest, and a trend began toward making various days of the week a day rest, also known as a day to sleep late.
Think about it. Any day we have where we don't have to work and don't have anything planned and that we consider to be a day of rest has affinity with Saturday, because God intended Saturday to be a day of rest.
Through the centuries, humanity attached Sunday, as the first day of the week, to be a day of rest, too, because everyone knows that you need to rest before you begin your work (Monday through Thursday), and you need to rest after you finish celebrating your work (Friday).
All that makes perfect sense, even if you have to work on a Saturday or a Sunday. By so doing we are going against God's purpose.
Modern societies have made the simple, single-day Saturday day of rest, much more complicated, though we don't complain about it. Not only do we have Saturday as a day of rest, even if we don't use it to rest, but we've added Sunday for the same purpose, and celebrate the end of the week on Friday when the week hasn't officially ended yet.
Even better are the various and sundry holidays we add throughout the year; birthday celebrations for dead people, birthday celebrations for entire countries, birthday celebrations for earth-born deities who weren't even born on said day of celebration.
Those days get shoved into Monday or Sunday, so they don't interfere with the added value we place on Saturday and Sunday. Hence the three day weekend.
God's purpose for Saturday was to give us a break. We took it and ran with it and now we have breaks on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. Still, it seems like it was all part of God's plan.
I'm not sure if everything in life has a purpose, but I am certain than anything of value has a purpose. So it is with Saturday.
Monday through Thursday are the typical days of the week. That's when we do what we do. We also do what we do on Friday, but that's different than Monday through Thursday because Friday marks both the end of the typical days of the week, and the beginning of the weekend.
Even the weekend is poorly named. Saturday is the end of the week. Sunday is the beginning. As if you didn't know already, Saturday does have a definition and a history:
Didn't I just say that? Then we're on the same page, right?"Saturday-- noun: the day of the week before Sunday, and following Friday, and (together with Sunday) forming part of the weekend"
As an adverb, Saturday's definition is extended to include "on Saturday" or "they sleep late Saturdays." See? Now we're getting somewhere with Saturdays. The inherent purpose of a Saturday is to sleep late.
Saturday has a long history which can be traced as far back as the second century. Saturday is named for the planet Saturn, which was named for the Roman god of agriculture, Saturn.
Though modern society tends to ignore history that is less convenient, Judaism, Christendom, and Islam regarded Saturday as the seventh day of the week, the day of rest. Any day of rest should begin with sleeping late. So, Saturday has a purpose, even in the modern world.
Somehow, in our Judeo-Christian-laced society, Saturday, formerly known as the Sabbath, became Sunday, which also became a day of rest, and a trend began toward making various days of the week a day rest, also known as a day to sleep late.
Think about it. Any day we have where we don't have to work and don't have anything planned and that we consider to be a day of rest has affinity with Saturday, because God intended Saturday to be a day of rest.
Through the centuries, humanity attached Sunday, as the first day of the week, to be a day of rest, too, because everyone knows that you need to rest before you begin your work (Monday through Thursday), and you need to rest after you finish celebrating your work (Friday).
All that makes perfect sense, even if you have to work on a Saturday or a Sunday. By so doing we are going against God's purpose.
Modern societies have made the simple, single-day Saturday day of rest, much more complicated, though we don't complain about it. Not only do we have Saturday as a day of rest, even if we don't use it to rest, but we've added Sunday for the same purpose, and celebrate the end of the week on Friday when the week hasn't officially ended yet.
Even better are the various and sundry holidays we add throughout the year; birthday celebrations for dead people, birthday celebrations for entire countries, birthday celebrations for earth-born deities who weren't even born on said day of celebration.
Those days get shoved into Monday or Sunday, so they don't interfere with the added value we place on Saturday and Sunday. Hence the three day weekend.
God's purpose for Saturday was to give us a break. We took it and ran with it and now we have breaks on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. Still, it seems like it was all part of God's plan.
