Rome’s Challenge: Why Do Protestants Keep Sunday?

Surprisingly, the Roman Catholic Church has produced an excellent article on the Biblical Sabbath, highly recommended by The Bible Sabbath Association. How did this incongruity occur?

The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in 1893 in Chicago, created quite a stir among Protestant churches, when the Fair was open on Sundays. Some of the churches attempted to legally stop this “Sabbath” desecration. In response to this controversy, a series of articles were published from September 2-23, 1893, in the Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, which expressed a challenge from the Catholic Church to Protestants as to why they keep Sunday, when the Bible commands Sabbath (Saturday) observance. The Catholic Mirror reviewed the Bible evidence and properly concluded that the Sabbath is a commanded day of rest and worship, and that Sunday worship is NOT authorized by the Bible.

Protestants are not consistent (Sabbath-keepers such as Seventh-day Adventists excepted). They claim their faith is grounded in “the Bible only,” yet by keeping Sunday, they are recognizing the tradition and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This hypocrisy led Catholics to launch the “counter-Reformation,” at the Council of Trent (1546), which stated that Scripture and tradition are to be received and venerated equally, that the apocryphal books are part of the Scripture canon, and the Vulgate is the sole authentic and standard Bible, with the authority to supersede the original texts, and forbade the interpretation of Scripture contrary to the sense received by the Catholic Church.

Finally, the December 23, 1893, issue of the Catholic Mirror responded favorably to the Adventists, who used their material to promote the Sabbath. “Reason and common sense,” the Catholic Mirror concluded, “demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping of holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.” Will you accept Rome’s challenge?

Rome’s Challenge, Why Do Protestants Keep Sunday? is available from The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, Wyoming 82718 for $1.00 postage paid. It should be noted that the Catholic article infers that before the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church was the only Christian Church. The fact is, there have been faithful Sabbath-keepers in many parts of the world since the First Century, A.D.