A viewer asks: “As a commandment, are we still to keep the sabbath holy and not work on Sunday or Saturday?”

While we appreciate the historical continuity of many things described in the ancient Scriptures, given historical progression and cultural expansion, with many shifts in attitudes, perspectives, as well as common practices, there are departures from old routines that would be beneficial. For one thing, having unnecessary constraints that are not truly needed as a mandate, has, to us, a questionable role. We do not want to gain your support by throwing out a threat or even a veiled threat of some kind of divine punishment for not honoring us with your presence on a regular scheduled basis for acts of worship, formally. This was born of an older era that was governed by arbitrary edicts, and quite harshly. And so, our admonitions to be mindful of the need for your participation in a direct outreach to us, took on a more heavy-handed tone in the instructions than would be advisable today. One could argue the opposite, given the increased erosion of formal religion by the Secular Movement, that humanity might benefit from a good tongue-lashing and perhaps a reminder of the loss to you in not engaging in a divine partnership in a visible, heartfelt, way that calls from you some kind of sacrifice, if only your presence for an hour-length worship service once a week. We still see this practice as highly useful. People benefit from having a routine and having a visible and personal commitment to engaging with us, directly or indirectly, as the case might be, with regard to church attendance or in a mosque or synagogue, for example. So we see the ritual as more beneficial than harmful because it is, in its way, a kind of minimum criterion to be a practicing Muslim, Jew, or Christian, for example. So there is room for both honoring the scriptural guidance, as well as more meaningful and likely important personal interactions with us through prayer to be an advocate for a divine intervention that is contributing something to humanity as opposed to honoring us and fulfilling a token appearance in doing so. We would say, in keeping with the Rules of Engagement, people need to consider these issues carefully and look to their heart for guidance about what is true and genuine in what they wish to contribute to a human-divine partnership, as that is the ultimate goal, to benefit both yourselves and the cause of the divine in an overall sense.