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2004 English-speaking Scholarship
Winners
Every year the BSA conducts an essay contest for the purpose of
providing Sabbath-keeping students with scholarships to further
their college educations. 2004's essay contest was divided into
two categories, one for native English-speakers and one for those
who speak English as a second language. In this issue of The
Sabbath Sentinel we will feature our three native
English-speaking scholarship winners.
Each contestant was required to write a maximum 500-word essay in
answer to two of three questions:
1) A) Pretend you are at work. Your boss has told you that you
must start working Saturdays or face being fired. The job market
is bad. You probably wouldn't be able to find another job right
away and you have a family at home to feed. What would you do?
What would you say to your boss? How would you handle this
situation?
OR
1) B) You are at college on an athletic scholarship. Your
scholarship is dependent upon your playing at all home games.
Home games end up being on Fright night. Would you play the
games? Why or why not? What would you say to your coach and to
your school in light of your religious beliefs? How would you
handle this situation?
2) There is a movement to change the weekly calendar to make
Monday the first day of the week and Sunday the last day of the
week. While this would enforce the idea that Sunday is the
Sabbath day, what would you say to argue against this change?
What kind of facts would you present to convince the people who
would change this to leave it as it is? If this were to occur,
how could Sabbath keepers continue to teach the truth of the
Sabbath with the calendars being changed? How would you handle
this situation?
First Place Winner Randall Siddens
Nineteen-year-old
Randall Lee Siddens, is currently attending Missouri Western
State College in St. Joseph, Missouri. Randall grew up in
Marceline, Missouri, where he attended church at the Church of
God 7th Day. Randall enjoys playing the guitar, and particularly
he enjoys playing during the worship service at church. Randall
has always been very active in various school and church
activities.
Randall plans to move back to Marceline after college and work in
construction. "I feel that my ministry is mostly to be an
encourager of the church but also people individually," says
Randall.
Question 1-A
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Ex. 20:8.
This command from God sounds well and good, but what does it
mean? If you read on down in Exodus 20 you will find that God
explains what he means by this commandment. There are two things
God asks of us in this command. He first asks us to not labor,
and secondly He asks us to set the day apart as holy. Now being
humans when given a command from God we often ask ourselves,
"What will happen if I do not follow this command?" In
most cases God has explained the negative consequences of
disobeying His will, but not with the Sabbath. God does however
explain it nicely in John 14:15 when Jesus says "If you love
me, keep my commandments." Here is the point we must
understand, if we love God we will honor the Sabbath. If you do
not love God then do not feel obligated to keep the Sabbath, but
I am writing this paper assuming that my audience has made it a
point to live a life that demonstrates a love relationship with
the Father.
To show our love for God we must remember the Sabbath, and keep
it holy. This will at first seem easy, after all how hard is it
to take a day off and rest? Everything seems easy until you come
to a tough situation. Here is a situation that may have happened
to you or may happen in the future. Let us say that your boss at
work has told you to work on Sabbath, or face being fired. The
job market is bad, meaning getting another job will be hard, and
you have a family to feed. A perfect example of being between a
rock and a hard place.
On the one hand you face disobeying God and on the other losing a
job and facing hard times feeding the family. What would God have
you to do at this point?
There may be more than one way of solving this dilemma. First, I
suggest explaining to your boss the situation. I know from
personal experience that people will often go out of their way to
work out a solution if you just share your convictions and
dedication to loving God. The boss may find a different day for
you to work, but if not the right thing to do is to quit. Finding
a job can be difficult especially when the market is bad. This
may mean you have to work harder at a lower paying job.
Subsequently the family may need to tighten the budget. No matter
how bad things may be, God will provide.
God has not asked us to give up everything we have to prove our
love. He has, in fact, allowed us to be blessed when we do follow
his commands. The Sabbath allows us to set aside a day to connect
with God and grow closer to him. It is important that we keep the
Sabbath even if it means making some small sacrifices. And let us
not forget what our Lord sacrificed for us. God has given us
everything; can we not take at least one day a week to set aside
for God?
Question 2
Man has made many attempts to justify wrongdoings. One example is
the movement to change the calendar so that Sunday would be the
seventh day of the week. A person might question how this simple
effort to change could be considered a way to justify wrongs. It
comes from the purpose to change the calendar. The purpose of the
change would be to justify actions of disobeying God's fourth
commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. Since the majority of
Christians go to church on Sunday and do not honor the Sabbath,
it might make sense to some degree to make this change of the
calendar. This change however would not make a wrong, right.
The seven-day week was set up by God, for the sake of the
Sabbath. Think of this, the year is based on a yearly rotation of
the sun, and the month of a rotation of the moon, but the week
has no rhyme or reason. In fact, having 365 days in a year makes
a seven-day week very inconvenient. This is why we have
"approximately" 52 weeks in a year. If a person wanted
to sit down and make a work week they would not choose five
workdays and 2 weekend days, because seven is an odd number for a
weekly cycle. The Sabbath and our weekly need to rest,
rejuvenate, and focus on God are the only reasons the week was
setup as it was. A change in the calendar would be rejecting
God's plan because He set it up this way, and to say that another
way is better would be the same as saying man's way is better
than God's way.
