WARNING: The following information contains what most would consider "religious" content. There are many people who can't stand discussion about any religion but their own. If you think you might be such a person, play it safe and please refrain from reading this post!
This is an interview style post. Since the word out is that any non-atheist is schizophrenic, I thought it would be appropriate to interview myself. HA!
Mr. Sleep: Why is the General Guitar Gadgets online store closed from Friday night through Saturday Night?
JD: According to Torah, this is a day of rest, an appointed time set by God. We are instructed not to buy or sell on this day of rest.
Mr. Sleep: I thought you were a Christian! Shouldn't you be resting on Sunday?
JD: Scripture is very clear as to the set time of the Sabbath. Contrary to what some Christian theologians would have you believe, God's appointed time is Friday sunset through Saturday sunset. It's never been changed and never will be changed. (Exodus 31:13) We do what we do because we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds.
Mr. Sleep: By closing the store, aren't you imposing your religion on all the customers who visit your site?
JD: No. We are simply doing what we believe is right.
Mr. Sleep: Aren't you afraid of losing customers and your business?
JD: I hope our customers understand that they are far more likely to be treated well by a company that has a moral standard of right and wrong and upholds that standard throughout the business.
Mr. Sleep: Are you some kind of legalist?
JD: No.
Mr. Sleep: Are you Jewish?
JD: No, but grafted to the same "stick"/olive tree (Ezekiel 37:17, Romans 11)
Mr. Sleep: Are you narrow-minded?
JD: Wouldn't it be narrow-minded to ask if I'm narrow-minded based on this limited topic of discussion?
Mr. Sleep: Thanks for talking.
JD: Hey, it's been great. Thank you!
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23 comments:
God bless you for putting your faith over finances.
I am sure God will bless your decision. I admire your faithfullness.
I will continue to buy from your company, I love my BSIAB2! Tom.
Big respect! the world has become too obsesed with working 24/7 i like to rest sundays my self but you wont loose me as a customer!!
Hey - I love what you guys do! you wont loose me as a customer.
I dig what GGG does no matter what. Even more respect to know you run your business ethically and faithfully to your beliefs. You wont loose me as a customer.
I think B&H photo video does the same thing or something similar and they're tremendously successful so I don't think people will mind. You should, however, make the items viewable while the store is down if that is possible.
We are limited to some degree by the Site software. There is a "catalog" only option, but that doesn't have an option for a message explaining that the store is closed. The "Projects" pages are still open and there's plenty of browsing opportunity there!
JD
LET THERE BE ROCK!!!
I'm down with that... :)
I fully support your decision to remain closed on Saturday, but I would like to comment on a couple statements in the interview:
JD: I hope our customers understand that they are far more likely to be treated well by a company that has a moral standard of right and wrong and upholds that standard throughout the business.
Everyone has morals, including the mafia, etc. Your source of morals (the Bible) requires killing those who work on Saturday (Exodus 31:16), which I regard as immoral.
Mr. Sleep: Are you narrow-minded?
JD: Wouldn't it be narrow-minded to ask if I'm narrow-minded based on this limited topic of discussion?
Not at all, however it would be narrow-minded to assert you were narrow-minded.
I'm from Australia, so that means the store will be closed to us from about 8.30am saturday to 8.30am sunday local time. Thats lucky for you as friday night is when I'm at my most drunkest and get online to purchase all my "Beerlooms" - whew.....
I can vouch for JDs business morals and ethics. I agree when doing business with someone, ethics and morals are critical for trust. I do not know the man very well, but I do know enough that he is one of the good guys. He has a loyal customer until he changes that.
After all he signs his name to his posts. I can admire any person who stands up for thier beliefs, especially in these chaotic times.
It is easy to criticize anothers beliefs, and some may say those who do are narrow minded. I even try not to criticize those with 3 hours of Jr. College Philosophy and Religion. Its even harder to keep your mouth shut. I suppose I failed.
In response to Anonymous Feb 17th and in defense of my post: I have no interest in putting anyone to death for anything. I have an interest living life to the fullest and that involves (for me) following God's instructions (Torah) as best as I can. I am not saying that I obey perfectly, but I believe that I am a better person to do business with, attaining to Torah standards than if I was attaining to "Mafia" standards (if there is such a thing). That's probably not easy to see in today's world where there is a lot of corruption among people claiming to be "Bible believers".
For the record, your Bible quote is incorrect. Exodus 3:14 (not 3:16) talks about putting someone to death, but not for working on Sabbath.
