Sunday, November 1, 2015

Should I be put to death?

It's Sunday, and I'm working.

Now the Bible is entirely clear about the sabbath.  In the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-12) we read:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

[American version, note: "shalt thou labor" not "shalt thou labour", even thought America didn't exist when King James authorised this Bible.  Are you allowed to tamper with it like that? But I digress....]

[Also note: how the f*#k do you stop cattle from doing work?  Or, for that matter, how do you start them doing it? But I digress....again]

In Exodus 32:14 we read:
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore ; for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death : for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Well I'm definitely working.  Whether that defiles the sabbath or not I don't know, so whether I get put to death or just "cut off" (ostracised, I assume) I'm not clear.

But, hold on a minute.  All of this is in the Old Testament, written for the Jews.  Their sabbath runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  So surely this rule only applies to that period?

Or does the rule vary according to your religion.  If I were a Musilm I couldn't work from sundown on Thurday to sundown on Friday.  If I were a Christian I couldn't work on a Sunday (00:00h to 23:59h).

But I'm not any of these.  I'm not Jewish; I'm not a Christian; I'm not a Muslim; I'm an atheist.  So obviously the rule doesn't apply to me and I can work 24/7 if I want.

In which case why I am I restricted in what I can do by St. Helena's Sunday Trading laws?