Even though it would be against God's will, there are still
people who would like to make this change. The question is,
"How will Sabbath keepers deal with the calendar change if
it occurs?" I personally would resist the change. This might
be seen as going against the grain, but if you didn't know, I am
going against the grain keeping the Sabbath as it is now. This
change would definitely test the faith and steadfastness of the
Sabbath keepers, but it would not ruin anything that God has
given us.
The truth of God's gift of the Sabbath should be taught no matter
who or how many people have gone with new trends. This will be
much harder to do if the calendar gets changed. One way to change
the calendar would be to simply renumber the days. This would
really not affect the truth much, because many countries have
already tried this, and the Sabbath is still quite obviously the
true day of rest. Another way to change the calendar would be to
flip Sabbath and Sunday, making the week go Saturday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. This would
change the names but would not change the work schedule, leaving
the first day of the weekend as the true Sabbath. Either way it
would be a deviation from God's plan and gift.
The Sabbath was made for man. We are not supposed to feel
subservient to the Sabbath; we should enjoy the Sabbath and use
its benefits of rest and reuniting to the fullest. The Sabbath is
a gift and God will not let it be taken away from us, and let us
also remember to show our love for God by keeping the true
Sabbath. ?
Second Place Winner Joshua Gaffney
My name is Joshua Gaffney and I am
eighteen years old. I was born in Manchester, New Hampshire:
however, I have lived most of my life in Berthoud, Colorado. I am
the middle child of five children. I graduated from Berthoud High
School in May 2004 and am currently attending the South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology where I am pursuing a computer
science degree. I also work at the information desk in the
student center on campus. In my spare time, I like to play
basketball, card games, video games, and watch movies with my
friends and family. I attend an independent Sabbath-keeping
church and am continuing to learn about God and Jesus Christ
daily.
Question 1-A
One of the greatest challenges of being a Sabbath keeper is when
an employer asks the Sabbath keeper to work on a Saturday or face
being fired. This is a tough challenge to anyone's faith,
especially if in the current job market one is not likely to get
a job for months.
If this would happen to me, the first thing I would do would be
to offer to take a double shift on another day. If the company
allows employees to switch shifts, then there is more than likely
another employee who would rather work on a Saturday than on a
different shift some other day. I could also work for someone
after sunset on Saturday, if there are any late shifts available.
If the company would not let me trade shifts with another
employee or if none of the other employees would want to trade
shifts, then I would talk directly with my employer. I would tell
him that I feel that God requires my observance of the weekly
Sabbath and that I could not work on it. I would offer to work
more time during the week, Sundays, and holidays such as Easter,
Christmas, and Valentine's Day. This would probably be pleasing
to the employer, because it would show that I am not trying to
get out of work and it would help him fill shifts that others do
not want. It will also show that I am willing to work around
other's religious beliefs. If this still does not work, I would
tell my employer that I am willing to be fired because I refused
to work on the Sabbath and not to expect me on Saturday until
after sunset.
If I were fired, I would have to be active in finding a job that
I can make enough money to get by on and trust in God to help me
get by. I would also remember that sometimes God lets things
happen and take comfort in scriptures like 1 Peter 2:19 "For
it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust
suffering because he is conscious of God." When any
employers are interviewing me to see if I am qualified for the
job, I would tell them why I was fired and that I will not be
working on Saturdays. If the employer is good, he would see that
I have morals and values, which would hopefully help him to
decide to employ me.
Question 2
There has been a movement to change the beginning of the week to
Monday instead of Sunday. I feel that this could create a new
challenge to Sabbath keepers. I would argue against changing the
beginning of the week to Monday, because it would seem to show
that the Sabbath is on Sunday rather than Saturday.
Because the people who would want to change the beginning of the
week to Monday want to do so for business reasons, any religious
argument would not change their opinions. Therefore, I would
point out that the week has always started on Sunday, since
before written history. I would point out that everyone is used
to the week starting on Sunday and changing it could cause some
trouble with schedules. I would also argue that changing the
beginning of the week should not be done just for convenience
sake. I would also use the analogy that the weekend is like the
covers on a book. No matter how much you try, the first page of
the book would not make a good book cover and the cover will not
make a good last page.
If, however, the beginning of the week was changed to Monday,
Sabbath keepers can continue to preach the truth about the
Sabbath, despite people's claim that the new calendar supports
Sunday keeping. The people who will be alive during the calendar
change will know about it and for those who are not alive during
the change, there will always be documents showing the change of
the calendar. One will still be able to make the argument that
man cannot change God, and He is the same yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. Another argument Sabbath keepers can use is to show
that Jesus Christ kept a seventh day Sabbath. Then propose the
question; if Jesus Christ kept a seventh day Sabbath, can man
change the day and call it good? Another way to approach it,
would be to ask a Sunday keeper to explain why they keep Sunday.
If they have to explain their point of view, it makes them
analyze it themselves, then they may see the holes in their
argument.