JD
Shalom brother,
As a pastor myself, I most definitely respect your convictions, and am glad to hear God's pattern of rest and renewal is a blessing to you.
Anonymous Feb 17th here...
First, let me apologize to Mr. Sleep. Mr. Sleep's reputation is stellar, and I was in no way intending to impugn him.
My diatribe was intended purely as a logical argument: that anyone can claim to have morals. It seems Mr. Sleep agrees, at least partly. "That's probably not easy to see in today's world where there is a lot of corruption among people claiming to be 'Bible believers'." A much more eloquent way of making my point.
My second comment about being narrow-minded merely states that an honest question should never be construed as narrow-minded. The questioner is merely asking for information. However it is not logical to make an assertion based on incomplete data.
The Exodus reference in question is:
Exodus 31:15 (New American Standard Bible)
For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
To JohnC: I'm not sure if you meant to imply that I had "3 hours of Jr. College Philosophy and Religion". I assure you that is not the case. 4 years undergrad at St. John's taking many theology courses before going to Carnegie Mellon for my PhD. Plenty of Philosophy and Theology; little religion.
Again, Mr. Sleep, please accept my apology. You are truly a gentleman and a wonderful resource for all netizens.
Will someone please let me know if you can still view the products.
Closing your store and allowing the customers to view the products are two different things. I don't mind not being able to buy, but if the whole store is actually closed, don't allow the website to even open.
I'm really confused.
You claim that you are christian, yet you regard the Torah as your book. And you are not Jewish? Yet, you use phrases that are used in synagogue.
Please straighten me out, because it sounds like you just picked out sections of general religion that you like and agree with.
Don't get me wrong, we need more sacrifice for faith verses spending all of our free time supporting companies that are using our 'religious freedom' to take advantage of us.
You specifically quote bible verse...where does the Torah come into that?
Thanks in advance for the answer and please don't make rude comments about this post...it is a valid question.
Anon from Feb 17th is quoting the bible, not the Torah.
JD is quoting the Torah and the Bible.
Anon from March 6th points this out and questions it, which is good.
Unfortunately the Torah and the Bible are very limited in their actual similarities. The Bible was supposed to be a translation of the Torah, but it was mistranslated to be more useful to King James' purposes. If you want to read a real Torah translation you should check out something printed by an Orthodox Jewish publisher. israelbookshop.com is a good source. Look under "Seforim" (sefer means book in hebrew). The Torah books in print are called the "Chumash" (plural is Chumashim, ie. the 5 books of the Torah). You might want to call to make sure you're getting a copy with english in it. ;)
-Joshua
Exodus 31:15 is nearly the same in both the Torah and "literal" Bible translations. KJV is considered literal, although I believe most would agree it's imperfect.
Young's Literal Translation:
Six days is work done, and in the seventh day is a sabbath of holy rest to Jehovah; any who doeth work in the sabbath-day is certainly put to death
King James Bible:
Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Here's an link to some interesting info on Shabbat: http://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat.htm
Here's the actual translation from the actual Hebrew:
Exodus / Shemot 31:15-17 - Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord…(16) The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time. (17) It shall be a sign for all time between me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed.
The other translations you quote are incorrect. The boox "Exodus" is the Bible's misinterpretation of the Torah's "Shemot"
The bible translations pick and choose words to take out of context to put fear into their readers/followers. (In thise case they take the word cease and change it to death)
-Josh
Bravo! It does my heart good to see you doing what you believe is right. You faith in God is one of the reasons I choose to do buisness here.
God Bless you
Actually, I was wrong and you are correct. It does say death. I went to my parent's house and read their Artscroll Chumash, and it actually mentions being put to death TWICE.
-Joshua
Wow. You called that for sure. People really do like to argue about religion. Sigh.
Anonymous -- chill out. No one really wants to hear your complaints.
I'm an atheist and I have to say: Way to go. Believe in your beliefs. Close your business any time you like (as long as it's open sometimes because I really really like your products).
Good for you. While I would not enter in to the Jewish/Christian or Saturday/Sunday debate, I do feel that the intention of the Sabbath is to take a day of rest and devotion. It has become very unpopular to do this as of late, and I was really happy when I got the message "The store is now closed for the Sabbath. It will reopen shortly after sundown on Saturday".
It's nice to see stores that say "We need a day of rest too, and will not force our employees to work on S__day".
I respect your stand on this. The people that would have bought on Saturday will still buy, unless it was totally an impulse purchase.
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