The Washington Post published an article on August 8, 2022, claiming that switching to a four-day workweek could have a “transformative impact” called a “potential triple-dividend policy” that would benefit the “economy, society, and the environment.” Hidden inside this call to secure a four-day work week is Sunday. Make no mistake: all of these measures to protect society are motivated by Sunday rest. The Washington Post published the following:
Reducing the workweek to four days could have a climate benefit, advocates say. In addition to improving the well-being of workers, they say slashing working hours may reduce carbon emissions. It’s what you might call a “potential triple-dividend policy, so something that can benefit the economy, society and also the environment,” said Joe O’Connor, chief executive of the nonprofit group 4 Day Week Global. “There are not many policy interventions that are available to us that could potentially have the kind of transformative impact that reduced work time could have.” [1]
“When we talk about the four-day workweek and the environment, we focus on the tangible, but actually, in a way, the biggest potential benefit here is in the intangible,” O’Connor said. “It’s in the shift away from a focus on hard work to a focus on smart work. It’s the cultural change in how we work and the impact that could have on how we live, and I think that that’s the piece that’s really revolutionary.” [1]
Despite the fact that the article does not mention Sunday rest, this is a call to reduce the workweek so that people can rest. The ultimate goal will be to pass legislation mandating a cessation of labor. And guess which day is at the heart of these rest laws? Sunday.
Catholics and Protestants have been unable to persuade people to observe Sunday as a day of rest on their own. According to Bible prophecy, the churches will have to appeal to the civil authorities in order to achieve their goals. All over the world, we are witnessing a global push through law to secure rest through civil power. And it is undeniable that Sunday is the focus of these measures.
A four-day work week is consistent with the Sunday rest model. These laws do not have to include the recognition of Sunday as the Lord’s day. However, recognizing Sunday as a day of rest to reduce carbon emissions and worker stress levels would accomplish what the churches have been attempting to achieve: compulsive observance of Sunday.
A Sunday law can easily be forced upon us as a day of rest without conflicting with other laws of the land that prohibit imposing worship. How is that possible? Well, not all Sunday law advocates will claim that these Sunday rest measures have anything to do with worship, even though we know that they ultimately will. Sunday laws directly benefit Sunday-keeping churches because those who believe that Sunday was set aside to worship God do not want to be disturbed in their worship of God by the conflict of work, worldly pursuits, and scenes that they believe desecrate Sunday.
When the state becomes involved and begins to impose a law requiring a four-day workweek, they will demand a cessation of labor through coercion with some form of penalty. This was evident during the Covid pandemic. Mask mandates, social distancing, vaccinations, and church closures all occurred under the guise of protecting the public’s health during the Covid crisis.
We are not far from a time when violating the Sunday-Sabbath will be considered a global health, environmental, and social crisis. And, once again, civil and religious liberty will be sacrificed for the sake of the common good.
“With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sunday-keeping, and the same lack of scriptural evidence, as with the papist leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground” (Great Controversy, p. 579).
Sources
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/08/4-day-workweek-environment/
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