I feel that although changing the calendar might change some of
the ways that Sabbath keepers defend the Sabbath; it still should
not present that much of a problem to the committed believer.
Third Place Winner Heather M. Fauth
Luke 14:33 says, "Whoever of you does not forsake all that
he has cannot be my disciple." This short verse sums up my
perspective on life. For me to be Jesus' disciple I have to leave
things of this world behind me, take up His cross and follow him.
I have been taking this verse seriously since I became a
teenager. During my freshman year in high school I was involved
in swim team. After the first meet my coach came up to me telling
me she needed me to swim Friday and Saturdays, days that are my
Sabbath. Instead of rejoicing to go a step higher, my coach made
me choose between swimming and church. I quit swimming for high
school that day; however, it wasn't easy. I had to remind myself
why I was doing it.
Six years later I'm still finding the blessings from my decision
to quit. In everything I do I must look at it and decide who it's
serving, who it will affect, and how it benefits my spiritual
life. I believe the only way to know this is by praying and
reading the Bible. I take the Bible literally and expect other
Christians to do the same. This experience six years ago and
others like it has made me ready to go into the entire world and
preach the gospel to others. I am ready for missionary work and
would like to pursue a profession that allows me to be involved
in helping others.
Seattle Pacific University has an international service called
SPRINT that I would like to get involved in while attending
school there, the project has many mission projects on and off
campus. I would also like to participate in the Church of God new
Medical Missions after becoming an active medical profession;
Physical Therapy Assistant, Occupational Therapist, or
Physician's Assistant is something I am currently considering. I
believe that God has given me a talent and passion for working
with injured and sick people and would like to use those talents
to serve Him and my community.
Question 1-A
When wondering what the future holds for me I get anxious and
worried, but in Philippians verses six and seven the Bible says,
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." I
have read these verses many times reminding myself that God is
ultimately in control because I do tend to fret over what the
future may bring, especially when it pertains to financial and
job issues.
The commandments are clear that the Sabbath (Saturday) is to be
kept by doing no work and resting. As a commandment keeping
Christian, I know that I will never work on Saturdays and must
tell my employer this; however, I will also need to pray for
confidence and trust because God does provide. There is a saying,
whenever God closes a door; he opens a window; so after quitting
my job I will have to look for the window that God has opened for
me. The window is not always obvious, but with prayer and faith
God will show me, His servant, the way I should go. Matthew six
verses thirty-one through thirty-four says "Therefore do not
worry, saying "What shall we eat?" or "What shall
we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For after all
these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to
you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble."
Seeking the Kingdom of God is much more important than any job I
could have on this earth, and by following God I know that He
will provide for me and my family. I have seen the power of
prayer in the stories of the time when my Grandpa had to quit his
job to honor God's commandments. He told me that even though he
was worried about where his and his family's next meal would come
from, he knew that it was better to follow God's commandments
than to break them by working on the Sabbath. Because he was
faithful to God in a time of testing, he has had many blessings
and God saw him and his family through it and gave him an even
better job.
Question 2
In the beginning God created the seventh day and hallowed it. He
set it apart so that man would have a day of rest, as stated in
Genesis the first chapter. He made the Sabbath day a holy day,
created only for humans because He knew we would need rest; He
did not need the rest, but He set an example that we should
follow. For what He does, we must also do. God was only looking
out for His people's best interest, and He can command His people
to rest on Sabbath because He is God. This is also the reason why
He picked the seventh day to be holy, because He is God and has
the right and power to decide what day we should rest. As
followers, we must listen to His words and obey. In Exodus, Moses
was given the commandments God had spoken to him; these
commandments are direct in what God wants His people to do.
As a follower and believer of God, I must realize that this means
that no matter what happens in this world, I must chose to follow
God, even if that means being the only one. In John, Jesus says,
"If you love Me, keep my commandments. He who has My
commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who
loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him."
By changing the calendar's first day to Monday, it would only
cause those who are not strong believers of the Ten Commandments
to falter. Just as the Lord's Supper is not held by the day on
the calendar says, but by the moon, the same could be done for
observing the Sabbath. God has always let the truth be known to
His followers, and those who seek it will find it. My favorite
verse that I would tell others who would question whether
Saturday was the seventh day or not is Acts five, verse
twenty-nine, "Peter and the other apostles answered and
said: 'We ought to obey God rather than men,'" since it is
men who are changing the calendar and not God, for the Sabbath
has always been Saturday from the beginning of time.
Scholarship Essay Contest 2005
We are now taking applications for our 2005 Scholarship Essay
Contest. If you are a college student or are planning to attend
college in the near future, write us for a contest application
and rules for this year's contest.
For 2005 the amount of scholarship money has been increased to
$1500 for first place, $1000 for second, and $500 for third.
There will only be three prizes given in 2005, and native English
speakers and those who speak English as a second language will
have an equal chance of winning.
If you as a BSA member or reader of The Sabbath Sentinel would
like to donate specifically to our scholarship contest fund, just
write on the check "Scholarship Fund," and your
donation will be separated into a fund designated only for our
scholarship essay contest.
TSS
March
- April 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel
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