Sunday - The Day of the Sun

Funk and Wagnall Encyclopedia article- Sunday
"first day of the week. Its English name, and German name (Sonntag) as well, is derived from Lat. dies solis, 'sun's day', the same of a pagan Roman holiday."

Funk and Wagnall Encyclopedia article - Sun Worship
"religious devotion paid to the sun either as a deity or as the symbol of a deity.
...The Babylonians were sun worshippers, and in ancient Persia worship of the sun was an integral part of the elaborate cult of Mithras. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun god Ra.
In ancient Greece the deities of the sun were Helios and Apollo. The worship of Helios was widespread; temples were built in Corinth, Argos, Troezen (no longer in existence), and many other cities.
...Sun worship persisted in Europe, even after the introduction of Christianity, as is evidenced by its disguised survival in such traditional Christian practices as the Easter bonfire and the yule log on Christmas."

Bulfinch's Mythology p. 358 - article Druids
"The Druids taught the existence of one god, to whom they gave a name "Be-al," which Celtic antiquaries tell us means "the life of everything", or "the source of all beings", and which seems to have affinity with the Phoenicians Baal. What renders this affinity more striking is that the Druids as well as Phoenicians identified this, their supreme deity, with the SUN. Fire was regarded as a symbol of the divinity..."

Funk and Wagnall Encyclopedia _ Baalbek
"(Heliopolis) town, e. Lebanon, between the Litani and Asi rivers. The name, which means "city of Baal", is derived from the early association of the town with the worship of Baal, a local sun deity whom the ancient Greeks identified with their sun god. Helios; the Greeks and Romans called the town Heliopolis, "City of the Sun".

From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuel Bacchiocchi -p.238
Sunworship
"Was sun worship known and practiced in ancient Rome in the First century A.D., and if so, to what extent? Gaston H. Halsberghe, in his recent monograph "The Cult of Sol Invictus" (part of the series on Oriental Religions in the Roman Empire edited by the living authority on the subject, M.J. Vermaseren), presents persuasive texts and arguments indicating that Sun-worship was one of the oldest components of the Roman religion. "According to his well -founded conclusions, the Sun-cult in ancient Rome experienced two phases. Until the end of the first century A.D., the Romans practiced what he calls an autochthonous [i.e. native or indigenous] sun-cult." but "starting in the second century A.D. the Eastern Sun-worship began to influence Rome and the rest of the Empire."

From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuel Bacchiocchi p. 264
The Day of the Sun and the Origins of Sunday
"The association between the Christian Sunday and the pagan veneration of the day of the Sun is not explicit before the time of Eusebius (ca. A.D. 260-340)...

p.264
"The existence of two distinct traditions, one Judaeo- Christian which associated the Deity with the Light and the Sun, and the other pagan which venerated the Sun, especially on Sun-day, could well have produced an amalgamation of ideas within the Christian community. This process could have predisposed those Christians who had previously venerated the Sun and who now needed to differentiate themselves from the Jewish Sabbath, to adopt the day of the Sun for their weekly worship, since its symbology well expressed existing Christian views. Such considerations were possibly encouraged by the valloration in the Roman society of the day of the Sun in place of the preceeding day of Saturn.
It should be clearly stated, however, that by adopting the day of the Sun, Christians did not intend to sanction and/or to encourage the worship of the pagan Sol invictus...but rather to commerate on that day such divine acts as the creation of light and the resurrectiion of the Sun of Righteousness. Both events, they noticed, not only occured on the day of the Sun, but could also be effectively proclaimed through the rich symbology of the Sun."

(Christians even of today say they point to Christ even tho' using pagan symbolism. But it seems that this blending of paganism and the worship of God does not set too well with our heavenly Father.)

Ex 32:1-5
(This passage describes when Moses delayed coming back sown the mountain and Aaron made the molten calf out of the golden earrings of the people.)
(Notice verse 5)
"Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord."

(Aaron didn't declare a day of worship to the calf or to the sun... He declared a holy day to God! Even tho' he was using a pagan symbol. An adoption of pagan customs and symbols and trying to apply them to God!
God states quite firmly in...)

Deut 12:30-31
"Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God; for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods."

(Ancient Israel did not just run right out and immediately begin to serve the pagan gods of the people around them. They tried to blend the pagan customs and the worship of the true God. This obviously, from history in the Bible does not work.
Some say, 'well, that was Old Testament',but God says...)

Mal 3:6
"For I am the Lord, I change not;..."