Days in General – Finally, moving on from these basics premises, this document expresses my personal approach for working among the many diverse conferences in the IMC with various cultural and religious backgrounds and practices. I hope that I have made it clear that NONE of the following discussions is to consider ANY practice that in ANY way would be considered as salvific or meritorious to our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone. Our goal is to establish some clarity as to our choices and liberty for observance for the edification of a body of believers… a body that is clearly committed to ALL of the written Word of God, the Holy Bible, AND to the true goal of that word, Jesus Christ, God’s living Word. I pray that you have found my statements up to this point as relevant and foundational to these concluding statements. To have viewed them apart of the clear rationale of my own thinking apologetically would have opened them up to be taken completely out of context. That is why I have been so laborious to cover my bases. It is a position and approach that I would like all of us to consider as we seek to work more closely together in the harvest and it is one that might expand our dialogue into the many other organizations that are of like mind with us. Truly the core belief historically for many of us is the statement found in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12 that essentially shows that we should respect “the commandments of God AND the Faith (or testimony) of Jesus”(paraphrase). We see the value of all of God’s Word, even His law, AND the testimony and faith in Christ which allows us to see it for what it is intended to be.

    The Sabbath issue being considered as unique and some theological bases covered as well, I will now turn to consideration of our freedom to use ‘other days” to God’s glory and for our edification. Contextual with my previous statements, I want us to consider our liberty in Christ to consider our criteria in adapting our religious practice from scriptural examples or cultural traditions.

     I must confess another question in my heart at this juncture. Wouldn’t you think that a weekly memorial of ceasing from our personal pursuits on Sabbath, when it is actually a crowning activity of a life in which God is worshipped in the every day activities of his people, would be an adequate memorial to the creator God? Isn’t 52 days a year enough? I guess I am suggesting that to address this subject of “other days” is suggesting that for some the Sabbath isn’t enough. They want or feel they need more. Do they have that freedom in Christ? Perhaps they live in a very holistic culture like India or much of Africa or they simply just want another reason to praise their God for some specific purpose on a special day based upon some biblical pattern. Possibly they see the merit in using such practices as a teaching tool. Personally, I must admit that you would think that one day a week would be sufficient to keep us going in the right direction but there is the issue of our liberty in Christ which draws into consideration the options available. We need to consider them for many reasons as long as they are never considered to compete with our means of salvation through faith in Christ alone and as long as we recognize that they are NOT on the same order as the Sabbath of creation.