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Let’s see what the scripture says…
I’m not sure if you meant 1 as in working on the sabbath, or if you meant how churches worship on the Sabbath day (how do you truly measure/evaluate someone’s worship?) but I’ll assume the latter:
I think in both cases it’s hard to generalize, it really depends on your individual church, but that’s why it’s important to attend/be a part of a doctrine-based church.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sabbath-keeping.html I think this explains pretty well about how we treat the Sabbath being a part of the new covenant (including celebrating holidays, whether religious ones or not) on the weekend/Sabbath)
As for celebrating Christmas, I’ve learned through my church since I was a kid how the physical aspects of a traditional “American” Christmas can be connected back to our faith and to Jesus (the story behind the shape of the candy cane and the red/white stripes, what the evergreen fir tree symbolizes, how the presents point back to what the wise men gave to Jesus as an infant, and also how Christ was the ultimate present to us, the fulfilled promise); as long as a church is truly keeping Christ at the center of Christmas, it’s perfectly okay to celebrate freely (we also only play Christmas hymns or Christian songs during the service and any lunch fellowships after).
As for celebrating holidays in general, as long as you’re keeping it as a time of fellowship and honoring God in your words and your actions (does anything you say or do conflict with His Word?), there’s nothing wrong with celebrating regular holidays like Labor Day, etc.
We are to worship continually. Sunday is just a historical norm but neither good nor bad. Any day or days is fine - gathering SOMETIME regularly is important but not the day. Dont let anyone psych you out about rules there.
As for other holidays, early Christians coopted many secular celebrations and Jesus-ized them. Thus now we have awkward situations like Christmas and Easter where Christians try to emphasize God but dont want to miss out on the secular piece either.
Personally I think it's a shame but that's what the early church did to evangelize and maybe that still works for us today. Dunno.
I believe in the sabbath. I think the day of sabbath and whether we should practice the sabbath at all are 2 separate items to consider. The sabbath was placed as a foundation in Genesis/Exodus from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. There really isn’t anywhere in scripture that was changed to Sunday or another day.
In terms of practicing the sabbath there have been huge discussions about it being done away with when Jesus died on the cross or if it was only meant for the Jews. Jesus makes clear he didn’t come to abolish any of the laws and the disciples still followed the sabbath after his resurrection.
A claim is sometimes made that if you practice the sabbath you are practicing works based salvation. Which ties to another discussion of Faith and Works. Both are important but some churches emphasize one component over the other. Works without faith makes us no better than those that persecuted Christ. On the other-side if we claim to have faith, without works were deceiving ourselves.
In terms of Christmas and Easter, those were Pagan Holidays. Don’t think they matter as much as we want them too.
With all that said. Dont stress or worry too much. Keep reading and studying the word. Allow God to lead you in the right path. There are some churches that practice the sabbath(seventh day adventist, seventh day church of God, etc). DM me if you have any questions.
As it relates to Christmas and Easter , both are pagan holidays, as Christians, we shouldn’t worship any other God than the God that created heaven and earth. When practices of Christmas were made apparent, God spoke through Jeremiah and warned the people of God of such practices.
Jeremiah 10
Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
The Sabbath is a day of rest, reflection, enjoyment and worship for God’s people. It dates back to the seventh day of the creation week, when God stopped His work and took time to rest and savor it.
In six days He created the world we live in (Genesis 1:1-26). From the blue sky to the fluffy white clouds to the food we eat…He created this world with each of us in mind.
It was on the sixth day of creation that God formed man and woman in His own image.
“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7, ESV).
Then God looked around at all He had made and saw that it was “very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31, ESV).
He had made everything necessary for humans to live and thrive here on this earth. But He wasn’t quite finished with the whole creation process.
On the seventh day God created the Sabbath. His last act of creation was to sanctify this day and make it holy. Then He rested.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:1-3, ESV).
While the Bible tells us God “rested” on the Sabbath day, it doesn’t say that He rested because He was tired. (God does not “faint or grow weary”, as Isaiah 40:28, ESV tells us.) He rested to look over what He created and enjoy it.
The word “sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means “to cease” or stop.
Even in our human lives, it’s not uncommon to stop and take a day off after a large project or a great accomplishment. Yes, we do get tired, unlike God. But after finishing something meaningful and beautiful, we don’t stop afterward just to rest. We stop to reflect upon and enjoy what was just accomplished!
On the Sabbath day, we rest to celebrate God’s accomplishment of creating the world, and creating humanity to live in it and take care of it. We pause to take notice, learn more, and express gratitude to our Creator.
When God rested on the seventh day, He set for us an example. He gave the weekly Sabbath as a day of rest and worship for all of mankind. The Sabbath is a memorial, a day when we remember God’s creative power.
He alone is worthy of our worship.
“Because He had rested upon the Sabbath, ‘God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,”’—set it apart to a holy use. He gave it to Adam as a day of rest. It was a memorial of the work of creation, and thus a sign of God’s power and His love.”
When we rest we put aside the cares of the world and it allows us to focus on our relationship with Him. Just like any meaningful relationship, it’s important to spend time together, talk together, and get to know one another.
Sabbath rest gives us the perfect opportunity to connect with God.
Trusting God with our time also demonstrates our total dependence on God to provide for our needs.