September 27, 2008

  • Sabbath: Part 2, Resting

    There is this really fascinating concept in medicine. It is called circaseptan bioperiodicity. The human body seems to have seven-day rhythms in its healing.

    There are actually advantages to timing and dosing of treatments in seven-day periods. For example, if recipients of organ transplants are going to reject an organ, it is often on the 7th or 14th day. Also, human breast milk spikes certain hormones on seven-day cycles.

    This circaseptan (seven-day) rhythm is related to ourcircadian rhythm—the approximate 24-hour rhythm our bodies have. Studies have shown that disruption of our circadian and circaseptan rhythms have adverse effects on our health: frontal lobe damage in our brains, cancerous growths, and psychiatric disorders. There are advantages to having hospitals follow seven-day routines. Here is one example.

    One researcher pointed out that France experimented with a ten-day (metric) week during the time of the French revolution with disastrous results. “The mental institutions filled rather quickly to capacity and then some.” (Life laboratory)

    Some might attribute these rhythms to the rhythms of sunlight and earth rotations, but I believe that even these rhythms are Creator designed.

    My son, T, has done on-the-street surveys with passersby about the 10 commandments. One of the least known commandments is the one about keeping the Sabbath. People just don’t know about it. (The most common one that people know is not to kill other people…but still that is only less than 70% of those he surveys.)

    The commandment actually says that the reason that we should keep the Sabbath holy is that the Creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. (Exodus 20) So, the raison d’etre is Creation, which means—like the rest of the 10 commandments, it applies to us, not just pre-Jesus Christ people.

    Jesus said that the Sabbath was “made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). This is a radical concept to us, as it was for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time: the Sabbath is made for us. There are blessings associated with it.

    Some people have jobs of mercy and necessity that require working on Sunday. One can’t always rest on Sunday if he or she is a firefighter, physician, or prime minister. And that is OK. Jesus said we would need to get some “oxen out of our ditches” on the Sabbath. One pastor that I knew said that because he had to consistently work on Sunday (in a demanding way often), he claimed Mondays as his Sabbath. He rested that day instead. He found it a blessing to himself, his marriage, and his family.

    Could it be that putting aside our work on the Sabbath will benefit our health? Could it be that a concept of Sabbath helps us maximize our circaseptan rhythms?

    Could it be that the day was made for me?

    |||||| lynard

Comments (6)

  • Just today David tells me his antibiotic dosage is 7 days (he has pneumonia!); which I did not know, never having had to use anitbiotics that much even with 4 kids.

  • Interesting as I am hearing alot about the sabbath(as Saturday) from a coworker who is Jehovah’s Witness and a client who is 7th Day Adventist. I also worked with several Orthodox Jews in Philly who keep the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Guess everyone has thier own’Sabbath spin’. Dont remember ever learning about the circaseptan thing…..does it call for a rest day out of the seven??

  • @onRway3 - Yeah, it was ideal for our boys to play baseball in a Jewish neighborhood, as their teammates were sympathetic about our Sabbath—as we were about theirs. They allowed our boys not to play games on Sundays, which many teams in our town did not tolerate. I know some Christian families who celebrate Sabbath from sundown to sundown. Different families and cultures will have different ways of observing and celebrating the day.There is research that there is optimal health in resting in sync with our circaseptan rhythm (as well as our circadian rhythm). The French revolution example would show how damaging having a longer work week, for example, can be. It is interesting anyway.

  • Hello Ms. Lynard,You made your site simple yet elegant. The pictures are a nice touch. I see that you have a wide variety of interests and observations here! Not only is the Sabbath for our benefit but all of the commandments benefit us. Too bad the people of the world consider them to be some kind of burden. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isaiah 48:18) (NIV)

  • Do you know of any Christians who keep the Sabbath as Saturday as it calls for in the Bible?? (other than the Catholic church who has Sat Mass :)

  • @lynardlynard - Yes, I have a pastor friend that is a Seventh Day Baptist (Here is their web site.) I guess they are a pretty good denominatin overall. My brother’s mega-church has Saturday services, but they weren’t really because of a 7th day mindset…You say that the Sabbath is called for Saturday in the Bible, but there is a strong case for it being moved after Christ’s first coming. Early Christians appeared to understand it that way, too. Historic Christianity has always celebrated the Sabbath on resurrection day.

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